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Several standout high school quarterbacks in Texas have been stellar all season.
Now, they get a chance to add to their legacies by leading their teams to UIL state championships.
With the Texas high school football playoffs underway, here is a look at the Top 30 quarterbacks still alive in the postseason.
(The list is in alphabetical order)
Keagan Ables, Hawley - senior
In the Bearcats’ 57-21 bi-district playoff win against Ozona on Nov. 15, Ables passed for 250 yards and two TDs, giving him more than 3,000 yards on the season along with 32 TDs. Ables started the season by throwing for 16 TDs over Hawley’s first four games. He has rushed for 10 scores as well, including finding the end zone twice in the bi-district win.
Sawyer Anderson, Dallas Parish Episcopal - senior (Purdue commit)
Anderson threw for more than 3,000 yards each time since his sophomore season, including more than 3,700 yards to go along with 37 TDs as a senior. In addition, with 13,264 career yards entering the postseason, Anderson became the all-time leading passer in the Dallas area. He now wants to end his career at Parish Episcopal by giving the Panthers their sixth straight state championship.
Kaleb Bailey, North Shore - senior
One of the premier dual-threat quarterbacks in Texas, Bailey had a phenomenal junior season, when he threw for 3,152 yards and 34 TDs while adding 711 yards and 14 TDs on the ground for a North Shore team that finished as the 6A Division I runner-up. This season, he’s thrown for 1,770 yards and 21 TDs, and has added 509 yards and seven TDs for the undefeated Mustangs, who are eyeing a return trip to Arlington and another title shot.
Kyden Barker, Galveston Ball - junior
Barker has improved from his breakout sophomore for the Golden Tornadoes, throwing for 2,145 yards and 29 TDs in the regular season as Ball finished 8-2. As a sophomore, he passed for more than 2,000 yards and 30 TDs. This season, Barker passed for at least three TDs in eight of Ball’s first nine games, including five in a win against Port Arthur Memorial.
Austin Carlisle, Fort Bend Ridge Point - senior (Houston commit)
Carlisle topped 2,500 yards in the Panthers’ bi-district playoff, as he threw for 205 yards and three TDs in a 49-16 win against Houston Dobie. He now has 40 TDs on the season, including a combined 14 scores over Ridge Point’s final three regular-season games. Carlisle has 685 rushing yards and eight scores as well, two of those coming in the bi-district win.
Luke Carney, Dallas Christian - senior (Syracuse commit)
Carney has the chance to win four titles in four seasons at Dallas Christian. Currently this season, Carney has completed 76 percent of his passes for 2,112 yards and 15 TDs while being intercepted just once. He reached both the 10,000-yard barrier in career passing yards and 100 career TDs in his final home game.
Aaron DeLeon, Houston Stratford - senior
Over his junior and senior years, DeLeon has thrown for more than 5,000 yards, including 3,301 yards his junior year to go along with 42 TDs. He’s also combined for 25 rushing TDs in that same span.
Chaston Ditta, Lake Travis - senior (East Carolina commit)
Ditta is the engine that makes the Cavaliers’ offense go. He’s turned in a stellar senior year, with 2,309 yards and 23 TDs thus far, including a 291-yard three-TD performance in Lake Travis’ bi-district playoff win against Round Rock on Nov. 15. Ditta added a rushing TD as well, and now has eight scores on the season.
Canyon Evans, Glen Rose - senior
Evans is continuing what has been a prolific career with the Tigers. As a junior, he threw for 4,577 yards and 49 TDs for a state semifinal squad. So far this season, Evans has 3,132 yards and 39 TDs, including five in each of his previous two games, the latest coming in the Tigers’ bi-district playoff win against Eagle Mountain.
Jake Fette, El Paso Del Valle - junior (Arizona State commit)
It’s been a tremendous season for Fette and the Conquistadores, who moved to 10-0 following a decisive 63-35 bi-district playoff win against Abilene Cooper on Nov. 14. Fette went into that postseason opener already having passed for 2,115 yards and 27 TDs without throwing a single interception.
