AUSTIN, Texas – It’s a sunny August afternoon, and Baker Mayfield is in his element – discussing his detractors. This is 2016, well before Mayfield won a Heisman Trophy, went No. 1 overall and appeared in every other insurance commercial. Back then, Mayfield was merely a walk-on turned star.

Mayfield’s narrative-slaying origin is rather consistent: FBS schools didn’t want him, so he walked on at Texas Tech. That would be a disingenuous place to begin. To understand Mayfield, you must know the story of Lake Travis High School.

The chip-on-my-shoulder tale Mayfield desperately clings to starts not in recruiting, but at the high school where he waited. Mayfield sat in the stands and later on the bench watching in successive fashion as Todd Reesing (Kansas), Garrett Gilbert (Texas) and Michael Brewer (Texas Tech) earned scholarships. Next up would be Mayfield. Until he wasn’t. Colin Lagasse won the job instead. It took a Lagasse injury in Week 1 against a rival high school to unleash Mayfield on the world.

“Growing up and watching, the expectations were so high,” Mayfield told 247Sports. “By the time I got there, anything less than winning a state title was kind of a bust. It propelled getting my mindset right to where it is: All or nothing.”

Allow us to travel to the other side of the field for a second. Mayfield’s debut came against Westlake High School, a program situated 12 miles east of Lake Travis. Westlake didn’t have a future No. 1 overall pick under center that day. But its quarterback history is no less rich. Half a decade before, Nick Foles, he of the Philly Special, lined up at quarterback for the Chaparrals. A decade before Foles, Drew Brees, the NFL’s all-time leading passer, won the Chaps a state title.

Two rival high schools, their affluent suburbs a mirror image of each other, have produced three of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks. There may be more coming soon.

Lake Travis and Westlake’s quarterback development will be on display Saturday when Texas travels to No. 14 Baylor (2:30 p.m., FS1). The Bears employ Charlie Brewer (Lake Travis), while the Longhorns ride with Sam Ehlinger (Westlake). Both are third-year starters for upper-tier Big 12 schools. It’s an almost expected level of success given where they graduated from.

“To be a quarterback at one of those schools is a big deal,” Ehlinger told 247Sports. “It takes a lot of effort and commitment, their whole childhood, for the people who get that opportunity.”

How does this happen? How do two adjacent Austin offshoots produce 9.4 percent of the best 32 quarterbacks in the world? As Lake Travis and Westlake charge into the second round of the Texas state playoffs and as Baylor plays Texas in a game with Big 12 championship implications, let the many coaches who’ve helped build Westlake and Lake Travis explain.

Westlake High School

The Lineage: Charles Kean (1993) – Army; Jay Rodgers (1995) – Indiana; Drew Brees (1997) – Purdue; Adam Hall (1999) – Texas; Alvin Cowan (2000) – Yale; Duke Hasson (2001) – SMU; Chad Schroeder (2002) – Texas A&M; Mark Oliver (2004) – Rhodes College; Turner Wimberly (2005) – Vanderbilt; Nick Foles (2007) – Michigan State; Tanner Price (2010) – Wake Forest; Blake Box (2012) – Rhodes College; Jordan Severt (2014) – SMU; Sam Ehlinger (2017) – Texas

The throw happened at Burger Stadium. A shorter quarterback, maybe 5-foot-10, stepped into a quick out pattern. Longtime Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls remembers the sound of the ball literally zipping through the air.

“I thought this guy is going to be special,” Bohls said.

Brees turned out to be OK. Not that he was meant to start. Brees arrived at Westlake as a private school transfer, and he began his tenure as the B-team JV quarterback. An injury to Jonny Rodgers, the would-be starter, opened the door for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

“We didn’t even think (Drew) was going to be that good when we lost Jonny,” former Westlake head coach Ron Schroeder said. “Our JV coaches freaked out. Sometimes I tell people we could’ve gone with Jonny Rodgers at QB and nobody would know the difference. There would be no Drew Brees today.”

