The projected top two quarterbacks selected in the 2025 NFL Draft both hail from Texas, but they weren't hailed as future first round picks coming out of Texas high school football.

Cam Ward had one offer to UIW after playing in a Wing-T system at Columbia. Shedeur Sanders, meanwhile, posted a 47-5 career record and led Cedar Hill Trinity Christian to three consecutive TAPPS DII state championships, but was rated as a three-star prospect by all recruiting outlets except ESPN.

Dave Campbell's Texas Football reached out to three coaches who played against Sanders in high school to see if they saw this meteoric rise coming. All three unequivocally answered no, praising Sanders' development at Colorado. While a good quarterback, they all viewed his three-star rating as fair.

Daniel Novakov was Dallas Parish Episcopal's head coach in a nationally televised game against Sanders in 2019 in which Episcopal won 33-27 in overtime, snapping Trinity Christian's 24-game win streak. Melissa head coach Matt Nally was the team's offensive coordinator when they faced Sanders in 2018 and 2019, losing twice. Austin Regents head coach Tim Phillips was the program's defensive coordinator when it lost three consecutive state championships to Trinity Christian.

Daniel Novakov: “My initial impression going into the game was that he was definitely a good player, but there was no way when you looked at that team that I thought, ‘Ok, there’s the No.1 NFL Draft pick.’”

“People ask me this question all the time, and I say, ‘That’s the one kid I’d tell you that’s really impressive in what he’s done.’ Because he’s worked his butt off and proved everyone wrong.”

Matt Nally: “I really didn’t think he was a Power Five kid at that time. He was surrounded by talent. Sometimes, that talent overshadowed what he could do. That team had so many unbelievable players on it.”

Don't get them wrong, these coaches knew he was good. They just didn't know he'd become this good.

Tim Phillips: “He had a couple things that nobody else did in high school. He did a great job reading defenses and working through the progressions. He also threw between the hashes. Most high school quarterbacks, everything stays outside. Even when he was a freshman, he had no problem throwing it between the hashes, down the field for 15 yard dig routes. He had no fear at all.”

Nally: “He threw one of the best balls I saw a high school kid throw that year (2017). We go up with about 45 seconds left in the game and we pin them deep on the kickoff. They get it at about the 15. He ends up throwing a skinny post on the backside, and he threaded the needle. The wide receiver took it 70-80 yards, and the next play they ran it in from two yards out to win the game.”

Novakov: “He certainly was good, I’m not trying to tell you he stunk in high school. But you didn’t look out there and say, ‘That’s the guy that makes them go.’ They had a bunch of good players, and he was just one of them in my opinion. I thought it was a stretch when he was committed to Florida Atlantic.”

There are a couple explanations for why most didn't believe Sanders would develop into a first round NFL Draft pick. For starters, the teams he played on were loaded.

Phillips: “All five offensive linemen were 290-plus. The first year they had (Nebraska signee Maurice Washington) and then their backup (Qualan Jones) went to Baylor. They were always good at wideout, too. They had a couple guys who were freakish. A lot of teams in TAPPS have one good receiver and a couple good linemen. But to be that talented across the board, they were impossible.”

Nally: “He was always extremely accurate. He was very imposing, very well put together. But he was just kind of overshadowed by everybody else. They were talent stacked on talent. You could see some other teams and be like, ‘Ok, that kid is the most dynamic, we have to stop that kid.’ When we played them, it was like, ‘You have to stop everybody. Good luck.’”

"Playing those teams, everybody talks about the talent, and they were so talented. (Current Philadelphia Eagles safety) Lewis Cine is the greatest high school football player I’ve ever seen. But they were well-coached, as well. Andre Hart was the head coach of those teams and Deion was the offensive coordinator.”

Novakov: “When we played him in the game, our whole game plan wasn’t like, ‘We’ve got to stop Shedeur Sanders.’ We definitely knew he was a good player, but it wasn’t the focal point of the entire game plan."

“They killed everybody by so much during district and the playoffs that it probably hurt him because he wasn’t having to do a whole lot. At Colorado, he had to play the whole game.”

“They didn’t have much at Colorado. It’s not like he was on a team with a bunch of superstars like he was in high school. There were so many good players surrounding him in high school those four years that you kind of didn’t know if it was him or if it was all those other kids that was causing the success. I think everyone underestimated his role in that, including me.”

Deion Sanders, then the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian, also favored a pro-style, run-heavy attack.

Nally: “Deion wasn’t a heavy throw the ball downfield guy, so we didn’t really feel like we had to do anything special within the backend. Deion wanted to run the ball. He’d throw intermediate and quickgame with Shedeur. He really only threw it deep if he had to.”

“I remember an interview Deion did, and this is why I have respect for him as an offensive guy, he said running the football wins games, it’s not throwing the football. Your son is the quarterback, and I don’t know what the stats were the couple of times we played him, but he didn’t throw the football that much.”

Novakov: “I think he got the short end of the stick because his dad was coaching, and I think a lot of people just dismissed it and said, ‘Oh, he’s not that good. He’s being protected by his dad.’ That certainly wasn’t the case.”

All three say Sanders showed more traits of an NFL quarterback at Colorado than he was required to in high school. 

Phillips: “I saw at Colorado how he handled getting beat up. I know that didn’t happen in high school. For NFL scouts, I’m sure that went a long way with them.”

Novakov: “The other thing that I will say I underestimated was his toughness. I think he’s really physically tough, and I don’t think anybody realized that until the beating he took at Colorado.”

Nally: "I do think he fixed his throwing motion. He used to be kind of long with his throwing motion in high school. He threw the ball with high velocity and accuracy.”

Novakov: "He played more athletic in college than I thought he played in high school. He really didn’t run that much in high school, he was more of a pocket passer, which probably hurt his ratings because he’s more of a dual-threat than people realize.”

Sanders' selection in the NFL Draft will be a testament to the hard work he put in to continuously improve his game.

Novakov: “I know he worked his butt off. I think that’s probably what people don’t realize, they see all the pomp and circumstance, and they don’t realize how hard he works behind the scenes. I definitely can tell his release has gotten quicker; his accuracy is better.”

“The part I would want people to understand is that I think we all underestimated him. I’m as impressed with what he’s done as anybody. I’m not a hater of Shedeur. I’m as proud to have played against him as anybody. That’s one of my claims to fame. The more success he has the better. I don’t get why people have this weird obsession with hating him.”