Teddy Bridgewater might not be done in the NFL just yet. He won his first high school playoff game as a coach, but says he ‘can’t wait’ to return to the pros:
Teddy Bridgewater might not be done in the NFL just yet. The former New Orleans Saints quarterback retired earlier this year to take the job as high school football coach at his Miami Northwestern alma mater, and last week he led the Bulls to their first playoff win, 69-0 over Barron Collier. Now they’re set to host Levy high school for an opportunity to advance to the state semifinals in 3A competition.
But on Tuesday, Bridgewater suggested he could go back to the pros. Bridgewater tweeted:
“So many QB jobs available for me after we make this state title run. I can’t wait to return back to the NFL.”
While he’s thrived in reviving his high school program and spoken often about enjoying the opportunity to make a difference in his hometown, Bridgewater has expressed frustration on the drama and politicking surrounding the job. As part of a longer message, he previously wrote on his personal Facebook page that:
“Now we have grown men telling on KIDS!! Jeopardizing their future and their team’s future. As a man, what do you get out of that?? I pray MNW stays in the clear from all that’s going on because like I tell my coaches, I played 10 years in the league and never made any headlines and I’ll be damned if I let MNW have me caught up in some mess. I know it’s people waiting on the day it happens”
That’s a pretty strong condemnation. One of Miami Northwestern’s rivals vacated their season after an investigation revealed they had rostered an ineligible player, and situations like that clearly aren’t appealing to someone with other options like Bridgewater. We’ll see how things shake out in the weeks and months ahead, but a return to the NFL shouldn’t be ruled out. It’s clearly on his mind.
Teddy Bridgewater is working hard in South Florida. The former Saints quarterback-turned-high school coach has led his team to the playoffs in Year 1:
Teddy Bridgewater walked away from millions of dollars and a ten-year NFL career to pursue his real passion — coaching high school football. And the former New Orleans Saints quarterback has found success there, too. Bridgewater returned to his alma mater in South Florida, Miami Northwestern High School, where the field is named after him.
And while it’s just Year 1 of his program, Bridgewater already has them in the playoffs with a 7-2 record (they took a third loss to crosstown rival Miami Central, which forfeited the game due to a rules violation). They’ll play Barron Collier this Friday and hope to advance.
“It’s a smart group,” Bridgewater told the Miami Herald after beating top-seeded Miami Columbus earlier this season. “It’s a group that loves challenges and they’re battled tested.”
Good for him. He made a lot of fans with the Saints and “Teddy Two Gloves” is still remembered fondly for helping to save their 2019 season after a devastating injury to Drew Brees. Everywhere he’s gone, from Miami to Louisville and multiple NFL cities, he’s left with more fans cheering for him.
Bridgewater overcame a career-threatening knee injury to enjoy a productive stint with the Saints and a couple of years as a starter before stepping back into a backup role. He was known for stopping by high school games as a spectator just enjoying the atmosphere in New Orleans, so you can say he’s in his element. Making a positive influence on the next generation and teaching them how to succeed, even through adversity, is how he feels he can best build his legacy.
Everything is bigger in Texas, including high school football stadium projects.
It wasn’t that long ago that current Florida Gators starting quarterback DJ Lagway was turning around the misfortunes of his high school football team. As a freshman Lagway and the Willis High School Wildkats were just a meager 2-8 and would eventually lead them deep into the Texas State 6A Division II playoffs before DeSoto took them down.
Less than a year after Lagway graduated and moved on to the collegiate level, his Houston-area high school is looking to get a new stadium in a $115 million bond that would earmark more than half of that total for the project.
According to Texas High School Football, the $68.8 million proposal is going to be voted on in November.
This project would place the new stadium among the most expensive high school football facilities in Texas. It follows recent trends, such as Katy ISD’s $72 million Legacy Stadium and McKinney’s $70 million venue. Voters in nearby districts, like Prosper ISD, have also considered costly sports facility upgrades.
What can we say, they just do things a little differently in the Lone Star State. We shall soon find out if this goes through with Willis ISD looking to make substantial changes to their district to keep up with the ever-growing population.
Check out who won the #Chiefs’ latest high school Coach of the Week awards.
The Kansas City Chiefs have announced their High School Coaches of the Week for the fifth week of the 2024 season. Head coach Jed Paulson of Blue Springs High School and head coach Rod Stallbaumer of Basehor-Linwood High School are the two latest winners of the prestigious award.
