COLUMN BY TOM SHATEL Omaha World-Herald
OMAHA — In 2008, Steve Warren opened the Warren Academy to train and develop high school football players into college football players.
The former Husker and NFL defensive tackle had no idea that one day he would be mentoring a special prospect.
Braylen Warren, who will be a junior quarterback at Omaha Westside, was recently given a four-star ranking by On3. He already had several major offers.
This month, Steve and Braylen are getting some quality father-son time. It’s early June. Which means it’s Camp Season.
The Warrens were at Florida State last Sunday. Then in Champaign, Ill., on Monday. By Thursday, they were visiting LSU. Braylen throws for the coaches and meets with the staff.
That’s just part of the tour. Next up: Ohio State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa.
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There are 14 offers in total, with the latest coming from FSU. Soon, there will be offers from agents and NIL contracts. Likely before Braylen takes his senior photos next summer.
Life comes at you fast when you’re a quarterback.
“Football recruiting is intense enough,” Steve Warren said. “But quarterback recruiting is double that.
“There’s football recruiting and there’s quarterback recruiting. You can only take one per year. That cuts it down tremendously. It’s a premier position in all sports. The face of the program.
“What I went through as a recruit and having a son as a quarterback, there’s nothing like it. We’ve been fortunate to go through the recruiting process with some kids in our academy.”
That group includes a pair of elite quarterbacks from the Omaha metro — Gretna’s Zane Flores and Bellevue West's Daniel Kaelin. Flores is entering his third year at Oklahoma State. Kaelin just transferred to Virginia after a redshirt year at Nebraska.
Flores, who received a medical waiver last year after having foot surgery, has not played a down of college football. This August, he’ll battle for the starting job with another young quarterback who hasn’t played.
Meanwhile, the day after Kaelin transferred to UVA last March, the Cavaliers signed Chandler Morris, a 24-year-old graduate transfer who threw for 3,774 yards at North Texas last year. Before that, Morris was at Oklahoma and TCU.
These are two stories Braylen Warren should follow. Also, Mark Gronowski, who will take over at Iowa this fall after transferring from South Dakota State.
All of which leads me to a question that I’ve been intrigued with for some time: is it better for a quarterback to go the major route and wait his turn — while older transfers sometimes cut in line? Or start at the FCS level, get playing time and move up the football and NIL ladder as a junior or senior?
When you’re a four-star quarterback, the allure and pull of the big-time is very strong. But these days it comes with three challenges: agents, NIL contracts and the transfer portal.
It helps to have a father who played in the NFL and develops prospects for a living.
Steve Warren says his family has already been contacted by four or five major agent groups. He adds, “We’re not looking at doing anything now but it is the way of the world now. Braylon is going to need an agent in the next year.”
Why? Because the NIL offers from schools are going to start pouring in. And, with revenue sharing beginning this summer, quarterbacks will begin getting offered major pieces of the revenue pie. Think: millions of dollars.
“That’s why coaches have GM’s to negotiate contracts,” Warren said. “It’s no different than professional sports so that, one, you know what you’re signing and what you’re signing for.
“That’s the hard part. The kids are signing things with agents they shouldn’t be signing. Luckily for the kids that are in our (Academy), there are several of us that have played professional football. We can refer them to trustworthy agents. We have connections to the right people.”
Getting paid is one thing. Getting on the field is another. The transfer portal has thrown a serious wrinkle into the uber-competitive world of college football.
Millard South vs. Omaha Westside, 11.25
With NIL deals and major offers piling up, Braylen Warren is entering a new phase of his recruitment — one his father says will soon require an agent to navigate like a pro. Journal Star file photo
Coaches need to win. Now. And coaches often prefer older quarterbacks with experience over unproven prospects who have been on the scout team.
“That’s part of what we talk about,” Warren said of his Academy. “One, find the right program. There’s no doubt you can go to Ohio State, Georgia, those top, top programs. They want to win the national title. If they don’t win the national title, are they going to replace you with an older quarterback that can get them there? Or the next best thing coming up?
“Now kids can leave another school and take your spot. It’s a lot more difficult for everybody. The smart (major) coaches are telling older kids to come here and play and make themselves more valuable.”
Warren says he wants his son to sit at least one year, learn and develop physically and mentally. Their goal, he said, is the NFL. And he says, “You don’t need four years to make it in the NFL. You need one good season and another to show what you can do. You need two.”
Which more quarterbacks are figuring out as they transfer to coaches and schemes that can showcase their talents the last two years.
It’s no surprise most high-rated quarterbacks take the major route (and the money). As Warren says, these kids are wired differently. They are playmakers. They are supremely confident in themselves. They aren’t worried about competition.
“I remember how I was,” Steve said. “I always felt like if I think I’m the best, it doesn’t matter who they bring in.”
This month is the exciting part, the attention and the offers. The flip side is the transfer portal. All of the dreams and deals are made now. But where do a lot of these kids end up in two years?
Warren sees it all the time. He and his staff at the Academy meet with their former players every year as they navigate their careers.
"I had two (college) kids on break this week, sitting on my couch, same thing,” Warren said. “Do I stay or do I go? Some of that is “I’ve been there and I don’t see myself in their system.’ Or talking kids out of (leaving) — have you been there long enough?
“Football is always going to be older teams with good athletes. It’s always been that way. That’s not going to change. The problem is, these kids now want to go play right now. Ninety percent of them aren’t ready to play right now.
“Some of them say I want to play now and then I’ll move up later. But then they get to (FCS) and find out these players are better than they thought. There’s some dudes here. There are players at every level of football who can play Division I football.”
Good luck to Braylen and proud papa Warren. Enjoy the ride.
tom.shatel@owh.com, 402-444-1025, twitter.com/tomshatelOWH
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