Edward Griffin, Coppell - senior (Baylor commit)
Griffin has followed up a breakout junior season, when he threw for 3,170 yards and 41 TDs. He now has 2,981 yards and 39 TDs while completing 76 percent of his throws. Griffin passed for 260 yards and a TD in the Cowboys’ bi-district playoff win against Prosper.
Hank Hendrix, Boerne - sophomore
Hendrix is on pace to perhaps be the state’s top QB for the Class of 2027. After throwing for nearly 1,600 yards and 18 TDs his freshman season, Hendrix has smashed those numbers this season. He now has 3,241 yards and 34 TDs after the Greyhounds’ bi-district playoff win on Nov. 14 against Corpus Christi Carroll.
Wyatt Holmstrom, Seminole - senior
Holmstrom is putting up strong numbers at the right time. In his team’s regular-season finale, he completed 32-of-39 passes for 438 yards and five TDs in Seminole’s win against Monahans. He followed that up in the bi-district round on Nov. 14, as he completed 25 passes for 271 yards and four TDs in a 70-32 win against Levelland, giving Holmstrom 3,455 yards and 42 TDs at this juncture.
Chris Jimerson Jr., North Crowley - senior (North Texas commit)
Jimerson already had been an impact player for the Panthers, having almost 5,500 total yards and 74 TD passes on his resume entering his senior season. But he has continued to lead North Crowley’s prolific offense, as the team is enjoying an undefeated season. Jimerson definitely served notice early in the season throwing for 194 yards and four TDs as the Panthers upended defending 6A Division II champion DeSoto.
Carter Jones, Lancaster - senior (Nevada commit)
Jones has combined to throw for nearly 3,700 yards his junior and senior years. Thus far, he has thrown for 1,798 yards and 15 TDs. Despite Lancaster finishing with a sub-.500 record and playing in one of the toughest districts in Texas (11-6A), the Tigers won their playoff opener, outlasting Harker Heights, 40-35, with Jones completing 22-of-28 passes for 251 yards and three scores.
Lloyd Jones, Hitchcock - senior (Texas Tech commit)
Jones is a standout three-sport athlete at Hitchcock, and started on the school’s state championship basketball team his sophomore year. But football is his future, with his commit to Texas Tech while coming on the heels of his junior year, when Jones passed for 2,735 yards and 35 TDs.
Trevor Long, Corpus Christi Miller - senior
Long passed for 3,767 yards as a junior and is posting more solid numbers as a senior. He has 2,720 yards along with 37 TDs entering the postseason. In his last five regular-season games, Miller has thrown for at least 300 yards in four of those, along with a combined 25 TDs as the Buccaneers won all five.
Armando Lujan, Sunray - senior
Lujan is getting closer to becoming the state’s all-time leading passer in the UIL classifications. Finishing the regular season throwing for 2,699 yards and 25 TDs for an undefeated Bobcat squad, Lujan threw for 190 yards and two TDs while adding 151 yards and two TDs on the ground in a bi-district win against Olton. He is now less than 400 yards away from setting the record. Lujan also holds the state record for total career TDs, currently at 219.
Jaxon Moffatt, Van - senior
Moffatt has already increased his passing totals from his junior year, going from 1,606 yards to 1,715 entering the postseason. He has also upped his TD totals from his sophomore season, when he threw for 12 scores, to 14 in 2023 to 15, including three in a decisive win against North Lamar late in the regular season.
Gavin Parkhurst, Fort Worth All Saints - senior (Rice commit)
After his team’s regular-season finale, Parkhurst already has exceeded his passing total from a year ago, going from 2,372 yards in ’23 to 2,395 entering the playoffs for a team that went undefeated in the regular season. Pankhurst also topped his TD total from his junior season, going from 25 to 34, including five TDs in four of All Saints’ last five regular-season contests.
