leadership-wise is showing that they’re putting in the work first,” Morrison said. “Then once you’re able to put in work and your teammates notice, then you can be a little more vocal with them.” Warren was working his hardest for the upcoming season. Especially with the competition he had for the starting job. Sophomore quarterback Cole Welliver transferred from Washington during the offseason and is a nationally ranked quarterback in his graduating class. Warren never expected the starting job to be handed to him. Coming in everyday during practice to compete with someone as talented as Welliver was a welcome challenge. “You know when he first came in, I was a little worried, not going to lie, but Coach Morrison and Coach Atkinson just told me, ‘You have the upper hand, you know the playbook, just compete with him and it’ll make you better,’” Warren said. “Overall I think it’s been a pretty healthy competition, I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.” The decision for now is for Warren to share time as the starting quarterback with Welliver, with Warren playing at the start and Welliver subbing in and out throughout the game. Heading into the first game of the season, Warren heard all the comments people had about him and as much as he tried to ignore it all, he felt pressure. “The whole week I was getting myself nervous and in my own head,” Warren said. ”Because I heard people left and right saying, ‘Garrett’s gone, will Marcus be the same this year?’ Everyone had doubts.” But like always, Warren knew to just focus on the game and to ignore all the outside distractions. ”I was just like ‘I got to step up, fulfill this role,’ Warren said. “I had to find that confidence in myself that I can get the job done.” ••• In the first game against Jesuit, the offense’s first drive ended in a missed field goal. Coming off the field, Warren was frustrated. He knew the team couldn’t open the season like this. On the next drive, Warren threw for his first touchdown of the season.
sports Oct. 12, 2021
Senior Jaxxon Warren drops back to throw during the Sept. 24 Mound Showdown. Photo Avery Jerina
That was enough for him to relax and be confident. “I was like okay, now I got the nerves out, we’re going to start cruising from here,” Warren said. “Just keep pummeling them and run up the score.” The team kept scoring, but the game ended in a 34-38 loss. However once again, when the lights were the brightest, Warren showed up. He ended the game with 407 yards, four touchdowns and 19 completions out of 25 attempts. Garrett Nussmeier reposted Warren’s stats on Twitter with a caption reading “Jaxxon Warren’s got next,” which Warren appreciated from his former mentor. “I love Garrett, he’s like a brother to me,” Warren said. “Just having his
support and him watching the games... having that support throughout this season, that’s just a good feeling.” But Warren wasn’t thinking about stats. All he cared about was the fact the team lost. “I was just thinking about how we can improve from this week to the next week,” Warren said. “We got a lot of young talent, and I thought that Jesuit was a good learning point for our team. We got some experience under our belt and we came out against McKinney and got the job done.” Week two and three were huge successes for Warren. In the Sept. 3 game against McKinney, Warren threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns in a 2821 win. Then in the homecoming game
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