Snap and read? Serve and volley? Beau Oaksmith is a different type of dual threat at Seattle Prep

Senior enters third season as school's starting quarterback in football while also being a high-level doubles tennis player who could play both sports in college

Dual threat QB Beau Oaksmith was voted a 3A Metro first teamer as a junior in 2023. / Photo by Lane Mathews

You don't see this high-level, multi-sport crossover combination in high school very often ... but Seattle Prep senior Beau Oaksmith is no ordinary athlete.

As the school's No. 2 single-season performer for total offense (3,000 yards, 36 TDs) behind Braeden Smith (3,349 yards), Oaksmith is entering his third season as the Panthers' starting quarterback - and is one pace to collect many of the program's records.

Also once a nationally-ranked USTA junior tennis player, he's been a WIAA Class 3A runner-up in boys' doubles (2022).

The pressure is similar in feel, even if it is completely different in form. In tennis, he sees 120 mph serves and rocket forehands whistle at him. In football, he faces ferocious defensive linemen and linebackers coming at him.

"The horizontal movements are similar - the quick feet and fast reaction time," Oaksmith said. "I am a big doubles player, so I love being at the net - and I love the quick action.

"Just being on your toes, it helps in the crossover in both (sports)."

Seattle Prep's Beau Oaksmith advanced to the WIAA Class 3A boys doubles finals in 2022. / Photo courtesy of Seattle Prep athletics

Oaksmth started in tennis at age 8 out of Seattle Tennis Club, and played in competitive local and regional USTA tournaments all the way up to high school.

In ninth grade, Oaksmith turned out for freshman football in a Seattle Prep program where his father, Mike, was a starting varsity signal caller in the mid-1990s.

"I had burned out with (full-time) tennis, and found football," Oaksmith said. "I loved it,"

After getting to watch Smith (now at Gonzaga) become an all-3A Metro League quarterback in his only season under center in 2021, Oaksmith replaced him the next season - and has grown into an all-league first-team dual threat as well.

"Beau is a true dual-threat quarterback who puts a tremendous amount of pressure on defenses," Seattle Prep football coach Aaron Maul said. "He is a big time competitor who loves the challenge of a Friday night."

Summer, as Oaksmith details it, is for training for football and teaching tennis. He added he does not ratchet his tennis workouts until the winter - well after the football season.

Ideally, he'd like a shot to play both sports in college, likely at the NCAA DIvisioN III level. Much of his recruiting thus far has been around football.