The Dutch Fork Silver Foxes have the premier program in the state of South Carolina and have had since the arrival of Coach Tom Knotts. The Foxes have a chance at being that again in 2022 but they have a battle to see who will lead this team at the quarterback position, which was vacated by Davin Patterson’s graduation.
The battle is between two transfer players, each from outside the Palmetto Stte. Senior Aliam Appler (pictured left top) started in North Carolna before transferring to Dutch Fork last year to play his junior season with the Foxes. He played back up to Davin Patterson. Everything looked as if Appler would be the sure starter for the Foxes but then in Spring, they got another transfer. Junior Jon Hunt’s family moved to Irmo all the way from Vermont and it wasn’t just for the weather.
“I’ve wanted to play in an envoronment like this forever,” said Hunt. “My family was familiar with South Carolina from vacationing here and after looking around, we decided on Dutch Fork.”
Like Appler, Hunt (pictured left) started as a sophomore for his team in Vermont in a shortened season due to Covid. He missed two games of his shortened season with a concussion.
Both Appler (6-4,200) and Hunt (6-1,215) welcome the competition and are both doing well.
“It’s a good battle,” said Hunt. “We each have our strong traits we bring to the compeition and I think it only makes each of us better, and makes the team better.”
Appler echos that sentiment.
“The competition makes us work harder for what we want.” said Appler. “He’s a cool guy and we are definitely buddies but the competition is serious.”
Appler was thought of as more of a pocket passer prior to coming to Dutch Fork but he feels he can use his legs and extend plays and feels that is his strength.
As of this date, the Foxes have not named a starter and it would not be surprising to see Coach Knotts enter the season with a two-quaterback system. He has done that before. During Ty Olenchuk’s (now at Clemson for baseball) sophomore season, Knotts played dual quarterbacks until mid-way through the season, when Olenchuk was named full time starter and rewrote the Silver Fox record books.
For now, the competition goes on and it will be interesting to see how this plays out with the season only weeks away.
