By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
Below you’ll find the Austin Sports Journal’s end-of-year award winners on the 2024 All-Austin Metro football team for the Texas high school football season.
More All-Austin Football Awards
Mr. Austin Football: Vandegrift’s Miles Teodecki
Class 6A, 5A and 4A & below all-metro teams
Offensive Player of the Year
Wimberley’s Cody Stoever
A player like Cody Stoever comes along just once in a generation. A true competitor, Stoever has left a legacy at Wimberley that may never be matched for decades.
He has been the winningest quarterback in the Austin area over the last three years with a 42-5 record as the Texans’ starter. Stoever led Wimberley to a Class 4A Division II state championship game as a sophomore, three district championships and back-to-back trips to the state semifinals.
Stoever carried the Texans on his back many times over his three-year career at Wimberley. He amassed 8,209 career passing yards, 105 touchdown passes and has a career completion percentage of .652. That was just with his arm. He was just as dangerous with his legs, rushing for 4,320 yards and 81 touchdowns.
Stoever threw for over 2,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 in all three years as the Texans’ quarterback, including throwing for 2,776 yards and running for 1,565 with 62 total touchdowns.
Past winners
2023: Ben Carter and Noah Long, Liberty Hill
Defensive Player of the Year
Westlake’s Elliot Schaper
Defense has been the calling card for the Chaparrals, and the list of defensive greats is long and distinguished. A new name has been added to that list.
A three-year starter, Elliott Schaper has been the anchor of Westlake’s defense the past two seasons. The Austin Sports Journal’s preseason defensive player of the year helped lead the Chaps back to the Class 6A state championship game for the first time since 2021.
The future Duke Blue Devil had 128 total tackles, including 28 for a loss. Schaper finished his career with 23 sacks, including 12 in his senior season.
Past winners
2023: Luca Picucci, Dripping Springs
Newcomer of the Year
Weiss’ Jaxon Schad
It’s rare that you see a freshman take over the starting quarterback position, and Jaxon Schad didn’t expect to be Weiss’ starting quarterback this season.
However, senior Jax Brown suffered a season-ending injury in the final scrimmage before the regular season. That thrusted Schad into a varsity starting role at 14 years old, and he more than proved his worthiness of getting the job.
Take away a rough outing against A&M Consolidated where he threw four interceptions, and Schad only threw a total of two in the 11 other games. He had a 71% completion percentage and threw 32 touchdown passes and finished the season with 2,689 passing yards.
It may not have been the plan for the Wolves, but head coach Vernon Hughes has to be excited about the next three seasons with Schad under center.
Past winners
2023: Rees Wise, Westlake (offensive); Jorian Guinn Jr., Weiss (defensive)
Small School Player of the Year (4A & below)
Llano’s Trey Mote
There’s a lot of talent in the surrounding small communities in the Greater Austin Metropolitain Area, so we created the Small School Player of the Year award as part of our All-Austin metro postseason teams to honor that talent. There’s no better choice for the first Small School Player of the Year award than Llano running back Trey Mote.
The senior was instrumental in the Yellowjackets’ 12-2 record, district championship and trip to the Class 3A Division I quarterfinals. Mote averaged 118 rushing yards per game and had 11 games with 100 or more yards on the ground.
He finished his senior season with 1,652 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Past winners
First year for the ward
Coach of the Year
Vandegrift’s Drew Sanders
Drew Sanders literally built the Vandegrift football program from the ground up. All the work building that program over the last 14 years paid off for Sanders and his staff. Sanders coached the Vipers to the Class 6A Division II state championship in December, two years removed from making their first state championship appearance.
Sanders has turned Vandegrift into a perennial state power. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ranked the Vipers among the Top 50 high school football programs in Texas. He has a 135-46 record as Vandegrift’s head coach.
Past winners
2023: Scott Hermes, McNeil
