One of the Most Prolific QBs in Texas High School Football History is a Red Raider
Shades of a Patrick Mahomes storyline are at work in West Texas.
Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter again in your life as much as you do right now.
- Coach Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights (2004)
I love the movie Friday Night Lights. It was probably my first introduction to the disparity in population and resources that exists between the eastern and western parts of the state of Texas.
The movie follows the story of the late 1980s Odessa Permian Panthers, a west Texas high school with an almost-unparalleled standard of football excellence, as they journeyed through the 1988 football season to the state championship final, eventually losing to Dallas Carter, a then-east Texas powerhouse.
The story of Permian is not unlike west Texas’ major university—Texas Tech, located in Lubbock, TX. They must do more with less, and somehow, someway, compete with the big programs in the east, among others. However, unlike those small town high schools, Tech can at least forage for talent nationwide. Given that they aren’t a massive brand, that usually means their efforts are concentrated state-wide.
Their latest class was riddled with east Texas High school stars. None bigger than Lake Belton’s Micah Hudson at WR—he caught most of the headlines, and for good reason. He’s a top 12 nationally rated prospect. However, one of the other signees—Hutto’s Will Hammond, was also a prolific east Texas producer. He comes from the Austin metro.
This tends to be a deadly combination— a gunslinger QB and an elite athlete at WR, that is. Throw in an OC who coached Western Kentucky’s (WKU) Bailey Zappe and Jerreth Sterns to CFF divinity, and suddenly you have my attention—and you should be paying attention too.
Fr. QB Will Hammond — 6’1.5, 190
Hammond found himself trending on Twitter in the early weeks of the 2023 high school football season, after his Hutto squad lost 82-80 (in a football game) in week two. In that game, Hammond attempted a total of 58 passes, completing 36 of those for 719(!) yards and four TDs to only one INT. He also rushed 13 times for 88 yards, adding six more scores to his total. It seems this high school was auditioning to be another member in the BIG-12 conference. I’m not even sure if they were lining up 11 players on defence (#FightingIrish).
Hammond's overall numbers for the year aren't far off from those of former Texas Tech Red Raider Patrick Mahomes, who finished his senior year with a total of 65 TDs. Hammond passed for just over 3900 yards, 35 TDs to 14 INTs, and added another 1077 yards with 19 more scores along the ground, for a grand total of 54 on the year in only 11 games.
As a reference, Mahomes’ senior year saw him pass for over 4600 yards and a 50-6 TD-INT ratio on 495 attempts over 13 games. He also ran for 940 yards and another 15 scores. The averages between the two players when looking at scores per game are 4.9 for Hammond vs. 5 for Mahomes. However, Hammond was much more turnover prone compared to Mahomes.
A four star prospect in the class of 2024, Hammond was Texas Tech’s fifth highest rated recruit in their 26th ranked recruiting class for the ‘24 cycle (as per 247 Composite score). Other sites such as ON3 have their class rated as high as 23rd. The others in that class include the aforementioned Hudson, and a top-200 four star in OT Ellis Davis.
This was one of Tech’s better recruiting classes ever, and a marked improvement from the previous regime (43rd ranked class in 2022, and 59th in 2021 according to ON3). The majority of the first two classes under head coach Joey McGuire consist of Texas high school players, with a dash of Louisiana mixed in—a deadly combination indeed.
History of OC Zack Kittley’s System
Kittley, a resident of north-west Texas, began his coaching career as a grad assistant at Texas Tech in 2013. He eventually got his first shot at being a head coach when the FCS program Houston Baptist (now named Houston Christian) hired him in 2018. There, he stumbled upon some under-the-radar talent playing at HBU—notably, two exceptional players in QB Bailey Zappe, from nearby Victoria, TX, and slot receiver Jerreth Sterns, who’s only FBS offer was to be the option QB at Navy. Sterns wanted to play WR, and pledged to HBU in the 2018 class, arriving with Kittley.
The first year was an implementation year, and new QB Bailey Zappe struggled. He finished his first year under Kittley with a 23-13 TD-INT ratio, and only passed for 2822 yards in 11 games. The following season raised alarm bells amongst CFB degenerates everywhere. The system had started clicking and there were multiple notable stat lines from the offence. Chief among them was WR Ben Ratzalff’s 1139 yards receiving and 12 TDs on 89 receptions. The other was Jerreth Sterns’ 106 catches (of which he accumulated 867 yards and nine scores). Zappe was starting to hone in on what the system was asking him to do, and his skillset morphed brilliantly to the demands of the scheme. He finished 2019 with 35 TDs to 15 INTs, passing for 3811 yards.
The 2020 COVID season was a catalyst for many to make a killing in CFF in 2021, as there was a lot of hidden information due to lockdowns and cancelled games. One of these market inefficiencies was a lack of awareness in Kittley’s HBU system, and the fact that he was bringing that offence to Western Kentucky in the offseason. HBU only played in four games in 2020—but, get this—Zappe threw 15 TDs to only one INT. Sterns paced the team with 47 receptions for 454 yards and five scores, plus another four carries for 20 yards.
In 1PPR formats, Sterns was averaging 31.1 PPG. Zappe’s average would have been similar. Both players were subsequently highlighted by savvy CFF managers that offseason as must-haves in the later rounds of their drafts. Personally, I acquired both in the ninth and tenth rounds of my home league in 2021, and this squad is likely to be the best CFF roster I’ve ever assembled.
As mentioned, Kittley brought virtually the entire HBU offence with him in the offseason to WKU, where he would serve as Tyson Helton’s OC. He brought Zappe, Sterns, Sterns’ younger brother who was also a WR, Ben Ratzlaff, a few other assistants and offensive lineman, and perhaps even other WRs who I’m simply forgetting about. It was a pretty revolutionary move for WKU at the time. Mind you, this was before the transfer portal mania of the 2022 offseason and beyond. The idea of a coach bringing over multiple players—essentially his entire offensive unit—was not common place in CFB at the time.
With a veteran offensive unit who were each intimately familiar with the nuances of his system, Kittley’s offence demolished Conference USA in 2021. Zappe set the FBS record for passing TDs in a season with 62 (breaking Joe Burrow’s 2019 record), and Jerreth Sterns became only the third player in NCAA history to lead the FBS in catches, receiving yards, and receiving TDs in the same season. The other two receivers to do it are Alabama’s Devonta Smith in 2020 when he won the Heisman and… surprise surprise, Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree in 2007.
Sterns is also only the third player in FBS history to have 150 catches or more in a single season. Simply put, he was quite literally the ne plus ultra of Volume Pigs, and he was a crucial component in shaping my credo on how to win CFF leagues going forward.
While Sterns was a diminutive 5’8, 180 pound afterthought of a WR to the rest of the world, he was a greek god of a CFF profile to me. I called him ‘The Algorithm’—the WKU game plan mandated that he would score points every week, it was impossible for him not to. Watching him play wasn’t the feeling of “I hope this play goes his way”, it was more like “wait a minute—Sterns wasn’t targeted on the last play?”.
Fun fact, Sterns signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in August of 2023, and he played the Ottawa Redblacks last September, which is a city I frequently visit to see my parents. Had I known at the time, I would have gotten on the first plane to Ottawa and acquired some tickets. Anytime you get a chance to see the Algorithm play live you have to take it.
At the conclusion of the 2021 season, any alpha CFF managers hoped to attain through Kittley’s offence had evaporated. If you wanted a piece of this system, you had to pay the price now. Even more precarious was that Kittley was moving on from WKU after just one season to Texas Tech, a program famous for not just utilizing—but perhaps developing—the modern day Air Raid system. However, he would not have his old pals Zappe and Sterns with him this time.
Symbolically, it was a great fit. However, savvy CFF managers were skeptical. Unwilling to pay the price on a much less known commodity, most avoided acquiring shares of the Texas Tech offence in 2022 (myself included).
Those who did were left disappointed. Not only had they paid the price—already diminishing the alpha they could achieve—the picks themselves busted. The 2023 season offered a second chance, now at a discount, to re-up with Texas Tech shares. QB Tyler Shough was selected by some, others chose Behren Morton. WRs Myles Price and Drae McCray did not escape most drafts. Some of the other pieces of the offence were selected as well, though RB Tahj Brooks was more of an afterthought (including to me, oops).
As the season unfolded, it became clear that this was not the Kittley offence of yesteryear. For starters, the QB’s output remained pedestrian, and so did the WR production. Typically, it’s the slot receiver in this offence that is the one you want, but this pattern had yet to really reveal itself in the Texas Tech version of Kittley’s offences.
Now we arrive to 2024, with questions abound regarding the shape of this offence this upcoming season. Tahj Brooks is the resident alpha pig—well, severely obese alpha pig to be precise. Seriously, who had 290 carry tailback on their bingo card for Kittley’s offence in 2023? “If ya’ll want to win, put Boobie in!”.
Behren Morton figures to be the starting QB for 2024. He was okay last year, but nothing special. Especially when comparing him to all of the CFF greatness that surrounds him at the program. The aforementioned Kittley has a reputation as a QB whisperer, but we can also look to Patrick Mahomes, who was a prolific producer at Whitehouse High in Texas, located in the east near Louisiana, that donned the Red and Black not so long ago. Texas Tech, then CEO’d by Kliff Kingsbury, acquired the former three star in the 2014 class. Mahomes went on to have a modestly successful football career.
Closing
Kittley has the rare distinction of producing Volume Pigs at all three major levels—QB, RB and WR, in his repertoire. Lately it’s been bad news for the QB/WR pairings, though. But surely, eventually there will be a breakthrough, right?
Maybe it’s not in 2024 with Morton, but perhaps through a homegrown understudy in Hammond in the not-so distant future. With each passing disappointment of a season, the prices on the pass attack assets under Kittley get cheaper, but I have a feeling we are going to see an inflection point in that pattern soon. It might not be in 2024, but look to 2025 and beyond for an alpha opportunity through Hammond.
Of course, it goes without saying that Hammond’s WR1— Micah Hudson, should be one of the highest priorities in any dynasty, C2C or Devy format. In fact, given his build—which could work from the slot—the system and the path to the field, not to mention my affinity for one of his predecessors in Jerreth Sterns, I could even go as far as saying he’d by my #1 priority out of any in the incoming freshman class for CFF dynasty leagues.
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