Fever QBs are double trouble for defense

Sometimes Tri-Cities Fever coach Ryan Lingenfelder must feel like a baseball manager.

Which pitcher, he might think, should I put out on the mound?

But this is football — the Indoor Football League — and Lingenfelder has a choice of two guys to use as football’s equivalent of a pitcher: the quarterback.

Hunter Wanket and Pat McCain are the wicked 1-2 punch for the Fever that has the team’s offense moving the ball.

They’ll get another chance at sharing the ball Friday when the Fever play host to the Cedar Rapids Titans. Kickoff in the Toyota Center is set for 7:05 p.m.

Combined, the two are averaging 203 yards passing per game. Only Wichita Falls’ Charles McCullum has a better total in the league with 268.

And while the team is 1-2, the offense has been moving the ball. At least through the air.

Both QB’s would like to be running the show completely on their own, of course. But they’re not, and they are each other’s biggest backers.

“We’re 100 percent for each other,” said Wanket, 28. “I told him from Day 1, ‘If you’re in, I’ve got your back. And when I’m in, you’ve got mine.’ ”

McCain, 25, agrees.

“Hunter and I are good friends,” McCain said. “When I come off the field to the sidelines, he has a drawing board and tells me what he saw from the bench.”

They’re different types of quarterbacks.

Wanket, at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, is the veteran from Central Connecticut State University.

He’s a pocket passer who played for Trenton in the Professional Indoor Football League last season. In 2014, he had a stint with Bemidji of the IFL, throwing for 805 yards in five games, with 14 TD passes against two interceptions.

Wanket usually runs the offense when the Fever have a lot of field ahead of it.

Off the field, Wanket works in real estate in Carlsbad, Calif., and in modeling.

“My friends are 28 and are transitioning into getting houses, and my mom and I flipped a house recently,” said Wanket. “As for modeling, I’ve done three fashion shows. It’s been nothing but positive and successful. It’s also helped with my confidence, because there are 500 people there with cameras just watching you.”

Meanwhile, McCain — while playing the entire game last week because Wanket had a chest injury — has been getting the call when the Fever get the ball to about the opponent’s 15 yard line.

McCain is big — 6-5, 230. And while he has a strong arm, he can run well with the football.

“Hunter is on the calm, more cool side,” said McCain. “I’m a guy who is energetic and will run when I have to.”

McCain played collegiately at Jacksonville University in Florida in 2013 and ’14 — although he spent most of that time on the bench.

Last season, he got a shot to start for the Fever when then-coach Adam Shackleford needed a quarterback. The team went through five QBs last season, thanks mostly to injuries.

In one game, a loss to Sioux Falls on June 6, McCain was 8-for-18 for 124 yards, two TDs and one interception. He was also hurt in the game and never played again last season.

He signed with the Fever not long after the season ended.

“I didn’t have much film in college, so I was initially hoping to play three games with the Fever and get film and move up to a bigger league. That didn’t work out, and I felt (coming back) was the right way.”

The two quarterbacks have had to check their egos at the door.

“They are the epitome of the guys I want on this team,” said Lingenfelder. “They are the most unselfish players on this team. I've been telling everyone we’re really fortunate to have these two guys. It’s been successful so far.”

The Titans

The name that sticks out on this roster is rookie quarterback Dylan Favre. Yes, he’s related to that Favre, Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre. Lingenfelder at one point this offseason thought he had Favre on his roster, but the youngster signed with Cedar Rapids. Nephew Favre played collegiately at Mississippi State, the Tennessee-Martin. Lingenfelder said the Titans QB can run as well as throw. … The Titans are an all-time 4-0 against the Fever, including a 56-8 win last season in Iowa. … RB Waymon James was the IFL Offensive Rookie of the Year last season while playing for Nebraska. He currently leads the league in all-purpose yardage at 146.7 yards a game. … LB Nik Sierra averages 8.7 tackles a contest. … Xzavie Jackson leads the IFL with 4 QB sacks. Teammate Jermiah Price is second with 3. Fred Griggs is right behind with 2. So the Fever offensive line, which has played quite well this season, will get a major test Friday night.

Notes

Fever DB Bradley Njoku was named the IFL’s Defensive Player of the Week. In last weekend’s 47-41 win over Billings, Njoku had nine tackles, one of them for a loss; a forced fumble and two interceptions, with the second one being returned 18 yards for a touchdown. … Njoku, Dee Maggitt, Jr., and Boubacar Cissoko each have two interceptions this season after three games. … Colorado Crush owner Thomas Wigley announced earlier this week that he is terminally ill, and is looking to sell his franchise, preferably to someone who will keep it in the same region. Wigley, who said he has 3 to 5 years left, will run the team through the remainder of this season.

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Fever QBs are double trouble for defense."