Texas high school football power DeSoto hitting ‘reset button’ in quest for third straight UIL title

Now a national power, the Eagles have a new look but are determined to produce the same results

DeSoto receiver Daylon Singleton goes in for a touchdown during the Eagles' 74-14 win against Humble Summer Creek for the 6A Division II state title in December of 2023. / Tommy Hays

DeSOTO, TEXAS - Shortly after DeSoto claimed its second straight Texas high school football 6A Division II championship, head coach Claude Mathis walked into the locker room.

To the players that were coming back for the 2024 season, he delivered a simple, but strong message, in lieu of the Eagles’ upcoming offseason workouts.

“Coach came in here and said it's time to go to work,” said Keylan “Keke” Abrams, the Eagles’ senior standout defensive lineman.

“Right after we got our rings, he told us, ‘Last year, it’s gone,’ so he said after that day, we don't want to talk about last year anymore. So now, we've been focusing since we got our rings on what we're gonna do for the 2024-2025 season.”

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It may have been similar to what Mathis told his players the previous offseason, coming off DeSoto’s first of its current run of state titles, and the first title the Eagles won since 2016. But the message, and its aftermath, seemed to resonate a bit more for the returning players, especially Abrams and his incoming senior teammates.

"You know, we were looking in there and there weren't too many people left in there,” Abrams said. “So, we looked around and we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’

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“Then spring football came around, and everybody started coming back in and summer came back around. And then we had seen, okay, we’ve got a new team here. It's time to go back to work.”

For Abrams and the rest of the Eagles, the No. 5 ranked team in the country entering the season, it’s all about hitting the proverbial reset button.

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Last year was great, much like the year before was great. But it’s a brand-new season, and they can’t live in the past.

Especially for a DeSoto squad that is littered with new faces on both sides of the football. Not to mention on the coaching staff.

“These last three years, we had a different team each year, so it was a reset button each year and this year was another year that was going to be a reset year,” Abrams said. “It's a lot of guys that haven’t started before, and so this year is going to be the first time starting for some guys and we got a few vets coming back, but it's gonna be the same thing we had (in previous) years.

“We have the same coaches, same workout scheme and look where it got us the year before and it’s going to get us there this year.”

Earlier in 2024, though, those growing pains that were a byproduct of the program’s transition definitely began to take root. There were flashes of inconsistency all the way to the end of the Eagles’ spring practices.

The seniors also had to learn the role of becoming more of the team leaders.

“It's really, it's really different, because last year, we had people to lead us,” said senior receiver Daylon Singleton. “But now, like this year, it’s on us and it's just kind of hard being a leader and being that guy everyone looks up to, because you now have to work for you and the others like the younger ones under you.

“And it's just like a big change going into the year.”

Deondrae Riden points to his ring finger after a back-breaking touchdown in DeSoto's Texas 6A Division II semifinal win over Southlake Carroll in November 2023. / Photo by Michael Horbovetz, SBLive

But once the weather really warmed up, the team started to show flashes of its championship pedigree.

“You have to fill some holes and that's what we're trying to fill right now,” Mathis said. “I think physicality and mental toughness, we're still getting there. We're not where I want us to be, but pretty close. We're pretty close.

“We might be a little ahead of schedule than we were last year; this year, I think we're ahead. I think we're ahead of schedule just a little bit, and it helps we’ve got some more kids coming back that know how to play defense and know how to play offense but they know the expectations, they know how to lead. And that's what we're dealing with right now, but we definitely got some holes we gotta fill, but I do feel honestly this is one of the better summer camps that we've had when it comes to our kids working in getting stronger and us getting faster.”

That was even more evident in June, when the Eagles won the state Division I 7-on-7 championship.

“That was awesome, because we weren't good; we weren't good,” Mathis said. “We had to work to get there and we worked and worked and worked and worked.

“And we finally got to where we were supposed to be at and we finally got a chance to click on all cylinders when we did it and we competed hard, the kids played well, but we have really achieved some things that we wanted to achieve going into that 7-on-7 season, and that accomplished those goals, man. And, you know, we got clicking at the right time, man, you know when you say you get hot at the right time, we got hot at the right time, and our kids played well.”

From there, the Eagles appear to have their swagger back. However, even when there were some periods of adversity ever since that late December night at AT&T Stadium, when DeSoto played near-flawless football in a 74-14 win against Humble Summer Creek for its second straight 6A DII title, the work ethic remained constant.

