When I flash back to my ninth-grade year of high school, I remember being intimidated by senior guys who looked like grown men.
They had cars, girlfriends and status.
As a Jenks High School freshman, Shaker Reisig is in an entirely different place than I was as a freshman in the Texas Panhandle.
On Friday, before a Union-Tuttle Stadium crowd of nearly 10,000 and a statewide audience of cable television viewers, this poised and supremely talented 15-year-old scored a fantastic distinction.
In a MidFirst Bank Backyard Bowl road game, while matched with favored and Class 6AI top-ranked Union, Reisig became the first Trojan freshman in more than 60 years to start a game at quarterback.
On his first pass of the night, Reisig was intercepted. After that, he settled into a productive and occasionally dazzling groove, driving the defending 6AI champion Trojans to a 22-0 victory and their second consecutive shutout conquest of Union.
By game’s end on Friday, Reisig was 12-of-17 passing for 150 yards and one touchdown. He found running back Jaiden Carroll with a perfectly executed screen pass, and Carroll raced to the end zone for the 50-yard score.
The most memorable throw of the night looked like something ripped from a Patrick Mahomes highlight video. While pressured and on the move, Reisig released a deep-ball strike that was dropped by a teammate in the end zone.