Quarterbacks blossom in different environments and circumstances. Yet something must go right at Westlake for 14 of the school’s last 17 starting quarterbacks to sign with a college football program.

Derek Long served as Westlake’s head coach from 2003-08, working with a pair of Power Five quarterbacks along the way. Long ponders Westlake’s incredible quarterback luck in retirement sometimes. After verbally listing the school’s decorated passers, Long returns to a single name – Schroeder. Westlake’s head coach from 1987 to 2002, Schroeder compiled a 187-23-3 record and built the Chaparrals into a state power. Long served as Schroeder’s defensive coordinator and labeled Schroeder a “master” with quarterbacks.

Before Texas became the land of the Air Raid and year-round 7-on-7 competitions, Darrell Royal’s wishbone and other option-based systems reigned. Schroeder saw the sport differently. When Schroeder took over as Westlake's offensive coordinator in 1982, he envisioned a pro-style system with a 50-50 split.

Schroeder earned his quarterback whisperer status with the way he trained them.

Valentine’s Day marked the start of a quarterback camp during Schroeder's tenure. Schroeder pulled the quarterbacks from the team’s offseason program on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to work with them individually in the high school gym. Brees and every other Westlake quarterback of that era stood against the gym wall, attempting to push their elbows up even with their shoulder. Schroeder drilled footwork, releases and even the exact steps for a perfect option pitch.

When quarterback camps began to popularize in the mid-90s, Long remembers Schroeder exclaiming: “It’s going to take two months to coach that camp stuff out of their system!” Schroeder met privately with his quarterbacks 30 minutes before every game. Even a few years into retirement, Schroeder traces his career through his quarterbacks. “That was the highlight of my job,” Schroeder said.

“In the Austin area, he was really the first person who worked with quarterbacks individually and trained them,” Long said.

That standard remained at Westlake once Schroeder retired. Recently, Todd Dodge sparked the school’s quarterback production again. Dodge, the former North Texas head coach, brought with him a defined developmental system in 2014 that helped groom Ehlinger.

It starts in seventh grade. Two middle schools feed into Westlake High School, West Ridge and Hill Country. Between the two, Dodge will have eight seventh-grade quarterbacks. That number drops with each successive year: Eighth (6), ninth (4), 10th (2).

Dodge works with his junior high coaches to dictate how many snaps quarterbacks receive week to week. Every once in a while, he’ll field a call from a youth coach in the city: “A good one is coming.” They’re referencing fifth- or-sixth graders. Dodge’s system is set up to ensure that most of the city’s best athletes are exposed to the position early, whittling down the options as the years advance.

“That’s the method to the madness,” Dodge said. “That way we’re not just taking that stud seventh grade quarterback and putting our eggs in one basket and three years later he goes straight basketball or moves off. We’re going to train a lot.”

This means Westlake remains in contention even without the most naturally talented quarterback in the program. Hand injuries held Ehlinger to just five games his senior season. The player who took over for him, then-sophomore Taylor Anderson, did not earn an FBS scholarship. He did, however, finish as the winningest quarterback in Westlake history.

Anderson served as Westlake’s B-team quarterback through ninth grade until many of his competitors moved off the position. Those years of anonymity prepared Anderson for his moment.

“That right there shows you,” Dodge said. “I think there’s something to be said about programs that are training their own quarterbacks in the age of camps. The ones that are taking their quarterbacks and putting together a quarterback training system within their own confines are the ones that are really consistently good.”

Baker Mayfield and Garrett Gilbert both played at Lake Travis HS.

