Quest might be too strong a description, but not by much. Certainly Patrick O'Quinn has been on a six-year journey to become the starting quarterback at A&M Consolidated.

"Growing up, that's what I wanted to be, the starting quarterback for the varsity," O'Quinn said. "It's something that I've been thinking about probably since I played quarterback for the Little Tigers in sixth grade. Whether I'm at my house watching college football or in the yard throwing the ball with my brother or my dad, this is what I'm thinking about, focused toward."

O'Quinn served as the Tigers' backup quarterback last year, completing 1 of 5 passes for 7 yards as a junior. He earned the starting job for this season with a strong performance during spring practice.

Despite O'Quinn's lack of experience and the fact that he played on the JV's B team two years ago, Consol coaches have high expectations for the 6-foot-3, 195-pounder.

"It's his time, and I feel really good about that," head coach Jim Slaughter said. "His leadership has been great from the minute we started spring training, through 7-on-7 until now."

After winning the starting job during spring training, O'Quinn set about winning the full support of his teammates.

"I tried to put on more weight in the weight room, and I tried hard on the field, but one of my biggest things was creating more leadership at the position to get the other players to follow me," O'Quinn said. "It's a lot easier to succeed as a quarterback if you have everyone behind you.

"I knew I had the position at the end of spring, but I didn't have all those guys behind me. I had to get them to believe in what I did and trust me."

O'Quinn has impressed offensive coordinator Stoney Pryor with his efforts to become a leader, and with his football savvy.

"He's got a good grasp of the game," Pryor said. "When I do all the signaling [sending in play calls], I kind of get a relationship with those quarterbacks. I can almost see in their eyes when they're following this sign language we're giving them and really figuring it out. He's right on top of that."

O'Quinn's sixth-grade dream of being Consol's quarterback seemed unlikely to come true when he was relegated to the JV B team as a sophomore.

"At times I would get frustrated because not everything would click," O'Quinn said. "My sophomore year, I wondered whether I should switch to receiver or do something else with my height, but I just stuck with it. Then everything started to progress."

O'Quinn moved up the depth chart to become backup to senior Dominic Preston, who took the bulk of the snaps last season. With the Tigers fighting to overcome an 0-4 start and reach the playoffs, Slaughter did not want to add the potential for more trouble by splitting time at quarterback.

When his big chance arrived in spring training, O'Quinn took off with it. He threw the ball and ran well enough to encourage the Consol coaches, who plan a multiple offense that includes some of the old jet plays with wingbacks in motion to complement plays out of a four-receiver spread.

At times, the Tigers will try to run effectively from the spread formation, which will require O'Quinn to carry the football more than he has in his career. His running ability was one of the happiest discoveries during Consol's spring game.

"That's something I didn't know until this spring," O'Quinn said. "I was very surprised the first time I busted a run. It gave me a lot of confidence knowing I could run if I needed to, because I had never really done that."

O'Quinn attended several college football camps over the last two summers and is hoping to play in college. Although he hasn't started a varsity game, he has drawn recruiting interest from several small schools.

"It's always been a dream to play college football since I can remember," he said. "Hopefully if I go out there and do what I'm supposed to do, everything will fall into place."