The Texas run didn’t make Waxahachie quarterback Jerry Meyer III, a newcomer to the Lone Star State this year.
“I could come out here in some sweats and a hoodie and I’d be fine,” the sophomore said.
Meyer transferred to Waxahachie from Lake Mead Christian Academy in the Las Vegas area, where as a freshman in 2023 he won a 2A state championship and set the Nevada single-season record for touchdowns with 58.
Las Vegas, located in the Mojave Desert, experiences high temperatures that rival even the most miserable summers in Texas.
“It doesn’t compare at all,” Meyer said. “Vegas is hot.”
But Meyer admits that Texas has the hotter high school football scene.
For Texans, big stadiums, spectacle and top talent are typical aspects of high school football. But to outsiders, the frenzy is pretty unique.
Dallas-Fort Worth grew by more than 152,000 residents, the size of a large suburb, last year. The migration to North Texas continued, introducing fresh faces to the area’s booming high school sports landscape. Meyer and other out-of-state newcomers are playing their first seasons of high school football in Texas, and so far the experience has lived up to the hype.
“It was a blessing to play with the top talent in America,” said Meyer, who passed for 2,092 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and holds 10 college offers, including Ole Miss, Nebraska and UNLV.
Meyer and Waxahachie compete in District 11-6A, also known as the “District of Doom.” It includes two defending state champions in Duncanville and DeSoto, a storied program in Cedar Hill and an area powerhouse in Lancaster that Waxahachie must defeat Friday to clinch the final 11-6A playoff spot.
Duncanville and DeSoto, in particular, are nationally ranked and loaded with four- and five-star talent. A total of 32 players from Duncanville and DeSoto have made it to the NFL.
“Texas football is the talk of the country. It’s the biggest stage to play on,” Meyer said. “There is so much talk about it. They support it. It’s very competitive here in this district and in Texas in general.”
Quarterback Melissa Noah Schuback, a three-star junior from Alabama, is also getting a taste of competitive Texas high school soccer in District 4-5AII with Anna, Frisco Emerson, Lovejoy and Prosper Walnut Grove all ranked teams in The Dallas Morning NewsDallas survey-area 5A.
Only one team from the district, Lovejoy, earned a playoff berth, in part because of the high degree of parity.
“Our district is really tough and we play a top team in the playoffs every week, so it’s almost like the playoffs in our district, which is really good,” said Schuback, who passed for 1,788 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushed for 282 yards and five. scores this season.
But facing talented football teams is nothing new for Schuback, who played for Hoover High School, which competes in Alabama’s Class 7A.
“It’s very well known around the country,” Schuback said. “The district we were in was really tough and we played a top team every week.”
Although Hoover played its games at the 11,000-seat Hoover Met, home of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament, Schuback was still impressed with how fans filled Melissa’s 35 million Coach Kenny Deel Stadium of dollars, which was opened last season and has a capacity of 10,000.
“They say high school football is life here, and now I’m really seeing it,” Schuback said. “[The stadium] it’s almost full every game, even if we’re not playing a top opponent.”
In Vegas, Meyer went to a smaller school that didn’t have a band and didn’t compete with the level of talent he faces now, but “people sleep in Nevada,” he said. “There are some players down there.”
He echoed Schuback’s sentiment about Texas’ impressive crowds.
“There are so many people who show up to the games, and it makes you feel special,” Meyer said.
And the stadiums are sights to see.
“It feels like you’re in a small college here,” Meyer said. “It’s completely different.”
Before becoming Waxahachie’s QB1, Meyer previously was in Texas for football camps and 7-on-7 tournaments.
“It’s huge,” Meyer said of his impressions of Texas overall. “And it’s a football state.”
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