Lake Travis High School

The Lineage: Nick Bird (2004) – Abilene Christian; Todd Reesing (2006) – Kansas; Garrett Gilbert (2009) – Texas; Michael Brewer (2011) – Texas Tech; Colin Lagasse (2012) – SMU; Baker Mayfield (2013) – Texas Tech; Dominic DeLira (2015) – Iowa State; Charlie Brewer (2017) – Baylor; Matthew Baldwin (2018) – Ohio State; Hudson Card (2020) – Texas (committed); Nate Yarnell (2021) – NA

Hank Carter remembers long talks with Chad Morris about a move to Lake Travis. The pair, Morris as head coach and Carter as defensive coordinator, spent years turning around Stephenville High School – the program made famous by Art Briles – and the Cavaliers would be an altogether different sort of task. Expectations were enormous. Lake Travis had just won its first state championship, and five-star quarterback Garrett Gilbert was back for his senior season.

“To be honest, we looked at it as a really daunting task,” Carter said. “I don’t know if we ever dreamed that the run we went on would go that way.”

That stretch includes five state championships over the last 11 seasons. Let’s not forget the eight (soon to be nine) Lake Travis starting quarterbacks who’ve signed with FBS programs. Yet to understand where Lake Travis is, you must first remember what it was.

Jeff Dicus agreed to be Lake Travis’ head coach in 2003, inheriting a program that had won one game the previous two seasons. The Cavs were a doormat.

The turnaround started with a little paint. Some fifteen or so parents gathered at the fieldhouse on a Saturday two weeks into Dicus’ tenure. Together, they rebranded the entire space within a day. That support served as a glimpse into a future that would include college-like facilities.

Most stories at Lake Travis start with Reesing, who went on to lead Kansas to the Orange Bowl. But the overhaul began with Bird. The son of Lake Travis’ new offensive coordinator, Jerry Bird, Nick arrived after a record-setting junior season at Mission High School in South Texas. Jerry brought with him a high-flying attack, and Bird – and later Reesing – excelled. Nick led all Central Texas passers in yards his senior season.

There were no Pop Warner programs in Lake Travis upon Dicus’ arrival. Seven-on-seven wasn’t a priority either. Dicus set to remedy that quickly. He also pulled the middle school coaches into his program-building discussions, installing his system at the lower levels. By his third year, Dicus started to meet with newly-minted Pop Warner coaches to discuss some of Lake Travis’ offensive verbiage. Even the town’s elementary schools implemented agility drills like jump rope dots. Lake Travis began a quarterback school in the offseason – similar to what Schroder employed at Westlake – that pulled the quarterbacks away from the rest of the team certain days a week to watch film.

Lake Travis went 3-7 Dicus’ first year. The next season the Cavaliers won their first district championship. Three years later, with Gilbert leading the way, Lake Travis earned its first state championship.

“Garrett and that class ran our offense in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th grade, and when they were in 11th we won our first state championship,” Dicus said. “They ran our offense for five years. It was a major contributor to what we were able to accomplish.”

Dicus left a champion when he departed for Duncanville High School that offseason. Morris and Carter transformed Lake Travis into a dynasty.

The new staff arrived and built on much of Dicus’ infrastructure. Morris’ offense, which went on to acclaim at Clemson, further turbocharged the Cavaliers through the air. Morris brought with him a program-building philosophy that would reach all the way to second grade.

Citywide 7-on-7 occurred every May. Morris wanted at least two teams for every grade level. The dads in the city would coach, using pared down (very much so in younger grades) versions of the system Morris ran on Friday night. Morris, speaking to 247Sports a few weeks ago, said he can still remember Charlie Brewer throwing darts on Lake Travis’ third-grade team.

This vertical integration bathed future Cavaliers in Lake Travis’ culture before they could grip regulation-sized footballs.

“We knew who our quarterback was going to be, unless something happened and someone moved, to third grade,” Morris said.

That might be a bit of an exaggeration. Carter said it’s hard to know how a player will change over the years. But he remembers coaching Baldwin in third grade at the school’s Hill Country Passing Academy, an event that’s hosted Mayfield, Gilbert, Baldwin and both Brewer brothers.

The large majority of Lake Travis’ passers over the years grew up in the Cavaliers' system. Card is an exception, but even he moved in as a freshman.

