CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The fall 2024 football season features a strong senior quarterback group in the Coastal Bend. That's why we're highlighting six seniors in our first-ever KRIS Super 6 Showcase, a combine-like environment that will air Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m. on KRIS 6.
Miller's Trevor Long, one of the six seniors selected, will be leading the Buccaneers as the varsity starting quarterback for the second year in-a-row. As a sophomore he shared the role.
“I just feel like it’s such a proud badge of honor on me to say that I’m a Buccaneer,” Long said.
Then last year, in UIL 5A-DI the Buccaneers fell short in the fourth round of playoffs to Brownville Veterans Memorial 35-28. Now as a senior, Long and the Bucs will compete in 5A-DII.
“When you look at a football player at the next level, a guy who has the skillset and the book smarts to go with it, that’s Trevor Long,” Justen Evans, Miller football head coach, said.
Miller football, known to a few as Wide Receiver University, has also produced quarterbacks. 6-foot-2 Long recently broke the program’s single-season passing touchdowns record as a junior, following in his mentor Andrew Body's footsteps.
“He became that role model when I first enrolled here in seventh grade. Going to the Miller games whenever he was here as a junior and a senior it was just I wanted to be like that. I wanted to take on that perception.”
Body previously held Miller’s passing touchdowns record at 47. Long finished with 57 along with 3,767 passing yards and only 4 interceptions. He completed 65.8 percent of his passes and ended the year with a 137.9 quarterback rating out of 158.
“Him beating the record just solidified it that we got some playmakers just like any other state," Body said. "And any other city in Texas.”
Long has the arm strength as well as leadership on the field. He's been building on the fundamentals all offseason through Miller and Insidious' 7 on 7.
“He can make all of the throws, but more than that you know just his field awareness," Evans said. "He’s an extremely smart kid, so he’s an extension of the coaching staff on the field.”
Long is also elite in the classroom. He has a 4.23 GPA and ranks second in his class all while taking Advance Placement classes and Dual Credit.
“Benefits me in not only terms of school but football because it really helps me focus," Long said. "It really helps me in terms of like preparation because whenever you take those advanced courses you really have to prepare and study. You know it’s kind of like a different problem every single play. You know you have to pick up on things really, really fast.”
Loyalty is a word that describes Trevor Long. For him, ‘Once a Buc, always a Buc’ just means more.
“Sixth grade I had a choice of going to either Tom Browne or Metro Prep," Long said. "I just felt like Metro Prep and the Miller system in general with all of the coaches and the staff that we have around here is definitely where my future should be at.”
Long is one of six Coastal Bend senior quarterbacks that have been selected for the KRIS Super 6 Showcase. A combine where the quarterbacks will showcase their skills for the community and hopefully recruiters. The showcase airs Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m. on KRIS 6.
KRIS Super 6 Showcase Senior Quarterbacks:
Triston Handson, Sinton
Kelan 'The Gunslinger' Brown, Refugio
Jayden 'J.J.' Paluseo, Flour Bluff
Trevor Long, Miller
Logan Rodriguez, Orange Grove
Reed Dooms, Gregory-Portland
Miller starts their season Thursday, Aug. 29 with a live Game Night South Texas matchup against non-district Corpus Christi ISD rival Veterans Memorial. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
You can also catch the showcase re-airing on Aug. 24 at 6 p.m on KZTV and 9:30 p.m. on KDF. The KRIS Super 6 Showcase is sponsored by Neessen Chevrolet.