We’ve reached the midway mark of the Texas high school football season, and it’s time to take stock.

Across the state, standout players have already left their mark — piling up eye-popping stats, leading dramatic wins, and proving themselves as the heartbeat of their teams. To celebrate the season so far, we’re naming a Midseason Monster in each classification, recognizing the athletes who’ve defined the first half of 2025.

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PRIVATE SCHOOLS
QB Jack Devine, Austin Regents

At the helm of perhaps the private school ranks' most dangerous offense, the junior Devine has been lights-out for the Knights en route to a 5-0 start to the season. The raw numbers are impressive — 1,607 yards and 19 touchdowns passing, and another 287 yards and seven scores on the ground — but it's his precision with the ball that sets him apart: he's completing two-thirds of his passes, and hasn't thrown an interception in his 129 attempts so far this year. It's hard to get much better — or more impactful — than that.

CLASS 1A 
ATH Stryker Reed, Gordon

It feels like you could pick any number of players on the Gordon Longhorns, the undisputed No. 1 team in six-man football and arguably the finest pound-for-pound football team in Texas, but Stryker Reed gets the nod at the midway point of the season. A menace on both sides of the ball, the Air Force commit has been consistently unstoppable for the Longhorns, including a sensational performance in Gordon's stunning blowout of 11-man Thorndale. In a six-man landscape full of individual stars, none shine brighter than Stryker Reed.

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CLASS 2A 
RB Christian Villarreal, Ozona

Every year, there's one player that emerges out of nowhere to become a major statewide figure in Texas high school football. Last year, it was North Crowley receiver Quentin Gibson; this year, it appears to be the incomparable Ozona running back Villarreal. Last season as a junior, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Villareal was good but not notable — 1,438 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground. This year, in the Lions' 5-0 start under new coach Jason Pitts, he's ignited: 99 carries, 1,772 yards and 23 touchdowns rushing (plus 11 two-point conversions) in just five games, not to mention strong contributions as a receiver, passer and punter. As it stands right now, Villarreal is on pace to break Kenneth Hall's 72-year-old single-season rushing record of 4,045 yards in the area round of the playoffs — the same number of games Hall needed to reach that number.

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CLASS 3A 
QB Kavian Bryant, Palestine Westwood

The Panthers' offense is off to a torrid start, averaging more than 55 points per game, and the straw that stirs the drink is unquestionably the blue-chip signal-caller Bryant. A star since his freshman season in 2023, Bryant has taken an even bigger step as a junior, as evidenced just by what he did in his first game of the season — 18-for-18, 469 yards and four touchdowns passing, and another 89 yards and two scores rushing. Every week has been a different verse of the same song, and Bryant has Westwood poised for its biggest season in program history..

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CLASS 4A 
LB DaQuives Beck, Carthage

For as much as we may marvel at Carthage's offense — and it's been very strong, especially the one-two running-back punch of K.J. Edwards and Benny Smith — the secret in Panola County is that this is a defense-first team, boasting 4A Division II's No. 7-ranked scoring defense at 11 points allowed per game (despite playing powers like Kilgore and Chapel Hill). And the Texas A&M commit Beck is the heart and soul of that unit, not just leading the team statistically but also in the locker room and on the sideline. The Bulldogs are going for historic championship No. 11 — and a second consecutive title — and until someone finds a way to neutralize Beck, they'll be the favorite to do just that.

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CLASS 5A 
RB Landen Williams-Callis, Richmond Randle

We had some questions about the reigning 5A Division II state champion Richmond Randle Lions heading into the season, but there was no question that their mega-star running back Landen Williams-Callis would blossom. So it should come as no surprise that he's become one of the state's most unstoppable players, running for 1,205 yards and 21 touchdowns in the Lions' 5-0 start to the season. A staggering 11.6 yards per carry and 241 yards per game don't tell the whole story — he's also shown up big in the Lions' biggest games, scoring 10 touchdowns in the last two weeks against District 11-5A Division II challengers Iowa Colony and Fort Bend Marshall.

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CLASS 6A 
ATH Jermaine Bishop, Willis

The single-most electrifying player in Texas high school football has been the driving force behind a 4-1 start for the Wildkats. The Texas Longhorns commit — recently named a five-star prospect by Dave Campbell's — is Willis' leading receiver (271 yards and 4 touchdowns), leading receiver (35 catches for 620 yards and 8 scores)...but that only tells part of the story. He's also fourth on the team in tackles (29) from his position as the Wildkats' No. 1 cornerback, to go along with three pass break-ups and two forced fumbles. He's also thrown a touchdown pass, and he's averaging 39 yards per punt. Bishop's ability to make an impact on every snap is, quite simply, peerless.