Blue Springs High School stood out this week for defeating Rockhurst High School 30-13 for their first win against the Hawklets since 2019. This victory for the Wildcats earned Paulson the Head Coach of the Week award for Week 5.
Speaking about the recognition after the win, Coach Paulson said:
“This award is a representation of the hard work from our players, parents and staff over the past three years. The buzz surrounding the Wildcat football program comes from years of building the culture the right way.”
The other award winner for Week 5, Stallbaumer of the Basehor-Linwood Bobcats, is currently coaching the 5-0 for their season after defeating Topeka West High School 59-6.
In his comments from the Chiefs’ official media release about the award, Stallbaumer said:
“This award is a reflection of the hard work of our student athletes, the dedication of our assistant coaches and the support of our parents and community – all three factors are paramount to a successful football program” Head coach Stallbaumer shared after receiving the award.
Winning a Head Coach of the Week award gets the school a $500 Hunt Family Foundation grant. The coach receives a pair of Oakley sunglasses, a certificate of recognition, and qualification for the Eric Driskell Coach of the Year Award which will be selected later this fall.
Teddy Bridgewater got his first win as a high school football coach. The former Saints quarterback is off to a good start at Miami Northwestern:
What a debut for head coach Teddy Bridgewater, securing a dominating victory. Bridgewater, a former Pro Bowl quarterback who recently wrapped up a 10-year NFL career, now leads his alma mater, Miami Northwestern Senior High. 💯 pic.twitter.com/5kxWdOlWLI
Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is still finding ways to win. He’s coaching high school football after finishing his playing career with the Detroit Lions.
Bridgewater, who returned to his alma mater at Miami Northwestern, just earned his first win as a high school coach. His Bulls team came away with an impressive 42-7 victory on Saturday against the Palmetto Panthers to start their season (and his career) 1-0.
He isn’t the only the only former Saint quarterback to enter the coaching ranks. Mark Brunell and J.T. Barrett have both found themselves coaching with the Lions. Those are some more ties to Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who has familiarity with both players along with Bridgewater during his time in New Orleans. He was teammates with Brunell and coached Barrett before going to Detroit.
With that said, a big congrats Bridgewater on a huge accomplishment in the place where it all started for him. We’ll all make sure to stay tuned to him and his squad as their season continues.
We may be talking about practice (practice?), but this is a ridiculous catch, no matter the setting. And Mason Dragich, a football player in Michigan, has set the standard pretty high for a highlight play.
And prep football season hasn’t even started.
Dragich is a class of 2026 wide receiver at Dakota High School (Macomb, Mich.). He produced a simply sensational, one-handed catch during practice on Friday.
The play saw him rise up and reach across his body with his right hand to make a one-handed catch before tumbling to the ground. The catch was pretty great, but there is an instant reaction from his teammate (No. 34, senior linebacker Vasi Mantis) in the bottom left corner on the sidelines who is essentially taken aback at the play.
Don’t worry No. 34, we feel the same way. Amazing stuff from Dragich, but there is a catch to making a catch like that: We want to see it a game now.
Stream your high school football team’s games or watch national matchups on the NFHS Network.
The high school football season rushes into 2024 with gridiron action creating buzz around the country.
For high school football fans, it’s chance to watch the matchups under the Friday night lights or on Saturday afternoons. And thanks to the NFHS Network, games can also be streamed or watched on-demand—whether that be a national Super 25 matchup or teams within your area.
The NFHS Network’s collaboration with over 40 high school state athletic/activities associations, and PlayOn! Sports, provides fans with the ability to live-stream high school sports on any device.
As the season kicks off, here are the state-by-state high school football directories to live stream games:
Note: We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY HSS operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
ESPN will air six high school football games, including matchups with top-10 teams Bishop Gorman, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Bosco and Chaminade-Madonna.
As prep football gets back into full swing, the Worldwide Leader in Sports will bring back its ESPN High School Football Kickoff for the 15th year.
From Aug. 16-25, ESPN will feature six games featuring 28 players ranked in its top 300 for the classes of 2025 and 2026. According to the press release, eleven of these players have committed to Div. I college football programs.
Though it’s just the first week of the season for many teams, this event will showcase some of the best matchups of the season, including two games between top 10 teams: Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) plays St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), and St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) goes up against Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Fla.).
Below is the full schedule and the channels on which the game will appear. All times are Eastern Time. The rankings align with the USA TODAY High Sports Super 25 preseason rankings, released earlier this week.
