Latrell McCutchin is the type of man who wears his scars proudly.

The one on his forehead reminds him of why he fell in love with football and how the sport has defined him, at least on the outside, for most of his life. That scar occurred on the first day the young McCutchin wore pads at football practice for the Austin Steelers. He was in first grade and it was his first time doing the Oklahoma Drill. 

From that day on, his uncle nicknamed him “Bobby” and it stuck. You know, like Bobby Bueche from the movie “The Waterboy.” 

“I thought I was just sweating a lot,” McCutchin recalls of that first Oklahoma Drill. “I had on a white practice jersey and suddenly it was covered in blood and I knew my head was split open.” 

McCutchin became a household name on the gridiron sooner than most because of the television show “Friday Night Tykes,” where he starred for the Del Valle Ducks as a fifth grader. He was the best player in the Austin area, starring on offense, defense, and as a returner. He could do it all and was destined to be a highly recruited prospect once he reached high school. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUBvT9FNXc

The limelight put him under a spotlight as a freshman on varsity at Manor High School and then as a sophomore starter at Austin LBJ. People still recognize him from the show despite it airing over a decade ago. College teammates thought he was older than he was and he’s had people from all over the world contact him about how much they enjoyed him on the show.  

“I was just a kid playing football,” he says now. “I didn’t really care about being on a show and I honestly didn’t think it’d get that big.”

McCutchin exited his sophomore year at LBJ as a household name in the recruiting world. He was on the cusp of five-star status as one of the nation’s best cornerbacks and held offers from most of the big programs in the country, including Alabama, Ohio State and LSU.

The 6-foot-2 standout was the reigning District 12-5A Division I Offensive Newcomer of the Year and would be starring on both sides of the ball for LBJ. He was again on top of the football world and poised to earn a fifth star and help the Jaguars win district and compete for a state championship as a junior in 2019.

But he’d never play a snap that season. On the way through the tunnel entering the field in Week 1, McCutchin jumped in the air out of excitement and landed awkwardly, falling to the ground before quickly rising to his feet and finishing the run with his teammates to the opposite end zone. His knee felt funny, but there was no pain and he was prepared to be on the field for the opening kickoff of the season. 

Instead, one of the LBJ trainers saw his fall and inspected him on the sideline only to find swelling. McCutchin left the field and eventually discovered that he tore his ACL and both meniscuses. His season was over before it started and his quest for a fifth star was halted. Surgery gave him another scar from football, but like the one on his forehead, McCutchin now looks at it like a blessing in disguise. 

He was a star and he knew it. That didn’t always make him the best teammate or the most coachable. The injury forced him to take stock of who he was and what he was about. And to notice how many people were counting on him. Instead of sulking away from the team, McCutchin became more involved than ever.  

“The injury made me a better leader, a better teammate, a better person because it made me settle down and be where my feet were,” McCutchin admitted. “I started concentrating on what I could control and how I could be a better vessel to everyone around me.” 

McCutchin returned for his senior season and helped lead the Jaguars to the Class 4A Division I state semifinals. He committed to Oklahoma and played the 2021 season for the Sooners, playing in all but four contests and starting once against Western Carolina. He followed Lincoln Riley to USC ahead of the 2022 season and played in all 14 games with two starts in the Trojan secondary. 

He wanted to return to Texas, however, and landed at Houston for the 2023 season. The good news was that he was close to Whataburger and could get a patty melt with bacon and a large Powerade whenever he wanted. The bad news is that he was forced to sit out the entire season after his second transfer. His previous scars from football, the ones on his forehead and surgically repaired knee, can be viewed by the outside world. Those were tough to handle, but nothing compared to the emotional scars he added during that year. 

“I cried every home game that year,’ he admitted. “Being out there on game day and feeling the vibe around the stadium but not getting to play in the games was hard.”

McCutchin made the best of it, as he’d done with previous setbacks. He credits missing his junior season in high school to helping him prepare for missing his junior season of college. He worked on his craft behind the scenes, playing scout team and covering the likes of Matthew Golden and Samuel Brown every day at practice. He treated those reps like his weekly game, making himself and the team better. 

Ironically, the coach that recruited him to Houston – Doug Belk – ended up on the USC staff after Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen was dismissed after the 2023 season. The Cougars hired Willie Fritz, a grizzled defensive back in his own right. McCutchin started all 12 games for the Coogs last year and has emerged as one of the best cornerbacks in the Big 12 through four games of 2025.

Omasha Brantley was the offensive coordinator at LBJ when McCutchin was starring for the Jaguars and was a student assistant at Sam Houston when Fritz led the Bearkats. He’s not surprised that Fritz’s arrival has coincided with McCutchin’s best football as a collegiate. 

“It is no coincidence why he’s playing the way he is playing right now,” Brantley said. “Coach Fritz is a heck of a ball coach and Latrell is a heck of a player. That was a match made in heaven.”

McCutchin is the quintessential cornerback. He’s long, he’s athletic, he likes to trash talk. Brantley, who isn’t the biggest guy in the world, was on the receiving end when he was first introduced as the OC at LBJ. McCutchin questioned how he could be their coach when the kids were already bigger than him. 

That trash talk continues to this day with McCutchin dedicating hours to watching the mannerisms and tendencies of the wide receivers he’s going to guard so he can figure out which ones are the talkers. He’s even gone as far as having his older brother DM an opponent’s girlfriend just to get them distracted. 

“It’s just a mind game. I think it gives me an advantage,” McCutchin says. “If you can’t handle something like that, you better not step out there in front of me anyway.”

Tackling is one area in which McCutchin isn’t the stereotypical cornerback. He loves the physical nature of the game, dating back to that first Oklahoma Drill and the scar on his forehead. He’s quick to remind everyone that he didn’t always play cornerback and that he brings a special mentality to the game that predates his high school and college exploits. 

“Anybody who watched Friday Night Tykes knows that I didn’t play corner growing up,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m used to being in that box. I played nickel as a sophomore so I know how to tackle. I feel like I’m one of the best corners at tackling. That makes me more versatile because you can throw me at safety.” 

McCutchin was part of a defensive back group that put Austin on the map. He remembers sitting in the Manor locker room as a freshman and hearing the older guys complain about how few recruiters made it to the Central Texas area. He played with Andrew Mukuba and Sean Fresch at LBJ and trained alongside Jahdae Barron and Michael Taaffe with Austin-area trainer Bernard “Bam” Blake. 

The two still work together and text multiple times a week about how many days are left until the 2026 NFL Draft. Mukuba is already in the league. Bam believes McCutchin will be soon. 

“That’s one of the most athletic groups of kids to ever come through Austin,” Bam said about McCutchin and his peers. “He’s one of the bigger bodies of the group and he has the speed to match up. From a pure athleticism standpoint, he’s one of the best this city has ever seen.” 

And he has the scars to prove it.