FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Drake Lindsey’s teammates love playing football with him.
“It’s a lot of fun, I can’t even lie,” Fayetteville senior wide receiver Kaylon Morris said of playing with Lindsey. “He’s just throwing it up and I’m just catching it every time, it’s a lot fun.”
Lindsey loves being out there with his teammates as well.
“On Friday nights, when I go out on the field, I just look at everyone,” Lindsey said. “I just soak everything in and appreciate God and everything he’s given me.”
That’s because for the Fayetteville quarterback, being on the field hasn’t always been a guarantee.
“I was playing basketball just a month before freshman basketball, just kind of messing around. I went up to jump, and my knee just gave out,” Lindsey said.
An MRI revealed Lindsey had suffered a torn patellar tendon.
“I had to have surgery. I think 10 months of physical therapy,” Lindsey said. “Took about 11 months to feel like myself again.”
He missed his entire freshman season and then sat as the backup last year as a sophomore.
“Wishing I could play on the football field, watching all my friends play, it just made you appreciate life and appreciate the sport,” Lindsey said.
So when Lindsey got the chance to start this season as a junior, he took it by the reigns.
The Purple Dogs are 4-2, with their 6'5" quarterback putting up big numbers.
Through six games, he has 21 touchdown passes, while averaging 336 yards per game.
He’s coming off his best performance of the season: 390 yards, and 5 touchdowns in a 60-20 win over Southside at Razorback Stadium.
“What he’s done is pretty remarkable,” said Fayetteville head coach Casey Dick. “The maturation he’s had from game one to where he is now… Really just pleasantly surprised with his overall growth, how much he’s developed and really just how consistent he’s been every week.”
Fayetteville has a history of producing Division I quarterbacks like the Allen brothers Brandon and Austin, as well as Taylor Powell.
Lindsey could be and wants to be, the next in that line.
“It’s a huge goal,” Lindsey said of playing college football. “I’ve thought about it ever since my knee injury. I realized that this is what I wanted to do and I was going to do anything to come back and give it my all and play for Fayetteville High School, and then try to get to the next level.”
“He’s got a lot of the characteristics people want at that level,” Dick said. “He’s tall, he’s got a big arm. He can see, and he reacts to things really well.”
But before he moves on to the next level, Lindsey is just enjoying getting a full high school season and being back on the field again.
“It’s honestly just a blessing to even be out there on Fridays.”