Friday, Aug. 16
No. 12 Carrollton (Ga.) at Woodward Academy (College Park, Ga).
Game time: 8 p.m.
Channel: ESPN2
Thursday, Aug. 22
Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) at Thompson (Alabaster, Ala.)
Game time: 8 p.m.
Channel: ESPN2
Friday, Aug. 23
No. 10 Milton (Ga.) vs. No. 16 American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)
Game time: 7 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
Saturday, Aug. 24
No. 3 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) at No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Game time: 4 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
No. 5 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) vs. No. 6 Chaminade-Madonna (Hollywood, Fla.)
Game time: 8 p.m.
Channel: ESPN2
Sunday, Aug. 25
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, (Ga.) at Baylor School (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Game time: 1 p.m.
Channel: ESPN
Gavin Owens, 2025 pro-style quarterback from Rabun Gap Nacoochee High, participates in drills from during Dabo Swinney High School Camp (USA TODAY Network)
Note: We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY HSS operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Garrett Nussmeier makes a big claim about Texas high school football.
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier didn’t hold back this week when he declared that Texas is the best high school football state in the country.
Born in Louisiana, Nussmeier played for Marcus High School (Flower Mound, Texas). He was a consensus four-star recruit coming out of high school.
The 2020 Under Armour All-America Game selection threw for over 5,000 yards combined during his sophomore and junior seasons at Marcus.
The comments from Nussmeier certainly see the quarterback wade into one of the great debates in American sports. The question of what state has the best high school talent is certainly a complicated one with many layers.
Texas is actually not the leader in sending players to the NFL on a per capita level and actually trails Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida in that regard.
— Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute (@KemGardnerInst) January 29, 2024
But let’s be honest here, Nussmeier has a point. Texas high school football is intense and tough. There is no doubt that he was well-prepared for the SEC and LSU from his time playing ‘Friday Night Lights.’
Nussmeier and LSU will open their season in one of those states that claims to have the best high school football in the country with a Sept. 1 game at USC.
Last year Nussmeier got his first collegiate start in the Reliaquest Bowl against Wisconsin. In the bowl win, he went 31-of-45 for 395 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
It’s time to take another look at the Mauk brothers’ legacy.
All gas, no brakes, and certainly no punting.
Yep, with 2024 graduation commencements afoot, the Dog Days of Summer looming, and a high football season on the distant horizon, it’s back… the “Mauk” question.
Will the most passing yards in high school football history ever be broken?
Probably not?
Maybe?
You know a kid … ?
While high school football hasn’t shifted to a complete “pass first” style of offense — Wing-T and a cloud of turf rubber for the win — that’s not to say the game at this level hasn’t mirrored some of the playbook tendencies in college and of course the NFL.
Just look at the 2023 season, where slingers like DJ Lagway and Dylan Raiola lit up defenses with an air attack that had the opposing team’s secondary on their heels — and the social media world on standby, ready to hit send:
Florida 5-star QB commit DJ Lagway continued his monster senior season last night with 5 TDs, including this 52-yard bomb🎯
Predecessors of the air attack have dotted the high school gridiron the last few decades, a showcase of arm talent — perhaps mixed with the often commonplace makeup of the defense — that produced career-like stat lines in one season.
And when the final game of their senior seasons ended, the actual career numbers stood in otherworldly territory you’d typically find in video games set on Beginner Mode.
Will those types of numbers ever be repeated by some of the play-callers in the forthcoming graduating classes?
Or ever?
When scouring the archives and considering things like most passing yards of all time, it seems like the answer is no.
The hypothetical answer first lies within the math
One of the most prolific passers in 2023, Gage Baker, threw for over 6,000 yards at Paradise Honor (Surprise, Ariz.), adding to a career total of 11,769.
Those are incredible numbers, and move him ahead of two great quarterbacks in Josh Booty and Greg Paulus.
But that’s still outside the top 25.
Baker would have needed at least three years with the same output to come close to the all-time best, but even then, close is not the same as overtaking the lead.
The big chips?
Arch Manning, one of the most prominent national high school stars we’ve seen in recent years, ended his career at Isidore Newman (La.) with 8,539 yards passing. Uncle Peyton had 7,207. Uncle Eli had 7,389.
The two aforementioned 2023 standouts are in the same area. Lagway ended his career at Willis (Texas) with 8,392 yards passing. Raiola ended his remarkable journey from Arizona to the Georgia high school football fields with 8,442 yards.
(Without question, both Lagway and Raiola caused torment with their legs, too, so the passing totals are taken with dash of data salt.)
But, none of the those respectable hauls cracked the top 100 of all time, where names like Brock Purdy (8,932 yards) loom.
Which QBs have come close?
Some of the most recent names to make a significant push up the list were Richard Stallworth, who finished his Yuma Catholic (Ariz.) career in 2022 with 12,590 yards; Sam Huard, the Washington standout who set a state record with 13,226 yards; and Aaron Philo, who made the most significant mark during his time at Prince Avenue Christian (Shreveport, La.) — which ended in 2023 — throwing for 13,922 yards.
That placed him ahead of notable NFL names and Heisman winners Trevor Lawrence and Bryce Young.
Still, all of them are well outside even the top five…
13. Tucker Israel, Lake Nona (Orlando, Fla.)
Career passing yards: 14,082 (2011-14)
12. Travis Quintanilla, Refugio (Texas)
Career passing yards: 14,228 (2011-13)
11. Hunter Lile, Booker (Texas)
Career passing yards: 14,408 (2011-14)
10. J.R. House, Nitro (Wv.)
Career passing yards: 14,457 (1995-98)
9. Will Grier, Davidson Day (N.C.)
Career passing yards: 14,565 (2011-13)
8. Myles Brennan, St. Stanislaus (Bay St. Louis, Miss.)
Career passing yards: 15,138 (2013-16)
7. Layne Hatcher, Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Ark.)
Career passing yards: 15,483 (2014-17)
6. Chris Leak, Independence (Charlotte, N.C.)
Career passing yards: 15,593 (1999-02)
5. Grant Gunnell, St. Pius X (Houston, Texas)
Career passing yards: 16,108 (2015-18)
4. Alex Huston, Glendale High School (Springfield, Mo.)
Career passing yards: 16,566 (2015-18)
3. Jake Browning, Folsom (Calif.)
Career passing yards: 16,775 (2012-15)
2. Ben Mauk, Kenton (Ohio)
Career passing yards: 17,364 (1999-02)
1. Maty Mauk, Kenton (Ohio)
Career passing yards: 18,932 (2008-11)
Mauk during his record-setting career at Kenton (Ohio).
And with that, we’re back at where we started.
Will any high school quarterback ever top Maty Mauk’s total?
Every year, we look at those five-digits like a blinking neon sign and throw hypothetical head-tilts at it like we’re gauging an entree on “Man vs. Food.”
And every year, it seems like surpassing 18,932 yards is an uphill battle that will go untouched forever.
The hypothetical answer also lies within a coach’s decision-making
Aside from probably needing to be a four-year starter, with an above-average freshman campaign, or a three-year starter with a huge sophomore season, there’s also the physicality required for such gaudy numbers.
Ben Mauk threw 1,905 passes during his career; Maty threw 2,110.
The next-closest total to either is at 1,745.
That’s a lot of throws.
Mike Mauk, who coached both his sons and the No. 4 all-time passing leader, Alex Huston, didn’t rely on the pass-happy philosophy because he wanted his quarterbacks to be record-breaking.
Viewed by many as a pioneering icon in high school football, Mauk instead constructed the 5-wide/no running/no punting (seriously, no punting) concept, at least in his mind, out of necessity.
“If you look at the Kenton (Ohio) program when we came here back in 1983, we had to find a way to be competitive in our league and we had not had great success in past years. We had nine winning seasons in the history of the school in the Western Buckeye League. We sure couldn’t line up and run the Wing-T or the conventional offenses a lot of teams were running. We tried for three-four years and weren’t successful. Finally, we had to turn things around and we began to throw the football.”
And, oddly enough, a quote from Ben Mauk to MaxPreps in 2011 about his record being topped by little brother sheds light on one factor that compounds that issue.
“Other people know more about them (records) than I do. State champs — I’ll remember that a lot longer than records. When you play a team sport like football, it’s not about individuals. I sat out a lot. In a lot of fourth quarters, I had my shoulder pads off and watched from the sidelines. In a lot of games I had 500 yards at halftime. Maybe I could have thrown for 1,000 yards and set a national record.”
Sportsmanship, though a concept historically brushed in gray areas, is under a far greater microscope in the Social Media Age.
But could it be that type of old-school lesson that actually hits the brakes on any QB coming close to breaking the record?
