Meet the Sun Herald's 2015 Player of the Year
Myles Brennan seems to check off all the boxes a coach would want in a high school quarterback.
- Accurate -- check.
- Delivers a catchable ball -- check.
- Pocket presence -- check.
- Game film junkie -- check.
- Leader in the huddle -- check.
Now the St. Stanislaus quarterback can check off one more box: Two-time Sun Herald Player of the Year.
As a junior, Brennan led the Rockachaws to a second-straight Class 4A championship game. In doing so, he completed 62.3 percent of his passes for 5,248 yards with 53 touchdowns.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Brennan said of the honor. "It's something I never really thought about (during the season), but now that it has happened I can go back and realize all the hard work we put in finally paying off."
It was clear after he set state records with 5,761 yards and 64 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2014 that Brennan could throw the football.
After SSC graduated three college linemen following the 2014 season, Brennan really focused his efforts on growing his pocket awareness. The extra work showed up on Friday nights as Brennan routinely avoided pass rushers and actually ended up running for 497 yards and eight touchdowns.
"His pocket presence, ability to run away from people and make people miss is interesting," SSC coach Bill Conides said. "You have a 6-foot-3 kid who is long, so he looks like he's 6-6, but he's able to make kids miss. He doesn't look like a kid who should be able to do that -- but he does."
Conides said it's Brennan's dedication to his craft that has helped separate himself from others. Most notably, Brennan cut his interceptions almost in half, from 14 as a sophomore to eight this season.
"I'm proud of him. What's really cool is in the classroom you have some guys who may be playing a game on their iPhones and there's Myles, watching film," Conides said. "There's the high school kid and then there's the kid who wants to do this as a job. He's one of those guys."
Brennan already holds offers from California, South Alabama, Cincinnati, Kentucky, West Virginia, Troy and recently picked up an offer from Wake Forest. Conides expects interest in Brennan to ramp up again after signing day in February. Brennan is one of two Mississippi quarterbacks on the Elite 11's watch list. The other is John Walker of Madison Central. The list will be trimmed down over the coming months before next summer's competition, where Brennan could really catch the attention of national recruiters. Even being on the watch list is an accomplishment, Conides said.
"We had the discussion about being the complete quarterback; being a quarterback in everything you do," he said. "What does it mean to be a quarterback? It means to be a leader and a guy who is going to lead by example first and foremost but also relate the coach's message to the rest of the team and ultimately be a guy who everyone is going to follow.
"He had to grow up a little bit. He was a 15-year-old sophomore and this year he was a 16-year-old junior, so next year is going to be fun."
Entering his senior season, Brennan has thrown for 117 career touchdowns. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations record books, Brennan could jump into the top 10 all-time with another strong season. Mizzou quarterback leads the list with 219 touchdown passes. Former Miami (Fla.) quarterback Brock Berlin is No. 10 with 145.
While more records are sure to fall in 2016, Brennan and the rest of the Rockachaws are champing at the bit for third shot at state.
"We didn't accomplish the ultimate goal like we wanted to, but we're definitely going to be ready for next year," Brennan said.
This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Meet the Sun Herald's 2015 Player of the Year ."