Van Buren Pointers opening playbook for versatile Humphreys

Logan Humphreys had the catch of the year last season for the Van Buren Pointers. This year, they expect even more from the athletic 6-5 senior receiver. “Obviously with a kid that size, he’s very versatile in what he does, and he’s smart,” Van Buren head coach Casey Dick said. “Anytime you have those two intangibles, coaches like that because you can ask them to do tons of different things. That’s what we’ll ask of Logan, for him to do a whole lot of different things in order to put our team in the best situation we can.” Dick is in his first year as the Van Buren head coach and was the offensive coordinator at Bentonville West last year when Humphreys made an acrobatic catch. With Van Buren at midfield, quarterback Caleb Salisbury threw a pass down the right sideline. Humphreys went up above two Har-Ber defenders and caught the ball high at full extension and tapped his foot down just in the field of play as he fell out of bounds for a 27-yard gain. Salisbury has graduated, but Christian Morrow started the first three games of the season a year ago for the Pointers with Salisbury out and has a full grasp of the offense. It was with Morrow at the controls last year when Humphreys had his best two games of the season with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown against Northside, and seven more catches the next week against Siloam Springs for 101 yards. As sophomores, Morrow and Humphreys also hooked up for a 45-yard touchdown against Northside. Humphreys is looking forward to working with Morrow the entire season. “He’s awesome,” Humphreys said. “He’s really good.” In addition to the catch of the year and his two outstanding nonconference games, Humphreys led the Pointers in receiving with 32 receptions for 418 yards and two touchdowns. Even though Van Buren had transitioned back to the spread formation last year from the option offense when Humphreys was a sophomore, the Pointers still were a running team last year. Out of 589 offensive plays, the Pointers ran the ball 387 times, or 65.7 percent of the time. “Last year, we had a good running back and we fed him a lot,” Humphreys said. “Once we got to the fourth quarter, then they started throwing it up to me more.” It was the fourth quarter against Har-Ber when Humphreys made his acrobatic catch. This year, Humphreys will be utilized earlier and more often in the spread under Dick, a former Arkansas Razorback quarterback. “I like it a lot,” Humphreys said. “For sure, they’re going to try to use me more. He utilizes every player.” Humphreys has also taken on more of a leadership role this year with a new head coach and new offensive coordinator Crosby Tuck. “I try to coach up the young guys, they’re going to a big part of the offense this year,” Humphreys said. “We have two starting sophomores, and a starting junior so just make sure any time something bad happens to just keep their head up and take it one play at a time. You just have to win the play.” Humphreys also wants to be part of senior class that turns the program around from last year’s 0-10 mark and ends the seven-year losing streak to Crawford County rival Alma. “That haunts us,” Humphreys said. “We just want to take it one game at a time, and it starts with Alma.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

VAN BUREN POINTERS OPENING PLAYBOOK FOR VERSATILE HUMPHREYS

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 8/23/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford