You’re all padded up. Heart pounding, mind racing, adrenaline rushing through your veins. As you run out onto the field, you hear the fans cheering you on with passion and pride. You hear the band playing their typical triumphant tunes, the sound of whistles, the voice of the announcer commentating the play-by-play.

If you’re the quarterback of the football team, this is what you experience every Friday night during the season. However, this season sees a new man take the reins of the Tiger offense.  Junior Colton Clack gets the chance to make a name for himself as he becomes the starting varsity quarterback.

“The new coaches are great,” junior Coltin Clack said. “They’ve definitely had a positive impact on the team.”

The team also has a new coaching staff along with a new athletic director after the departure of Barry Norton in early 2017. Having to adapt to new coaches with their new schemes, new playbooks and overall their new personalities can be difficult at times. Being a young quarterback for the varsity football team presents a new challenge as well. Thankfully, Coltin believes he has a good set of players to back him up.

“We’re doing really good so far,” Clack said. “We’re learning to do all the little things well because that adds up. We’ve adapted to the new system really well and are just focusing on getting better day-by-day.”

In football, there are many positions. All of these positions work together in order to achieve one goal. As a quarterback, all positions on the field can affect how you play. Clack has an arsenal full of weapons at his disposal highlighted by his receivers.

Clack said, “We have a strong receiving crew centered around Tevailance Hunt and a solid defense with most of the starters returning for their senior year.”

Last year, Texas High’s varsity team, led by Cade Pearson, went undefeated during the regular season. Unfortunately, they lost out in the first playoff game. While Coltin believes that he has a pretty good team to support him, he has set some pretty lofty expectations for himself.

“My goal would be to go undefeated in district play and lead our team deep into the playoffs,” Clack said.  

There are many things that factor into an undefeated season. Preparation, dedication, drive and passion are all things a team must have, but most importantly a team must have one goal in mind: to consistently improve.

“We will just have to continue to build chemistry together and get 1 percent better every day,” Clack said.  

The quarterback holds the role of leading the whole team to success game-in and game-out, which includes in-game results, strategy, decision making and even emotions. Throughout the season, the team gets weary. They need someone to pick them up and get them back on their feet so they can continue to perform at the highest level, and Clack feels like he’s the man to do it. The main point that Clack would like to get through to the team is this:

“Play every game like it’s your last.”