During a September game in 2018, Grapevine running back Caleb Texada was given an opportunity most freshman football players dream of – varsity snaps.

Grapevine was squaring off against district foe Creekview. In a game which many expected the [Grapevine] Mustangs to win handily, they did just that, giving the ninth-grade standout a chance to see the field.

“We were playing Creekview, and they only had one freshman team, so we were figuring out how can we get all these [ninth graders] reps and the running backs enough touches,” Grapevine coach Mike Alexander said. “So, why don't we just put [Caleb] on the varsity? In the second half, we should be winning, and we'll just get him 10-11 touches that way. And in his first varsity game, he scored like four touchdowns.”

Texada took those first few carries and never looked back, paving the way for an already highly-decorated high school career. The rising senior’s accolades include two unanimous First Team All-District selections in 2019 and 2020 and a 5A All-State selection in 2020.

Despite the awards, Texada remains largely under the radar to recruiters. He has one offer from NAIA Evangel University and schools such as Houston Baptist, Lamar, Texas State, Abilene Christian and a handful of Ivy League schools have expressed interest in him, but Texada still has yet to attract Power Five attention.

Although this lack of recognition may cause some players to play with a chip on their shoulder, this isn’t the case for Texada.

“I usually don’t listen to the noise,” he said.

“Caleb's all business,” Alexander added. “He was voted team captain by our team coming out of spring ball. He’s not a loud guy. He's not a rah-rah guy. He's just a hard worker that is always gonna give his teammates maximum effort.”

The praise Texada does receive doesn’t go to his head either. When asked what his many accolades meant to him, Texada attributed his success on the football field to repaying God for blessings given to him.

“It's more about trying to use the gifts and talents that God gave me and trying to give them all back,” Texada said. “All the praises you get, you just have to remind yourself that you give all the praise back to God. You couldn’t do it without him.”

“He's probably the most humble kid I've ever coached that has that type of ability,” added Alexander.

As referenced earlier by Texada, outside of football, he looks to religion. He attends church weekly at Covenant Church in Colleyville, TX, where both of his parents are Pastors. Texada is largely involved in the community and often serves others when given the opportunity.

“I have a servant’s heart,” he said.

While Texada hopes to continue to serve the community in years to come, whether or not he will serve up defenders on the football field at the next level is still in question.

Texada battled injuries throughout his career, including an AC joint (shoulder) sprain, ankle and knee sprains and a stress fracture.

“The past of couple years I've had to play through certain different pains: a back fracture, some sort of sesamoiditis on my foot,” Texada said. “In all these years, every single time one thing went away, another thing would show up. It’s starting to take a toll on my body now.”

If Texada does choose the student-athlete life, he prefers to stay close to home, with schools such as Baylor, SMU and TCU fitting the criteria. Texada would entertain walking-on to these schools if a scholarship was not provided.

However, before Texada has to make this decision, he will look to help the Grapevine Mustangs defend their district crown in his senior campaign.