'I've Dreamed About This Forever', Highland Park FB Captain Brayden Schager Is Ready To Take The Field
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Highland Park rising Senior Brayden Schager has big shoes to fill as a first time starting quarterback for the Scots this fall.
"I've dreamed of this for 10 years," Schager said. "I've always been told I would be the Highland Park quarterback."
But Schager has had to wait his turn. His freshman year, John Stephen Jones, now at Arkansas, was leading the Scots to a second straight state championship. And then the last two years, Chandler Morris, now at the University of Oklahoma, has been at the helm, winning another state title.
Schager has been preparing for this moment for a long as he can remember. "It all kind of started when I was born when my dad put a football in my hands."
And, it helped that Brayden's mom, CBS 11 investigative reporter Ginger Allen, worked with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Babe Laufenberg. Nearly a decade ago, Brayden would join Babe and his sons, Joe Willie and Luke, for quarterback drills. The Laufenberg's became his mentors, and Joe Willie has been his primary private tutor the past two years.
Even though Schager has yet to start a varsity game at Highland Park, the 6-3, 200 pounder led "Team Grind", filled with college prospects, to a 7-on-7 national title in February. He now has 14 college scholarship offers.
Now a Senior Captain, Schager looks forward to starting his first Highland Park varsity game on August 28 against Flower Mound Marcus, which has one of the top quarterback prospects in the nation in LSU commit Garrett Nussmeier, the son of Cowboys quarterbacks Coach Doug Nussmeier.