Keelon Russell, Duncanville - senior (Alabama commit)
Originally an SMU commit, Russell switched to Alabama over the offseason. He is now seeking to finish off a memorable career for one of the nation’s highly ranked teams. Russell, who is attempting to win a third straight 6A Division I title for the Panthers, ended the regular season completing 70 percent of his passes for 2,827 yards and 41 TDs with just one interception.
Kelden Ryan, DeSoto - senior (Virginia Tech commit)
This past offseason, Ryan transferred to DeSoto from Fort Worth All Saints’ Episcopal, where he threw for 2,110 yards and 19 TDs while adding 12 rushing TDs. Ryan, who now wants to get the Eagles their third straight 6A Division II state championship, entered the playoffs throwing for 2,775 yards and 32 TDs, completing 73 percent of his throws.
Adam Schobel, Columbus - senior (TCU commit)
As a junior, Schobel passed for 2,405 yards and 30 TDs while guiding the Cardinals to a 12-1 record and a trip to the third round of the playoffs. Schobel - who originally committed to Baylor and Oklahoma State before flipping to TCU - is on track to get Columbus deeper into the playoffs in ’24, as the Cardinals stand at 10-1 after winning their playoff opener on Nov. 15.
Kevin Sperry, Denton Guyer - senior (Oklahoma commit)
Sperry is playing for his third school in as many seasons. After playing at Prosper Rock Hill as a sophomore, Sperry transferred to Oklahoma power Midwest City Carl Albert and threw for 2,564 yards and 31 TDs in leading the Titans to a state title. He returned to Texas this season and has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards and 21 TDs.
Bryce Still, Overton - senior
Still is one of the more unsung quarterbacks in the state, but his stats speaks volumes. A season after throwing for exactly 3,200 yards and accounting for 47 total TDs, Still has 2,980 yards through the air and 600 more on the ground. He also has 38 passing TDs and 14 more rushing.
Cody Stoever, Wimberley - senior
Over three seasons as the starting signal-caller for the Texans, Stoever has thrown for more than 7,324 yards and 94 TDs. This season, he has 1,891 yards and 22 scores - four of those coming in Wimberley’s bi-district playoff win against Pearsall on Nov. 14.
Jett Surratt, Carthage - junior
As a freshman, Surratt was part of a state championship squad and last season, threw for more than 3,800 yards and 46 TDs for a Bulldog team that finished 13-1. He’s eyeing a return trip to play for a title, as Carthage ended the regular season with nine straight wins following an opening-game loss, with Surratt throwing for five TDs in the regular-season finale, as Carthage went undefeated in district play for the eighth consecutive season.
Bryce Ullman, Ganado - senior
Ullman has thrown for seven TD passes not once, not twice but three times this season. Ullman - who threw for more than 3,100 yards and 47 TDs for a state semifinal squad last season - also accumulated 218 yards through the air and four TDs in Ganado’s bi-district playoff win on Nov. 14.
Chad Warner, Cibolo Steele - senior (UTEP commit)
Warner continues to be one of the quarterbacks to watch in the state. He now has 2,795 yards and 37 TDs for a Knights’ team considered to be a title contender. In Steele’s bi-district playoff win on Nov. 14, Warner completed 10-of-11 passes for 258 yards and five TDs. One other stat to watch: Warner has completed 81 percent of his passes (148-of-183), and went a perfect 19-of-19 in a 62-59 win against San Antonio East Central in October.
Ziondre Williams, Anna - junior
Williams enjoyed a breakout sophomore year, passing for nearly 3,000 yards and 39 TDs in helping lead the Coyotes to their first-ever state title. With Anna moving up from 4A to 5A this season, Williams hasn’t missed a beat, entering the postseason having completing 66 percent of his passes for 2,301 yards and 27 TDs, with nearly 900 yards and 11 TDs rushing. In Anna’s postseason opener, he accounted for 405 total yards and two TDs in a bi-district win against Colleyville Heritage.
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