Sporting a freshly pressed shirt and a buzz cut, Chase Hansen sat behind an oak table, the fearlessness for which he has since become known missing from his blue, searching eyes.

The man leading Lone Peak into Friday's Class 5A championship was just a kid on June 30, 2010, fighting for the privilege to play football.

Hansen appealed the Utah High School Activities Association for eligibility after transferring from American Fork to Lone Peak between his sophomore and junior years.

"It just sucked that I could possibly actually lose a year of football," Hansen said, "which for me is like not having a year of anything."

Hansen knows how close he was to not playing last season.

The UHSAA that June day ruled he would have to sit out a year. This fall would have been his first and only at Lone Peak. But Hansen avoided the punishment when he and his family moved just miles away, re-establishing residence in Lone Peak boundaries. He was immediately eligible and instantly a star.

While Hansen bullied his way through defenses and endlessly frustrated opposing coaches, he did it with raw talent over developed skill.

"Last year, I was more an athlete playing quarterback," he said. "This year, I feel like it's the other way around."

As a junior, he led Lone Peak to the 5A semifinals, where the Knights were upended by state runner-up Fremont, their opponent in Friday's title game.

In 2011, he has been even better, throwing 37 touchdowns and rushing for 14 more. He's disciplined and finessed. He played running back until eighth grade, but it wasn't until this year that he started to play like a quarterback.

It's been like the difference between chopping firewood and carving wooden figurines.

In the era of Tim Tebow and the Nelsons (Riley and D.J.), his dual capability makes him highly desirable. While there has been speculation that Hansen will eventually be moved to linebacker at Utah, Nick Stremick, his California-based private tutor, says he is a "Division I quarterback, bottom line."

Stremick said because Hansen committed to Utah before his senior season and always seemed like a sure bet to become a Ute or a Cougar, other programs may have shied away.

"I would say there would be five to 10 more programs that would have offered him a scholarship," Stremick said.

Hansen enters Friday, his last day as a high school quarterback, with little else to prove. He guided Lone Peak to wins over Bingham and Jordan, two of the other top teams in 5A. He answered critics who said he couldn't make the college throws by learning to stay steady in the pocket, by completing nearly 60 percent of his passes. He is promised a scholarship.

All that's left is a state championship.

"This," Hansen said, "is the only reason I even wanted to go to high school."

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Facebook.com/tribpreps Hansen on Nelson

"What he's done this year is just incredible; against good teams, against good opponents. There's not much more you can say about what he's done. I just hope I can learn from guys like that and guys that play the position as well as he does and put that into my game. It's mind-blowing what him and even [Jordan freshman quarterback Austin] Kafentzis have done this year. It's something I'd like to ask them how they've done it."