Sun Valley’s Noah Lineberry was the quarterback — from the very start

Noah Lineberry was only about 6 years old, but he made one thing crystal clear to the other kids in the neighborhood.

“I was going to be the quarterback,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna play any other position.”

Lineberry’s early football-playing days were against his neighborhood buddies, because his parents didn’t want him playing tackle football until he was a bit older. But when that day came, it was the same story for Lineberry.

“I was the quarterback,” he said.

He still is — and it’s doubtful that anyone at Sun Valley High wants to take the job away anytime soon.

Lineberry threw for 2,700 yards and 32 touchdowns last season, and with 17 starters returning, he hopes to make his senior season a big one for the Spartans. Sun Valley is coming off a 9-3 season and will be playing schools more its own size (in Class 6A) this fall.

“I was told we were the smallest 4A school in the state last year,” Lineberry said. “Despite that, we had a big season. It’s going to be a different world this season.”

Lineberry is a 6-foot, 190-pound lefty who has good foot speed and the ability to thread the ball through tight defenses to his receivers. On the final play of the Spartans’ 13-0 scrimmage victory last Friday against Ardrey Kell, he lofted a pass over two defenders and into the hands of a receiver for a 34-yard touchdown.

This will be his second season as a Sun Valley starter. He would have preferred this be his third starting campaign, but he was a backup in 2023 to Brady Turriff, now playing college ball.

“I wanted to start, but he got the job,” he said. “I hate losing at anything, so that was tough for me.”

“But in the big picture, it was good for me,” Lineberry added. “I learned a lot from Brady that season, and it made me a better player. When the season ended, I got back to work.”

He added 25 pounds over the summer in 2024, and when his junior campaign started, Lineberry was off and flying — for the most part..

“In Week 2, I suffered a grade-2 shoulder sprain,” he said. “I played through it, all the way from Week 3 through the playoffs. I’ve always been kind of a tough guy, and that helped me even more. I learned how to take shots and prevent being hurt any more.”

Lineberry said the Spartans added a little pizzaz to the offense last season.

“We changed the scheme, added some plays,” he said. “We became more versatile in the pass game.”

With a strong corps of receivers and the new scheme, Lineberry passed the Spartans into the playoffs, despite the shoulder injury.

The nine victories were the most at Sun Valley since a 10-3 campaign in 2018. The Spartans’ quarterback that season was Sam Howell, now with the Seattle Seahawks.

Now fully healed, Lineberry said he’s ready for a big senior campaign.

“We’ve been there at 6:45 every morning, all summer,” he said. “We were running laps and getting ourselves in shape.”

“I’m super excited about what we can do this year,” he said.

Lineberry said the only question mark is the offensive line.

“We have some new players up there, but I think it’s developing well,” he said. “We talk often. The communication is good.”

Otherwise, he said, the Spartans are loaded.

“We have great skilled position guys, and our coaching staff is the best,” he said. “I’d put them up against anyone.”

The interest from colleges has been a bit slow, but Spartans coaches expect that to change once the season begins.

“Someone is going to get smart and offer him soon,” Sun Valley head coach Ryan Smith said.