Senior Brayden Hagle was recently named the starting quarterback for the football team after having a successful fall camp.
Pre Game:
Favorite Song: “Mr. Morale” by Kendrick Lamar
Go-to Whataburger order: Patty Melt, but In and Out is better (Hagle is from California)
Favorite drink: Arnold Palmer
Dream vacation: Japan
Post Game:
The Red Ledger: What are you most looking forward to this season?
Brayden Hagle: Really just the process of working towards a state championship. It’s always awesome at the end of the year to look back on how far you came during the season and everything that we had to overcome as a team.
TRL: What drives you to become a better quarterback?
BH: The support of those around me and the belief I have in myself. I feel like I am still so far away from reaching my potential as a player and I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t put everything I had into pursuing my goal of being the best I can.
TRL: What made you stand out from the other quarterbacks this year?
BH: I think it was my mindset and how I was able to grow as a person all of last year. I was forced to work through how I would respond to adversity and the person I wanted to become. Although it was football, I also was setting the precedent of how I would respond for the rest of my life to adverse situations. That mindset that I developed has helped me develop confidence in myself and allows me to see things rationally.
TRL: How did it feel when you found out you’d become the starting quarterback?
BH: I obviously was excited when I found out I was the starting QB mostly because of the fact that it highlighted the trust my teammates and coaches had in me. The more meaningful event however was being named a team captain. I had set the goal for myself after the end of last year that I would be a team captain regardless of if I was starting or not. Being a team captain is the highest honor your teammates and coaches can give you because out of a group of elite players they view me as one of the most impactful leaders. With that title comes a lot of responsibility that I truly feel like I have to earn every day.
TRL: What made you want to become a quarterback?
BH: I really started playing QB because of my uncle Chad Hutchinson. He was a quarterback at Stanford and then went on to play both in the MLB and NFL. Seeing someone that I was related to achieve such success in two professional sports, gave me the vision of what I could one day become. However, I quickly fell in love with the position because of the extra accountability and leadership that came with it. Of course, the stakes are higher at QB, but having other people whose success you can directly impact is one of the most rewarding feelings.
TRL: What are your plans after high school?
BH: Right now I have preferred a walk-on opportunity at the University of Central Florida, but I am still waiting to see what other opportunities present themselves this next year. I am talking to a couple of different schools and still plan on applying to highly academic schools like Stanford and Northwestern because I wouldn’t be able to pass up getting an education at one of those places.
TRL: Who is someone that you look up to?
BH: I have so many different heroes and mentors, but from a young age I have always looked up to Andrew Luck. Attending Stanford, Andrew was the model student-athlete and in many ways the person I wanted to be. He proved that you could be elite at school and football and don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.
