Derby has heart set
on playing quarterback
Derby is fully grown now at 6-4 and 220 pounds. He’s a quarterback– at least that’s what he’s out to prove in college – and he’s finally reached that higher level of competition.
Derby led City High to the state title as a senior and then skipped his last season of basketball and baseball and passed on his last five months of high school to enroll early at Iowa to get a head start on his college career with the Hawkeyes.
“One thing we’ve always chuckled about, A.J. walks to the beat of a different drum and he’s very goal-oriented and when he sets his mind on something it’s hard to steer him in a different direction,” said Derby’s father, John, who played on Iowa’s 1991 Rose Bowl team.
Derby has it set in his mind that he’s a quarterback, even though some recruitniks are already projecting he’ll wind up playing tight end or linebacker. He was ranked the top high school recruit in Iowa this year by Rivals.com and rated a four-star player on its five-star scale, but he was listed in the company’s database as an athlete.
“He does think it’s a little odd that nobody considers him a quarterback and he gets a little frustrated by that,” John Derby said. “But once you get to college – and that’s something we’ve told him all along – you can be highly recruited and turn out to be nothing in college and it doesn’t mean anything. He did very well in high school and he’s set his goals to do well in college and you start from ground zero and work through the system. His goal is to play quarterback and he’s said it often, and when he sets his mind on something, I’m not going to bet against him.”
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