“They see guys who have played at their middle schools, and they see what they’ve gone on to accomplish,” Carter said. “In some ways it's inspiring. In some ways it may be a little daunting. Maybe they feel the pressure like, ‘Oh my gosh, how could I ever do that?’ But if you’re going to sign up to play quarterback in Texas High School football, especially in 6A and especially at Lake Travis, you understand the expectations and the pressure.”

Nick Foles and Drew Brees played at Westlake HS a decade apart.

Why Lake Travis, Westlake Have Boomed

Dicus recently returned to Austin after years away, taking the head coaching job at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy. St. Michael’s is situated some 10 miles from Lake Travis. It’s a drive 15 years ago that would’ve lasted 10 minutes. Now, Dicus finds it takes him 25 minutes to navigate that short stretch.

When Schroder arrived at Westlake in 1982, Austin’s population sat at 358,950. By 2016 that number ballooned to 926,426, per the city’s most recent data. The greater Austin area, which envelops Westlake and Lake Travis, had a population of 2.12 million as of 2017, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce. One hundred people on average move to Austin a day.

Lake Travis and Westlake have boomed as a result.

When Lake Travis formed in 1982, it competed in 1-A football, Texas’ lowest 11-man football classification by school enrollment. As of the 2017-18 school year, Lake Travis High School had an enrollment of 3,079, per the Texas Tribune, and competed in Texas’ highest classification. Westlake, with an enrollment of 2,679, saw similar growth.

The more families who move in, especially in these affluent suburbs, inevitably result in extra bodies for the football programs. But it’s the community support that kindles consistent results. Lake Travis opened a new weight room earlier this year that the school’s Facebook page described as “bigger than most colleges.” Carter ($158,512) and Dodge ($150,000) are the only two head coaches in Texas to make $150,000-plus a year, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“Football is a religion (in Texas),” Bohls said. “I don’t know if anyone worships it more than Westlake and Lake Travis.”

The results are clear on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Brees (New Orleans Saints) and Foles (Jacksonville Jaguars) have won Super Bowl MVPs this decade. The Cleveland Browns actually employ a pair of Lake Travis quarterbacks as Gilbert is Mayfield’s backup. Overall, three Austin-area QBs start for NFL teams. That’s more than all but two states: California (6) and Texas (6). By the way, those Texas numbers don’t include Matthew Stafford (injured), Andy Dalton (benched) and Andrew Luck (retired), a trio of long-time Texan starters entering training camp this year. And get this: Luck also spent time in Lake Travis’ system before moving away prior to high school.

Theorizing about this boon, Schroeder mentions a few advantages every Texas school has: Weather, offensive stylings and the importance placed on football in this state. But Westlake and Lake Travis are particularly situated for success because of their setups. Three middle schools feed into Lake Travis and two into Westlake. They’re each part of a one-high school system; the Austin Independent School District, on the other hand, has 11 high schools to split its football players between.

Before Dodge, a University of Texas graduate, arrived at Westlake, he built a national powerhouse at Southlake Carroll High School. The Dragons were another large single high school town that produced a bevy of FBS prospects and four state championships between 2002-06. Ironically, Dodge’s last state title at Southlake came against a Foles-led Westlake team.

Dodge arrived at Westlake eight years later with a similar vision. At Westlake, like Carroll, quarterbacks sprout from a young age and dream of playing for the Chaps.

“Quarterback is a position, if you run your program the right way, you never have to rebuild at,” Dodge said. “You just hopefully reload. Every year are we going to have a Charlie Brewer or Sam Ehlinger? No. But you’ll have a very efficient, well-coached quarterback. I think the quarterbacks, if you’re talking about these two schools, they’re homegrown from within the system.

“They’re not a bunch of kids who are going out and just being a product of some quarterback coach and that’s all they do year-round. They’ve got very capable and professional people at Lake Travis and Westlake. They’re coached from the seventh-grade level all the way up.”