Spring Football 25. In just a few weeks, Katy’s 2025 football season enters phase 2 after three and a half months of phase 1 hard work in the mat and weight rooms in addition to track and field for many of the gentlemen. Katy is four complete seasons removed from its last state championship. Katy also was four seasons removed from the 2015 state championship when the 2020 (ending in early 2021) group came along. Both are Katy’s longest droughts between state championships or state finalist seasons post-1997.
North Shore has dominated Region 3 since 2018, and the Mustangs are facing their biggest rebuilding effort this off-season since starting their current run. Dominant runs in the highest classification always have moved in cycles, so we will see if the landscape starts to move in another direction both in the greater Houston area and state after the recent dominance of Duncanville, North Shore, Austin Westlake and DeSoto. North Crowley and Vandegrift taking the trophies last year signaled a potential shift in the wind direction.
Dominance in spite of district growth
With Katy ISD continuing to build high schools, it makes sense Katy’s space between state runs has increased lately compared to what we saw in the 2000-2020 era. No other program in a major ISD has come close to accomplishing what Katy has done.
It is difficult to field consistently high level classes talent wise in order to compete at a state level and Katy has encountered that challenge head on in the last 10 years. The main change I have seen in the game is the amount of stress the top programs are able to put on defenses with the combination of skill position ability/speed and high level quarterback play with the added component of mobility in many cases now.
Tigers stand on defense
Defenses can’t have any glaring weaknesses in the secondary in particular, physical or mental. Over the years, Katy’s approach has been to put more of the best athletes in a given class on defense and those players typically end up in the secondary and linebacker positions. I have noticed a bit of a drop in this department for Katy in recent seasons, for whatever reason, and it is one of my main points of interest for this spring. Katy asks a ton of its DBs and safeties in particular, so it is essential for the first teamers to be stocked with players who are top tier athletes in their respective classes. The safeties in Katy’s scheme have to not only be two of the top five athletes in a class, but also among the smartest.
I saw this class selected its first three captains from the defensive side of the ball, so that’s a nice indication for where this incoming group is declaring returning strength. I am optimistic with the pieces Katy has to build around at each level of the defense after how many underclassmen played big roles last year.
How does Brixey’s exit change offense?
On offense, things got more interesting with Coach Brixey’s exit to Brownwood and it’ll be interesting to gain some insight into Katy’s path forward during spring practices. The big tactical item I’ve been thinking about centers around the QB position and the need to incorporate more designed runs into the offense. This is something Katy has done in the past (Rob Peters, Matt Gore, Jared Kaspar, Will Thompson (DB/WR, who took some option snaps in 2005, subbing out Andy Dalton), Bronson McClelland).
It’s usually the one thing even very good to great defenses have a hard time accounting for and defending. It’s a bit easier said than done because it requires a specific athletic profile, and I think it takes an intentional re-assessment for the type of profile you want in the position. You have to decide you want more from the position than someone to hand the ball and execute playaction. I look at the missed opportunities and failures to move the football in key moments against Atascocita and North Shore in particular as teaching points this off-season for how to evolve moving forward.
What I’m looking for
I would love to see Katy expand to a more versatile toolkit on offense that isn’t so dependent on having the dominant ground game with an Adam, Rodney or Seth behind a physically dominant blocking unit at the point of attack. When you have that ability, fantastic, but even more important is adaptability and being able to mold to the talent in a given class. Traditionally, the most effective Katy offenses have taken on the personality of the available talent rather than trying to pigeon hole every class into playing the same way. There is a fine line that I’m not sure Katy always has successfully navigated (human nature and being a victim of your own success). In my opinion, you don’t want to be so attached to method where you become stubborn and inflexible. Worst of all, this breeds complacency/arrogance and results in predictability.
Overall, I’m excited to see what’s coming and still believe there is an opportunity and opening for Katy to keep itself in the state conversation provided the talent well hasn’t dried up completely. Based on what I’m hearing and have seen with Katy’s predicted enrollment over the next decade, I don’t believe Katy football is going extinct as a contender just yet.
