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RING KING: Duncanville QB Russell sits atop throne Of TXHSFB
Duncanville football has become the BRAND of Texas high school football over the past eights years making State Title runs and having some of the top recruits in the country.
The now back-to-back State Champs sit atop the throne of Texas high school football, with a chance to go back-to-back-to-back with the "Ring King" 4-star quarterback & SMU-commit Keelon Russell leading the charge.
Russell first burst on the scene his sophomore year leading the Panthers to their first-ever State Title and then returned to State as a junior to go back-to-back.
“Honestly it wasn’t anything more than just execution from the start,” Russell said. “This past year, we wanted it more. I feel like we got really humbled during the DeSoto game and just decided we couldn't lose another game, and we did just that.”
The pressure of winning the title is enormous for any quarterback but for the Duncanville QB1 it is multiplied by 10 when looking at how many times they had left Jerry’s World without a ring. For Russell, he takes it as a challenge.
“The pressure is always high being the quarterback, especially here at Duncanville,” he said. “Everybody is watching you, if the team has a bad game they’re going to blame the quarterback and coaches like in colleges but I use that pressure as a challenge to be better.”
Russell committed to SMU in September, deciding to stay home. Since the State Title game, however, more school’s have been pushing to get the star quarterback to flip. Alabama, Florida and Oregon will all receive official visits along with SMU.
“Alabama has been a school I’ve had a great relationship with and they’ve been recruiting me heavily lately, so I’m excited to get out there,” he said. “I also will be visiting Oregon and Florida. Those schools have been going after me for a while, so I’m excited to check them out and check off that last box.”
With some big OV’s quickly approaching, Russell is getting ready to attend the most prestigious Quarterback Camp in the country, the Elite 11 Finals.
“Getting invited to the Elite 11 finals is honestly a blessing," he said. "I’ve been talking about getting there for years so to get the invite was exciting.
“When I get out there, I want to compete and get better... get my name out there. All the top quarterbacks in every draft were Elite 11 guys and that’s where they made a name for themselves.”
After his busy summer, the Duncanville quarterback is ready to get under those Friday Night Lights in his last season wearing the blue and red.
“I honestly really just have a feeling of calmness," he said. "I’ve done this two other times now and I feel like I’m at the peak of my game. I still working hard to get better, but I feel like we’re ready to make another run back to State.”
Duncanville Panthers set to face off against Houston MacArthur
Duncanville is known for having elite athletics. After a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Rockwall-Heath in the playoffs last year, the Duncanville Panthers are back to their regular dominance in the Texas high school soccer playoffs. This week, the team heads into a Regional Semifinals matchup against Houston MacArthur. VYPE DFW dives into the Panthers' season so far.
Duncanville finished at the top of their district this season with an undefeated district record (12-0-2). With 14 shut-out victories in the regular season, the Panthers outscored their opponents by a combined 84 goals. The team has had no problem playing smart defense- ready to control the tempo from the start of the game to the end of the game. Not only do they have a smart defense, but they have an offense that takes advantage of scoring at all times- they have used that ability this season.
During playoffs, Duncanville has defeated Killeen (4-0), Rockwall (4-3), and most recently Rockwall-Heath (1-0) in a revenge match. The team has shown resiliency on the pitch as well as a drive to finish the job this season. As they head into the game against Houston MacArthur (16-4-5, 9-3-2) fans should expect the same heart going into the battle. Fans can expect the Panthers' defense to put a quick stop to MacArthur, giving the Duncanville offense the right-of-way to outshoot and outscore their regional semifinals opponent.
The game is set to begin at 4 p.m. at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex in Austin, Texas.