‘The rope’ has helped Independence’s Christopher Meyer become a good athlete

CEDAR RAPIDS - The rope.

Christopher Meyer has a lot of physical gifts that have allowed him to excel in four sports for Independence High School. That includes being the starting quarterback and an all-state safety for the Class 3A fifth-ranked Mustangs football team.

But don’t dismiss the importance of “the rope.”

When Meyer was a kid, his stepfather and grandfather hung a 30-foot rope from a tall backyard tree. He’d try and try to climb that thing but just couldn’t.

Sources say he’d pout about it. But eventually he got bigger, stronger and tougher and would end up climbing the rope every single day.

Up to 15 times a day.

“That rope was a part of my life,” Meyer said. “As I got older and started getting busy with sports, I kind of got away from it. But I’ve got to give a lot of the credit for my athleticism and a bunch of different stuff to the rope. That rope has made a difference in my life, I tell you what.”

And Meyer has made a difference for Indee this fall.

He has amassed 1,477 combined yards passing and rushing for Indee (4-0), which hosts top-ranked Clear Lake in a mammoth district-opening game Friday night. Meyer has scored 16 total touchdowns: 10 rushing and six passing, with just one interception.

Independence needed a replacement for graduated two-year starter E.J. Miller at QB and found a real good one.

“I’ve been kind of the backup guy here for a couple of years now. All props to E.J. Miller, who we had last year,” Meyer said. “He was a great quarterback, and I got to learn a lot from him. We’ve got a bunch of great coaches, had a bunch of great quarterbacks here, and that has motivated me to keep the standard.”

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“We had a lot of confidence in Chris,” said Indee Coach Justin Putz. “He was an all-state safety for us last year, a multi-sport athlete, a state track kid, state baseball, state wrestling, so he’s been in plenty of varsity competitions. We knew that wasn’t going to be a problem. But you always wonder how that’s going to go. If you get good quartertback play in high school football, you’re going to have a chance to be pretty good. We’ve certainly gotten that.”

As any good quarterback does, Meyer is quick to give mega props to his offensive linemen, running backs and receivers. He feels he has some of the same traits as Miller but is a different type of player.

“I think I’m more of a mobile, dual-threat guy,” he said. “E.J. could run the rock, but he threw a lot of deep balls, had a lot of those. He had a better arm than me, but I think I’m more of a RPO, read guy. Read the D-end, read the outside linebackers, read the corner. The 15, 20-yard passes are probably where I’m best.”

“Chris is the better runner,” Putz said. “He’s a state track kid, qualified for the 400 hurdles as a freshman, sophomore, junior, so he’s a fast kid. Honestly he’s taken that upper-classmen speed and is playing faster than I thought he would. He certainly can throw it as well. But Chris is just up there in the quarterbacks that we’ve had at being really, really intelligent at the position. He gets us in the right place, makes the right reads. When you do that all game long, that allows us to be more explosive and more consistent because we’re always in the right place.”

Meyer had six interceptions from his safety spot last season and one so far this season. He returned kickoffs a season ago and was second on the team in receptions as a slot receiver.

He doesn’t return kicks this season considering the extra physical pounding he endures on both sides of the ball. He admits he notices being more sore on Saturday mornings, but he deals with it.

He’s a tough kid. Tanks in part to “the rope.”

“Personally I just came in and said ‘Hey, I’m going to be the dude’ and tried to play with a lot of confidence this season,” Meyer said.“ The lord has blessed me with so many good people around me. It just feels like I’m a little kid out there playing football.”

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