It was a busted play with a Midland Lee defender bearing down on quarterback Quinn Ewers. But when he saw wide receiver Brady Boyd from the pocket, he launched the ball downfield, not knowing what was about to happen. Throwing up his right hand, Brady caught it in spectacular one-handed fashion. It awed fans, the highlight went viral and it made the coveted nightly Top Ten on “SportsCenter.”
Still relatively new to Southlake Carroll, Brady transferred from North Richland Hills and played his first season as a Dragon last year. And with his talent and dedication, the now senior quickly made a name for himself, with 66 sure-handed receptions for 972 yards and eight touchdowns.
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, his last year of high school here and a wrist injury in the first game of the 2020 season, no one would fault Brady for stressing. But this wide receiver is as cool as can be — focusing on what he can control, continuing to train and playing the game he loves.
Football Love Runs Deep
Football has always been in Brady’s life. His dad Kris, a longtime football coach, currently works at Southlake Carroll and has memories of baby Brady’s passion for the game.
“I was a coordinator at Cedar Hill when Brady was 3, and he always wanted to be with me in the film room with the boys. My wife would bring him up during lunch every day, and he’d eat pizza and watch film with me and the quarterbacks,” Kris Boyd says. “You could just always tell whenever he was little, he loved it.”
That love never dimmed. Brady started to play the game, and by seventh grade, started training to be a wide receiver.
“I wanted to be a quarterback for the longest and then once I did receiver for a little bit...I haven’t done anything else since,” he says.
A year later, Brady began working with a trainer once or twice a week. Continuing to do so even today, Brady focuses on improving his route running and catching.
“With my dad being a coach, football’s just always been around our lives, so ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a varsity football player,” Brady says. “I just love it.”
Coming To Carroll
It was a job opportunity that brought the Boyds to Carroll. Though he wasn’t the catalyst for the move, Brady says coming to Southlake Carroll was the best choice he’s ever made.
“I love coach Dodge and the Southlake coaching team,” Brady says. “And I like it a lot here because the community is all for it. Everyone in the community supports the football team, and it’s a really big deal here and that’s something that’s not really a thing in other cities.”
And as hard as that transition was, Brady tackled it like everything else — head on.
“He had played on varsity as a freshman, but coming to Southlake, you’re starting all over,” Kris says. “I’m so proud of the way he met that challenge head on, and he was willing to start all over...and basically be unknown and he never backed down from that.”
But it didn’t take long to realize how talented Brady was after coming to Southlake. Even with a slew of seniors on the varsity team, Brady continued to show up and stand out.
“Obviously he’s got a lot of talent. That’s God-given,” head coach Riley Dodge says. “I think the one thing we’ve really seen with Brady over the last year is [him] just being a really polished route runner. He’s a guy who works really hard to really hone in on his craft.”
Highlighting his skills at route running, coach Dodge also talks about Brady’s leadership skills on the team, especially after last year’s seniors graduated.
“Right when we got back from Christmas break...Brady really took it upon himself to step up and be a vocal leader and [understand] that we don’t have many guys that have played on Friday nights,” coach Dodge says. “Guys really follow Brady because of the type of work ethic he has.”
His Moment Of Virality
Brady’s talent and work ethic helped him shine before that one-in-a-million catch. But going viral didn’t hurt either.
“I just thought it would be just another play. I thought it would blow over by the end of the night,” Brady says. “But once ‘ESPN’ picked it up, after that it just went crazy and went everywhere. I think that’s how about 90% of people outside of Southlake know me now.”
Brady’s mom had just gone to bed while Kris stayed up reviewing film for the next game. He was caught off guard when his son’s name came through the TV.
“I thought, ‘What?’ So I stopped, rewound it and it showed the catch,” Kris says. “I immediately texted my wife. I said, ‘You might as well get out of bed because your phone is about to blow up.’”
While they don’t normally encourage one-handed catching, coach Dodge says he’ll let that one slide.
“That was pretty unbelievable,” coach Dodge says. “When you watch the film, that was really his only option to put one hand out…I just remember seeing it, it was right in front of me, and everybody going nuts on the sideline.”
In true football fashion, however, Brady enjoyed the limelight for a day and then switched to start preparing for the next game.
A Future In Football
In the midst of a turbulent senior year, with COVID-19 impacting academics and the upcoming football season, Brady is continuing to work hard with college on the horizon.
“That’s always been a childhood dream,” Brady says about receiving college offers. “I’ve just always wanted to play college football. It’s been my dream since I was a little kid, playing video games and doing all that. So once I got my first offer, I was really, really excited.”
Brady received offers from 17 colleges, including Texas Tech, Kansas and Dartmouth. But after weighing each program, he decided on the University of Minnesota.
“During my recruitment, it slowly dwindled down to Oklahoma State and Minnesota, but I chose Minnesota because I love the coaching staff. Their head coach, P.J. Fleck, he’s a great guy,” Brady says. “He used to be a wide receiver in the NFL so he really knows my position, and I just really felt like they really wanted me as much as I would want them.”
With college coming up, Brady is working toward the NFL, one of his career dreams — a dream even a wrist injury can’t damper. Supportive of this goal, Kris says that he doesn’t want Brady “to have any regrets.”
“If that’s what he wants, then you start now as far as nutrition, as far as training habits, as far as studies,” Kris says. “...and being at a place where they can help him get there. And I think that was one of the draws with coach Fleck.”
No matter where Brady goes, football will always be in his life — whether he stays a player or becomes a coach.
“My love for the game is a lot,” Brady says. “So I just feel like whatever I do when I’m older, it’s going to be something to do with football.”