“It was very similar (to what the Eagles went through entering the 2023 season),” DeSoto junior tackle/defensive end Jerbralon Stewart said. “After we won state, just went back to the grind and doing this.”

Not to mention attaining the same chemistry and togetherness that defined the Eagles the past two seasons.

“You know, some people have never started, some people are young trying to play up to our level, but it's just chemistry in my opinion that we need to work on grinding, able to like play off each other fast,” senior defensive back Canden Mathis said. “That's probably why we were so good over the past three years because we built chemistry with each other.

“Building chemistry will help us play up to a whole another level that we’ve never seen before. That’s all, that's all.”

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Who will replace all-Texas QB DJ Bailey?

DeSoto coach Claude Mathis holds up the UIL (Texas) 6A Division II state championship trophy at AT&T Stadium in Dec. 2023. /

The Eagles return seven starters on offense, though one big uncertainty the Eagles had was at quarterback with the loss of DJ Bailey, now at Sam Houston State.

Two transfers have come to DeSoto vying to win the job in senior Kelden Ryan, a Virginia Tech commit who had been at Fort Worth All Saints, and junior Legend Howell, who had been at Dallas Bishop Lynch.

“Kelden and Legend are both competing hard, and they’re both great quarterbacks,” Claude Mathis said. “Best thing I can say is we won't have any issues at quarterback. We'll be fine. I'm excited about the quarterback play.

“I know that we're going to be fine. Both kids are doing well, they’re going to play. So the quarterback situation, I think it kind of proved a lot of people wrong once they saw 7-on-7 because I thought after our spring game, we really didn’t throw the ball a lot like we wanted to and they're still learning the plays and everything. … We knew what we have and we proved it, so they're good.”

The running back corps will be bolstered by the return of senior Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr., a Texas A&M commit who suffered a severe elbow injury in the team’s 2023 season opener and missed several weeks.

He came back to help the Eagles’ postseason surge, even setting career-highs in carries (34) and yards (254) in their 45-38 win against Southlake Carroll in the 6A DII semifinals.

“He's doing great, he's doing great, we're gonna keep him healthy too, he's doing great and he got some other guys that surround him right now that's gonna be good,” Mathis said. “The good thing about that backfield, they learned to work as a team and I think it’s going to be another great backfield this year. … So it starts with Tiger, bottom line, but it's going to be great this year.”

Singleton, an SMU commit, is one of the state’s top receivers, and scored three first-quarter TDs in the decisive title game win in December. Heading up the offensive line is senior tackle Byron Washington, a Syracuse commit who isn’t difficult to spot with his massive (6-foot-8, 380 pounds) frame and definitely uses that to his advantage, as evidenced by a viral photo of him towering over a Summer Creek defender in last season's title.

Plus, the Eagles have a pair of promising sophomores, both of whom are ranked in the top 15 of the 247Sports list of the Top 100 Class of 2027 recruits. Receiver Ethan Feaster (ranked No. 8) caught nine TD passes as a freshman, and then DeSoto received a move-in, Myson Johnson-Cook (ranked No. 12), who spent his freshman year at Decatur (Ill.) MacArthur and can play running back and safety.

Abrams, a TCU commit, is the emotional leader of the Eagles’ defense and is one of five returning starters on that unit. Mathis remarked that his line will define the defense this season.

“I really do think the d-line really separates everybody on the defense,” he said. “It’s that deep, and it’s allowed to help out that back end. So our defense line has got to continue to stay strong. It's been strong every single year and it’s got to be another year like that.”

But Mathis has to replace his entire group of linebackers. He’s not sweating it, though.

“They're coming,” Mathis said. “They're coming along, we may have some pieces to the puzzle coming out here real quick that I think it's going to help us out.

“But we're excited right now. We're really excited about the linebacker play.”

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Eagles not backing away from target: 'I love competing'

DeSoto coach Claude Mathis flashes a grin during the 2023 UIL 6A Division II state championship. /

DeSoto also upgraded its schedule, especially on the non-district side. The Eagles kick off the 2024 season at home on Saturday, Aug. 31, welcoming in a school from Georgia, Creekside.

Then the Eagles are at home again the following week to face North Crowley, coming off a trip to the 6A Division I semifinals. On Sept. 13, DeSoto faces Corpus Christi Miller - which finished 13-1 last season - at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

“Yeah, I love it; I love competing, and we have a hard schedule,” Mathis said. “We’ve got Creekside coming out of Georgia. We have North Crowley, that’s really has come out of nowhere and ranked in the top five in the state I think.

