Killingly — Jacob Nurse was asked what he’s doing when he’s not throwing the ball, which is to say much of the time as Killingly’s quarterback.

“Usually, I’m either doing a play fake,” Nurse smiled, “or (standing) back there hoping (fullback) Jack (Sharpe) will score a touchdown.”

Quarterback is the glamour position of American sports now more than ever. They get far more attention than any other player on the team. They get to throw the ball more than their forefathers and, in spread offenses, often get to run more, too.

They do things a bit different at Killingly. The Red Hawks run the ball. A lot.

Nurse is content with his job with third-seeded Killingly, which plays at No. 2 Waterford in an all-Eastern Connecticut Conference CIAC Class M semifinal on Monday night (6:30).

Nurse played quarterback in youth football (he didn’t get to throw much there, either) with some running back sprinkled in. He should’ve gravitated towards the latter in high school because he’d get more touches.

“Nah,” Nurse said with a laugh. “I kind of grew out of it a little bit. I’m a little too slow for that at this time.”

The Red Hawks (10-1) have run 461 times this season, more than any other team in the state that has inputted their statistics into MaxPreps.com’s database.

Nurse has thrown 90 times (completing 52) for 962 yards with 14 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Ryan Bakken, Nurse’s Waterford counterpart, threw more passes(91) through his first four games than Nurse. Bakken had a combined 64 attempts in the Lancers’ fourth-and-fifth games and enters Monday night with 251.

Newtown, the top seed in Class LL, alternates quarterbacks every series, and both still threw more than Nurse.

“I still get to throw the ball at times,” Nurse said. “The running game is good. As long as we win, that’s really all I care about. When we do pass the ball, the running really sets up the pass, and there’s usually people open. It really helps the quarterback.”

Nurse earned first-team honors at quarterback on the ECC all-star team and was also named Killingly's scholar-athlete award winner.

“His football IQ is very high,” Red Hawks head coach Chad Neal said. “He knows the game. He knows what we’re going to do. I consider him a quarterback in a fullback’s body because he could be an excellent fullback or linebacker. ... (Against New Fairfield in Wednesday's quarterfinals) we ran him on five quarterback sneaks and he moved the pile about five or six yards at a time.”

Nurse has run 51 times for 232 yards and five touchdowns.

“The other thing about him is there’s no ego,” Neal continued. “He wants to win first. He knows he’s going to get anywhere from maybe, at the most, 10 passes a game. He’s going to probably carry the ball five to eight times a game. He’s going to manage the offense and make sure our running game has the timing right.”

The most times Nurse threw the ball this season was 15 in a 14-7 win over Berlin on Sept. 27. He threw for a season-high four touchdowns in a Week 2 win over Capital Prep/Achievement First (51-6, Sept. 2). He threw for a season-high 211 yards (completing 9 of 12 passes) in a 49-0 win over Stonington (Nov. 1).

Nurse completed 2 of 3 passes (for 17 yards) in Killingly's 28-0 shutout of No. 6 New Fairfield. He also ran nine times for 33 yards and two touchdowns.

“I like to think I can be physical, put my shoulder down, and run the linebacker over,” Nurse said.

n.griffen@theday.com