Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the 2025 Dave Campbell's TexasFootball magazine, before Hebert committed to Houston.

John Hebert went viral plenty of times last season when his 3,532 rushing yards led the State of Texas.

After each video game-like performance, whether it be his 420 yards and five touchdowns on 15 yards per carry against George Ranch or 402 yards and six touchdowns against Katy Tompkins, a buddy would come to him Monday morning and hand over his iPhone.

Dude, they’d say, look at this TikTok they made about your game!

That’s cool, Hebert would respond. I didn’t know you could do that.

The 21st century doesn’t produce kids like Hebert anymore. He’s one of four Houston-area players to record over 3,000 rushing yards since 2000. He’s also part of the 5% of United States teenagers who don’t have a smartphone. His father, Jason, a headmaster at the all-boys Western Academy school in Houston, says his seven kids will each get a cell phone when needed. John has accepted that wanting to watch TikToks of himself doesn’t count.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize there’s a lot of people who just miss what’s going on around them and aren’t able to experience God’s creation,” John said.

His ability to make defenders miss has earned him offers to many Ivy League schools and military academies. But Strake Jesuit head coach Donovan Fikac says every college recruiter finds how humble Hebert is almost as impressive as his game. His father is an advocate for little technology use and big families. John knows he is only one of 11 players on the field because he lives daily as one of seven children.

“It’s sort of like compulsory self-denial,” Jason, one of 11 children himself, said. “You have to learn how to share. You have to learn that you can’t always be first. It’s the natural way to learn to be a team player.”

John and Coach Fikac credit the individual records to Strake Jesuit’s team buy-in.

After a 3-8 finish in 2023, Fikac and offensive coordinator Billy Noonan switched the offense from spread to pro-style to highlight an offensive line with four players with at least two years of varsity experience. That meant the wide receivers had to flip their mindset from catching touchdowns to blocking for them. Strake Jesuit created a slogan - ‘If you block, you get the rock.’ Looking back on his highlight tape, John can point to all the skill position players selling out for blocks that sprung each of his 40 total touchdowns.

Strake Jesuit reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 2019, but John and his fellow seniors are determined not to let that be a one-off. Fikac says the group is at the school from 6 a.m. lifting sessions until their self-organized after-school workouts end at 7:30 p.m.

“Strake (one of two private schools that competes in UIL) always sees themselves as the underdog,” John said. “But the seniors and I want to start this mentality of, ‘No, we’re not the underdog anymore. We’re the team to beat.’”

John’s desire to make Strake Jesuit a better team makes him a better individual player.

“I could be wrong, but my impression of the greats was that they didn’t really care about their statistics,” Jason said. “They cared about winning.”

There is, however, one individual stat that Jason teases his son about. John’s single-season rushing yard total is seventh all-time in Texas high school football history. In every Dave Campbell’s magazine, Jason, who played at Klein High School and became an all-conference safety at Rice, is listed first for the longest interception return.

“He knows his accomplishment is infinitely better than what I’ve done,” Jason said.

You just won’t hear John say that.