“Then you have a Corpus Christi Miller team that's really good, that went to the semifinals last year. They're gonna play hard, they scored like over 50-something points a game last year, and they're gonna bring all their fans to the Alamodome. So, I'm very impressed with a hard preseason schedule, which I love. We always compete hard every year to get us ready for district play, so very pleased with it.”

And when talking about District 11-6A, well, there is a reason it is what Mathis refers to as “The District of Doom,” a league loaded with championship-caliber programs. That includes Duncanville, which went on to win 6A Division I last season, but not before losing to DeSoto in the regular season.

The anticipated rematch between the Eagles and Panthers takes place on Oct. 11, and once again it will take place at DeSoto’s Eagle Stadium. Those two already head up the SBLive Texas preseason Top 25, with DeSoto coming in No. 1, followed by Duncanville at No. 2.

“It is the ‘District of Doom,’ and it really is; it’s a hard district,” Mathis said. “And you had a couple of more schools in our district this year, you lose some, but you add some more, to me, it's gotten harder. Honestly, it's gotten harder. But the same time, we'll continue to get better.”

Mathis is also getting used to several new faces on his staff.

Last season’s defensive coordinator, Aaron Babino, left to become the head coach at Cameron Yoe. Returning staff members Rodney Chadwick II and Paul Beattie will be sharing that role this season.

The Eagles also brought in three new coaches in inside linebackers coach Steven Lemley - who had been an assistant at nearby Cedar Hill and helped the Longhorns win state - along with tight ends coach Kahn Rollerson and special teams coordinator Robert Bowen.

For the returning players, entering the 2023 season they also had to adjust to being the targets of opposing clubs, who wanted nothing more than to take down the defending state champs. But none succeeded, as DeSoto ran the table with a 16-0 record and was ranked No. 2 in the final SBLive nationwide rankings.

And as far as the Eagles are concerned, just bring it.

“One thing Coach Mathis always says, is that we're being hunted, we’ve got a target on our back, but he always says this, too; we are also doing the hunting,” Canden Mathis said. “Last year’s team, they won. They had a target on their back since we won the first time, but now we’ve got an even bigger target on our back because we already won it two times.

“Everybody wants a piece of DeSoto. Everybody wants a piece of us. But, we’re gonna hunt, too. And that’s the scary thing about it. We put in more work than anybody and we are going to hunt, and that’s the bottom line.”

The seniors also want to earn a third ring before moving on to whatever awaits them in the future.

“It's really us seniors knowing this is our last year; knowing that we want to go out with a bang or whatever, going out with another state championship,” Singleton said. “So we're really not gonna let our underclassmen slack, we're not going to let them underwork because we know what it takes and us seniors can't do it by ourselves.

“We’ve got to get them ready in order to win another one, and I don't want to lose, I don't want to lose like my senior year, I don't want to leave without another ring. I want three going into college, so that's what it's going to take.”

And should DeSoto get that “three-peat,” Singleton has the perfect word to describe that accomplishment.

Or make that two words.

“To just do it again, like, it's gonna be like, it's gonna be legendary, but not just legendary, but epic,” Singleton said. “Because we got coach his first state championship, we got him his second and it would be legendary to go back again and get him his third.

“But he's really just been saying like, it's gonna take a team, there’s no ‘I’ in team. So, we all gotta come together; we got a bond, and we gotta get connections. We’ve got to be like that last year’s team, or even better because I feel like we can even be better than last year's team, and set higher records than we did last year.”

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Stay with SBLive's preseason coverage in the lead up to the 2024 Texas high school football season.

We're taking a position-by-position look at the top players returning in the Lone Star State this fall, starting with 50 quarterbacks, 70 running backs, 40 wide receivers, 25 tight ends, 25 offensive linemen, 30 cornerbacks, 30 defensive linemen and 45 linebackers.

Which teams are district favorites? Top sleepers? We're going district-by-district and choosing both, starting with 6A Districts 1-16, 6A Districts 17-32 and 5A Division I.

We examined offseason player movement and the 12 transfers that will have the biggest impact in the fall.

Who are the most underrated teams in the Lone Star State entering the season? We're taking a look by region at the programs poised to out-perform expectations, starting with North Texas, Southeast Texas and Central Texas.

The Lone Star State is home to many of the country's top prospects. We examined the top 20 committed recruits in the state and where they're headed. And we narrowed down the 25 best uncommitted players in the state — and where they're at in their respective recruitments.

-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX