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Nation's No. 2 QB Drops Intriguing Recruiting Hint After Four Major Offers

Nation's No. 2 QB Drops Intriguing Recruiting Hint After Four Major Offers

Yahoo04-05-2025

Class of 2027 four-star quarterback Peyton Houston made a statement this weekend after adding multiple scholarship offers this year.
Houston (6-foot, 198 pounds) plays for Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana.
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As a first-year starter last season, Houston completed 70% of his passes for 4,480 yards with 38 touchdowns to six interceptions while adding 690 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Houston is rated as the No. 2 quarterback, the No. 2 player in the state and the No. 5 overall recruit in his class, per Rivals.
Although Houston is just entering his junior high school season, the highly-touted recruit is gaining interest from a impressive list of major college football programs.
Florida State, Michigan, Auburn and Penn State extended scholarship offers to Houston this year, bringing his total to 27 offers. Major powers like Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, USC and LSU are believed to be at the top of his list to this point.
Evangel Christian Academy QB Peyton HoustonHenrietta Wildsmith/Shreveport Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
There is still a long ways to go in Houston's recruitment, but he did drop a subtle hint during a Rivals camp in Dallas on Sunday.
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Houston, who took home the camp's quarterback MVP honors, performed in drills with a Georgia towel in tow.
The Bulldogs offered the dual-threat passer back in October.
Houston sporting the UGA towel isn't enough to make an assumption on where he may ultimately land, but head coach Kirby Smart's Bulldogs probably look kindly on the choice of gear as they battle other recruiting giants.
The recruiting race surrounding Houston will only intensify leading up to his senior season. He will be able to start taking official visits in April of 2026.
Related: SEC Powerhouses Lose Key Recruiting Battle To SMU On Sunday

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In Williamsport alone, he became good friends with kids from Saudi Arabia and Japan. He traded team pins to other players for theirs and he rode cardboard down the hill at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. "I was telling my wife the other day, my team was the last team to play the last game in Little League Baseball," he says. "Going to Williamsport's great, but the memories I've had were not only for myself but seeing the kids – so-called not really good baseball players – do well and get like a game-winning hit, and to see the smiles on their faces and the parents how excited they are. Those are memories that are lasting. And my success came from the help of a lot of other people. So did I have the skill? Of course. But you know, you need a lot of help as you move along the way." The help starts at the grass roots, back to where Frazier has gone, where our sports journey begins. And it starts with you. A 'good' team begins and end with good parents When kids set out to play baseball, or any sport, big league dreams bounce around their heads. But as they continue onward, the sensory moments they see, feel and experience in real time move front and center. They gain confidence in small steps: recording an out by throwing the ball to the correct base; kicking it within the progression of forward motion of the game; moving naturally to the open spot on the court for an open shot. As they get a little older, we are the ones – Frazier even admits to doing it – most likely to overanalyze what's going on. "Sure, you lose the game or you're eliminated, there's a lot of raw emotion," Patrick Wilson told USA TODAY Sports in March. Wilson is Little League International's president and chief executive officer and a longtime member of the operations ranks of the organization. "But shortly thereafter, they're being 12-year-olds again. They're stealing peoples' hats, trading pins … they move on very quickly. Now the adults, the coaches and their parents, they hold onto it a little longer." Frazier and his old Little League teammates had a different vibe around them, even by the time they reached Williamsport. He felt zero pressure. "None whatsoever," he says. "And I give the credit to the coaches and the parents as well. I think that's another thing in youth sports: If you have really good parents, you're gonna have a pretty good team, whether you win or lose, because you have no complaints. They're not worried about where their kid's hitting. And they're focused on how the coach is coaching and how the kid is getting better each day. And I think that was the big thing for us." Ex-teammate Tom Gannon, who would go on to become a police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told in 2018 that Toms River "had no intentions of getting that far. But we had great coaching, we meshed well as a team, and we gained more confidence as each round went on." First and foremost, they were allowed to be kids. Think of those first road trips your child takes with a team. There are always a few parents who are sticklers about keeping the players away from pools and amusement parks that might tire them out or otherwise distract them from the "reason" they are on the trip. But as I wrote to a reader in 2023, these are also moments that can make the event whole for young players, offering them not only memories but release from the moments you want them to be at their best on the field. "Of course you want to win," Frazier says. "That's just the nature of the beast. But are they getting better? Are they having fun? Are they putting their best foot forward? "It comes with time, and I've learned a lot over the years." 'DON'T BE A HELICOPTER PARENT': A golf giant's advice to help make youth sports more fun 'Sometimes you reach the stars and you hit the moon': Don't be afraid to set grand goals The idea behind Frazier's new campaign is to make a hitting drill more enjoyable and relatable to kids. As you swing, he teaches, turn your back foot as if you're "squishing a bug," which pops your hips through the zone to help with leverage and power. Frazier shot a commercial with Blake at Toms River's Little League complex, where his son is playing 11-year-old All-Stars this summer. Next year, Frazier will coach Blake in Little League as his son looks for his own dream shot at Williamsport. "It's a big leap and bound," Frazier says. "I'm sure he's going to put his best foot forward. But yes, it's a goal and I think young kids nowadays need goals, and I think they need to understand: Set your goals high. You want to bat .500 and you bat .400, that's pretty darn good. So sometimes you reach for the stars and you hit the moon a little bit. That's still pretty good feat." He says, though, he's never really thought about sports goals he has for his kids. His sons and daughter are the ones developing those. "I would love for them all to play professional sports. I think that's the end goal," he says. "But knowing how hard it is, I tell my kids all the time: bring energy, emotion, enthusiasm, to anything you do, and you can't go wrong. Practice the right way. Just be you, but at the same time focus. And I think at this age, if you're focused and under control and not taking any pitches off, you're gonna to have fun and you're gonna to enjoy the moment." Frazier coaches Blake in travel baseball when he's not playing Little League. I have seen them at tournaments in our region. My son approached Frazier and told me how personable and conversant he was with kids on other teams. It's a approach Frazier has used to improve his coaching. COACH STEVE: Parenting tip from sons of former major leaguers 'Expect failure': It's an opportunity for your kid to grow We're back in that situation many sports parents dread: Our son or daughter is up with the bases loaded. When it happens, Frazier now sits back and observes. Whatever happens, it's a launching point for teaching. "Come here," Frazier might say to Blake or one of his other players. "I want to know what you learned from this experience and how we could have made it better, or how you could have done better." He feels having pragmatic and good-natured style is more productive than saying, "What are you doing? Why didn't you swing at this pitch?" We want our kids to initiate solutions, but to learn to cope with situations where they don't succeed. Let them fall and pick themselves up, leaning on you only if they need it. "Expect your kid to fail," Frazier says. "And I think that's hard for them to understand, because in the world we live in, it's the now, now, now … why isn't he doing it now? Why is he doing this? It's not their swing, it's not their hands are dropping, it's not they took their head off the ball. That's just the nature of baseball, and it's gonna happen over and over. And you just got to understand, 'OK, I can live with it, but hopefully he's getting better next time.'" Next week: Chasing success through a high school and college baseball experience Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here. Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@

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