Before the 2015 football season began, one of the challenges facing Archbishop Murphy head football coach Jerry Jensen was how to get the ball in the hands of his most explosive player more often.
Much to the chagrin of the Wildcats’ opponents, Jensen figured it out.
Junior Anfernee Gurley carried the ball 50 times for 607 yards and 10 touchdowns, and caught 31 passes for 780 yards and nine touchdowns this season for the Wildcats in their run to the Class 2A state semifinals.
“Anfernee is the kind of kid that you know if you can get the ball in his hands, that every time he touches it he has a chance to take it all the way,” Jensen said. “As a coach, when games are tight or you need a play, it’s comforting to know that you have that to go to.”
For all of his efforts, Gurley is The Herald’s 2015 Football Athlete of the Year.
Gurley’s 19 offensive touchdowns were the most on a Wildcats team that came up just minutes short of playing in the state championship game. Much of Gurley’s success can be credited to his blazing speed.
“Anfernee has what I call football speed,” Jensen said. “I think part of that is because of his football awareness, but he does have that extra gear that he can kick in to. You can see it on film. When he sees that little hole or that opening that he can get outside on, there is another gear that he hits. Good football players have that and Anfernee definitely does.”
Gurley was able to use that speed in other areas besides just offense.
He averaged 19.8 yards per kickoff return and 24.6 yards per punt return for the Wildcats this season. He might have done even more damage in the kicking game if the Wildcats defense wasn’t so good. Archbishop Murphy allowed just 5.7 points per game this season, limiting the number of opportunities for Gurley to return kickoffs.
“His chances to be a weapon in the kicking game weren’t quite what they were previously,” Jensen said. “Obviously, he had a couple of punts that he was able to return.”
There were no limitations on Gurley on the defensive side of the ball. The junior racked up 30 solo tackles, three interceptions and four tackles for loss.
“Him in the secondary and Ben Hines as our middle linebacker were really responsible for getting our defense set this year — Anfernee in the secondary and then Ben with the front seven,” Jensen said. “Anfernee’s football IQ is extremely high. That’s something that you can teach kids, but coming in as a freshman and sophomore and now as a junior going to be a senior, when he started his football IQ was higher than everyone else on our team. When you have a guy like that who is a part of your team, it raises the IQ of everybody around you. Situationally, he’s just invaluable in kind of providing that baseline for our kids.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
