Tinsman ready to lead Rams

April 8, 2013
By Spencer Leatherman - For The Journal , journal-news.net

tinsman SHEPHERDSTOWN - A quarterback is known for being the centerpiece of the offense.

Over the last four years, Shepherd Rams head coach Monte Cater had Kevin Clancy, who led the Rams to a national semifinal appearance in 2010, and Bobby Cooper, the first quarterback in school history to throw for 400 passing yards in a game.

"We've been good because we've had quarterbacks who are consistent, make good decisions and help us get out of bad plays," Cater said. "When we had Dan Chlebowski, whose senior year was in 2006, he never made a mistake.

"Those are the guys that can help a team because they do not make those mistakes."

In Saturday's spring game scrimmage, Trae Tinsman, a 6-foot-3 junior quarterback from James Wood High School in Winchester, Va., took the bulk of the live snaps in preparation to take the reins as a starter this fall.

Tinsman saw the atmosphere that Clancy led the Rams to in 2010 in traveling with the team as a freshman before continuing to learn the position further from Cooper, who is currently his roommate.

"I learned to stay calm and run the show from Bobby," Tinsman said. "As a quarterback, I will have to show leadership out there and give my team confidence in every series we play.

"I have had to learn more at this level because the college game is faster than high school, and I just had to adapt to that."

"Our quarterbacks meet constantly," Cater said. "In terms of looking at film, they are discussing that in a certain situation about what reads to look for first and second, about tucking and running not being a bad thing and so forth. Trae has come a long way and understands what we are doing and getting better at it each day."

Tinsman led two of the three drives that resulted in touchdowns for the Ram offense in the spring game, with the other being a rushing touchdown from redshirt freshman Jeff Ziemba.

"Both of those guys, Tinsman and Ziemba, were able to get most of the reps, and I like where both of them are at," Cater said. "Live reps are not done often because we are trying to keep guys healthy, but as long as Trae gets better every day, he can be a front-runner for the starting job because he has more quality reps than anyone else."