Another all-state QB for City High

IOWA CITY - The rest of us may not have had a clue, but Dan Sabers knew what he had in Andrew McNulty."I truly expected him to be one of the best quarterbacks in the state," the Iowa City High Coach said. "And he's done that."The senior stepped in to replace all-stater A.J. Derby this season and has led the Little Hawks back to the Class 4A playoff semifinals. City High (12-0) plays Bettendorf (12-0) this afternoon at 4:30 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.McNulty may not quite be Derby's size, but at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, he's not small, by any means. He brings many of the same attributes to the football field as the Iowa freshman, especially the winning part."He's every bit as quick as A.J. was," Sabers said. "A.J. was a great leader, a great person for the team, and Andrew definitely has that, too. He does a lot of things for us, including punting, just like A.J. did."And he's undefeated in his high-school career (as a quarterback). That says a lot about him."McNulty started as a freshman on an unbeaten City High sophomore team three years. He backed up Derby at QB as a sophomore two years ago and again last season, though he did see quite a bit of the field as a defensive back.City High, of course, won the 4A title last season and went undefeated in the regular season in 2008 before being upset by Cedar Rapids Xavier in the first round."Pretty incredible," McNulty said. "I've been around a lot of great players. It's been a lot of fun."McNulty is a thousand-thousand guy, with 1,091 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns to go with 1,210 yards passing and 11 more TDs. He only has been intercepted four times.He can run out of City High's shotgun option attack or throw it. Just like you know who."I definitely have confidence in myself," McNulty said. "I picked up a lot of things and learned a lot from A.J. Playing behind him was tough, but I did learn a lot. Just on how to manage games and respond to different situations."Since he hasn't been an offensive starter until this fall, McNulty hasn't been able to accumulate much recruiting tape and is just now starting to create a little buzz amongst college coaches. He wants to play at the highest level and seems intent on playing Division I somewhere."I don't think he's done growing physically, yet," Sabers said. "That's what I'd tell D-I coaches. What you are seeing now is just scratching the surface of what he can be."I tell you what, if I was a D-I coach, I'd take him because he's a winner."