NEW PORT RICHEY - From east to west, from Dade City to New Port Richey to Zephyrhills, quarterback jobs are up for grabs throughout training camps in Pasco County.
At River Ridge, the quarterback job has been decided by medical reasons.
Mike Gregory, last season's back-up, has an irregular heartbeat that has severely limited the 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior's practice time. His competition, 5-9, 165-pound junior Phil Petrini, is the starter while Gregory consults with doctors about what to do next.
"It's not something I'm happy with at all," Gregory said. "I do whatever I can do until my heart rate gets extremely elevated, just a few plays.
"But once there's intensive running drills and stuff like that it starts to act up."
Gregory also has asthma. But it is this mysterious heart condition that worries him most. When his heart starts racing it doesn't slow, and he's left breathless and dizzy, which is why he's not practicing.
"When I first seriously started noticing, it was probably the first day of practice," he said. "I was getting real dizzy, my heart rate was elevated tremendously. The thing that worried me was that it wouldn't go back down."
Coach Mike DeGennaro only can use Gregory in timing drills, but otherwise the senior is not cleared for full contact and usually doesn't even wear a helmet.
The coach has given Petrini the majority of practice reps - and the job.
"In (Gregory's) condition he can't compete for the job," DeGennaro said. "I saw him the other day in practice, he ran four plays in a total of 15 minutes and couldn't go on to the next set of drills. He was almost hyperventilating."
Gregory and Petrini entered the fall deadlocked after the spring. Petrini is an athletic runner who has worked hard on his passing.
Gregory is more comfortable in the pocket, has a stronger arm and spent more years in the system. Gregory shed 20 pounds this offseason, but as DeGennaro said, "right now it's not a choice."
Both were penciled in to play defense, too, though that is on hold for Gregory, too. But he said he understands why Petrini is the starter and he's not.
"Phil worked hard over the summer," Gregory said.
"I understand that coming in it was still up for grabs and now he's ahead. I just have to keep trying and working as hard as I can."
DeGennaro said once he's cleared, Gregory will have a chance to challenge Petrini.
"I don't think it will be hard for him to jump right back into the race," DeGennaro said, "once he's healthy and cleared."
