Washington Football: Elijah Qualls Q&A With H.S. Coach Trent Herzog

1. Elijah Qualls played on both sides of the football. What were his roles and responsibilities on offense and defense and where did he excel the most?

He played RB and some FB on offense, he was our main weapon as we tried to get him the ball as much as possible. On defense he played all over the defensive line and also played some LB, we moved him around on Defense to create mismatches. He was a great pass rusher and created havoc by getting penetration. As a JR he excelled more as a RB, rushing for over 1300 yards and 15 TDs and also catching 20 passes for 175 yards and 2 TDs, as a SR he excelled more on Defense totaling 85 tackles, 21 tackles for a loss and 8 sacks.

2. Describe Qualls's development at Casa Grande. How much did he progress from year to year and when did schools really start taking notice of his abilities?

He arrived at Casa Grande in April of his Sophomore year, I instantly noticed that we had a tremendous athletic freak on our hands. He was raw but his athletic ability was unreal for an athlete his size. Over the 2 years at Casa Grande he got much better as a football player with the Fundamentals he learned, he also learned to start playing the game with the proper technique. I really started to take notice that he was going to be a big time D1 recruit halfway through his JR season. Schools started to notice him right about halfway through his junior year and the spring going into his senior season.

3. How is the Washington coaching staff planning on utilizing Qualls? How do you see him fitting within the overall schemes?

The Washington staff is planning on using him as a defensive linemen, everywhere from a 0 to a 5 technique up and down the D-Line. They have also mentioned they would like to use him on offense in short yardage and goal line situations.

4. Did Qualls ever have to match up in any one-on-one battles with current Division I level recruits?

How did he perform against the toughest competition? He played against 3-4 Incoming D1 players while at Casa. Olito Thompson (Wash St) Scooby Wright (Arizona) Nathan Madsen (Fresno State) thoes are the players I can remember. He had some great battles with these players.

I would say his game as a defensive linemen is between Will Sutton (Arizona State) and Warren Sapp who was a great NFL player for years. I also can see a little Mike Patterson who was a great player at USC and has been a steady pro for the last 8 year with the Eagles and Giants. All of these players were extremely explosive off the line of scrimmage, get great penetration as a D-Linemen. And have great lower body strength. Also each of them is between 6/0-6/2 tall.