A confession: I am a grown man — a husband and a father, a person with a career and a college degree — that does not know how the stock market works.

I know what it is, and I know it involves numbers and companies (somehow?), but I couldn't tell you what makes the number go up or the number go down, and I also couldn't tell you why it matters. But I know it's important, I guess. So when I flip on the television to CNBC or I read on Twitter that such-and-such stock is down 5 percent or the NASDAQ is up 3 percent, I know it means something and I probably should care. I just don't understand the specifics.

That's a frustrating feeling — insistence that something is important, but without anyone taking the time to explain the very basics, why it actually matters.

Which brings us, of course, to 7-on-7 football. Naturally.

If you've frequented TexasFootball.com or watched our shows or consumed our social media — and a lot of you have, more than ever before, thanks for that — you've no doubt heard us talk about 7-on-7 football, which culminates in the State 7-on-7 Tournament in College Station this weekend. But perhaps you've never actually understood what it is, how it works or why it matters.

Let's fix that. Because the last thing I want is to be compared to a Wall Street banker.

What, exactly, is 7-on-7?

The sport is essentially a touch-football passing-only football game. Each side puts — as you would imagine — seven players on the field, which is 45 yards long and a bit less than 55 yards wide. The offense is comprised of a center (who only snaps the ball), the quarterback and five pass-catchers; the defense is comprised of usually five defensive backs and two linebackers. There are no pads, though players do wear protective headgear and mouthpieces for extra precaution. It's essentially organized backyard football. We could get into the nitty-gritty of the rules — no rushing the passer, no blocking downfield, quarterbacks must throw the ball within four seconds, the offense needs 15 yards for a first down — but that's the gist of it. Games are two 15-minute halves.

How do you qualify for the state tournament?

Over the course of the last three months or so, teams representing their high school have been competing in state qualifying tournaments (SQTs) scattered across the state of Texas. The number of state qualifiers depends on how many teams participate in the SQT (larger tournaments get more qualification spots), but generally speaking, if your team finishes first or second in an SQT, you qualify for a spot at the State 7-on-7 Tournament in College Station.

So who all is going to be at State?

A total of 128 teams from across the state of Texas qualify for the State 7-on-7 Tournament, and there are a good number of brand names — teams like Allen, DeSoto, Atascocita, Lake Travis, Argyle, Stephenville, West Orange-Stark, Cuero and Ganado will be represented. There's also teams you may not expect, like Seymour and Fort Worth Southwest Christian and Edinburg Economedes, that punched their ticket to College Station. One thing to remember is that while the sport has grown in popularity, not every team plays 7-on-7 football, or at least plays 7-on-7 with the goal of making it to State — reigning 6A Division I state champion North Shore, for example, doesn't play 7-on-7. Same goes for programs whose offense primarily runs the ball — Austin-area power Liberty Hill, for example, famously runs the Slot-T offense, so 7-on-7 doesn't necessarily jive with their prigram culture.

How does the State 7-on-7 Tournament work?

The Texas State 7-on-7 Tournament is split into three divisions: Division I (comprised of 64 teams in Class 6A, Class 5A and large private schools); Division II (comprised of 32 teams in Class 4A, Class 3A Division I and small private schools); and Division III (comprised of 32 teams in Class 3A Division II and smaller). The teams are divided into four-team pools, and play three round-robin games against their pool mates. In Division I, the top two teams from each of the 16 pools advance to a 32-team championship bracket, while the bottom two teams drop into a separate 32-team consolation bracket. In Divisions II and III, all teams advance from pool play into a single-elimination championship bracket within their division, seeded by their pool play record. From there, it is win or go home until champions are crowned.

Why should I care?

Fair question! If you're a "real football" fan, it can be hard to convince yourself to get invested in a totally new, totally different event like this. But there is a lot to gain from 7-on-7, and a lot that we can learn for the fall when "real football" kicks off.

First of all, it's an opportunity to get some questions answered, at least in part. Every Texas high school football team has questions entering the fall, and this is our first glimpse at a number of them. How promising does a "real football" title defense look for champions DeSoto, Stephenville and Hamilton? How does Argyle look with new quarterback Hayes Hackney? Can Willis replace all-everything athlete Jermaine Bishop? Regionally, how well do far-flung areas like El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley match up with the talent of major metro areas?

Secondly, we get a sneak peek at who could be the breakout stars in the fall. This is a first glimpse at some of the big names who will play a huge role in what the 2026 season looks like — guys like Dripping Springs quarterback Chase Ames, Harker Heights quarterback Hudson Humble, Allen quarterback Ty Snell, San Antonio Johnson defensive back Mikhail McCreary, Laredo United receiver Colt Lozano, Decatur WR/DB Wyatt Dunn, Somserset receiver Malakai Iverson, Lindale quarterback David Lindig, Argyle Liberty Christian athlete Cooper Witten, Jefferson athlete Chance Washington, Ganado quarterback Landyn Arriaga...the list goes on and on.

And that's just speaking of them as high school players — for recruitniks, this is a paradise. Our RISING team will be out in force in College Station, because this is an up-close-and-personal chance to see some of the top prospects in all of Texas.

And finally, the reason you should care is that it is actually predictive of the fall. It's not a one-to-one perfect comparison, but success in 7-on-7 does tend to portend good things for teams when they put on the pads. Consider last season, and the six teams that advanced to the 7-on-7 final: