With position settled, O'Connor looking for breakout season with Nashua South football

Kyle O'Connor spent the summer focusing on running routes and getting quicker so that he could be a reliable option in the Nashua High School South passing game from the tight end position.

It was a bit of a change from a year ago, when the then-junior went into preseason practices thinking he'd be a tight end, but knowing that if things didn't go the way the Panthers' coaches planned, he could play somewhere else on offense.

With the quarterback position unsettled for the first time in a long time at South, coach Scott Knight was toying with the idea of getting O'Connor some work there if it looked like the Panthers would need it. Instead, Dante Young stepped into the starting role and Christopher Keefe filled in as the backup, allowing O'Connor to stick at tight end.

"We were looking at different things and we weren’t sure where we were going to go," Knight said. "He had a real good year at outside linebacker and became a real good blocker at tight end. He’s an unbelievable longer snapper. He did a lot of good things for us."

Although he's always played somewhere on the offensive line, O'Connor would have jumped right in if the Panthers had needed him to play quarterback during his junior year. Just like he would have jumped in if the team needed him at guard this year instead of tight end, as the coaches were considering during the offseason.

"I was up for that challenge," O'Connor said. "All through my career, I’ve played where I was needed. I was ready for anything. It doesn’t matter to me because I’ll play anywhere."

But after seeing the work that O'Connor put in during the offseason, Knight decided it was best for the team to keep him at tight end again this year.

"We were contemplating moving him to guard this year, but he’s worked so hard this summer at getting faster and more athletic," the coach said. "We can not keep him off the field at tight end. He’s twice the athlete he was a year ago. He’s really put the time in."

Not only did O'Connor spend time at a lot of prospect camps during the spring and summer, he took advantage of having a recent collegiate football player back in town, as he and a few other skill players from South worked with Trevor Knight, the former South and University of New Hampshire quarterback and Scott Knight's son.

"I’ve been working with Trevor, now that he’s home, with route running because I know that I’ll be playing tight end," O'Connor said. "I consider myself to be more of a blocking tight end because I played offensive line throughout my early years. I’m solid at blocking. It’s about becoming more smooth in my routes. I’m a bigger guy, so it’s definitely something I’ve been focusing on."

O'Connor started playing football in fourth grade, and as a bigger kid, he's always played somewhere on the offensive and defensive lines. While he also participated in basketball and baseball growing up, in eighth grade he decided to give wrestling and lacrosse a try, and he's continued to do both at South.

"My old gym coach got me to wrestle and some of these football guys got me to play lacrosse," he said. "Picked it up and really like them both."

As an athlete who loves to compete and be physical on the football field, Knight wasn't surprised to know that O'Connor participated in the other two sports.

"He’s a physical kid," Knight said. "He likes to run around. That’s why he wrestles. He likes to put people on their backs. We just have to keep the reigns on him. He’s the nicest kid when he’s off the field, but he flips the switch when he’s on the field."

O'Connor hopes he's switching to a college football field at this time next year. Especially given his size, Knight believes he has a chance to play at a Division I FCS college or a Division II school.

Right now, O'Connor is just trying to keep all his options open and have a great year for South.

"I want to play college football," he said. I’m not ruling any schools out right now and I’ll see what happens."