Brauny's Best: Highlighting top high school performances from Week 5
The most highly anticipated piece of TexAgs weekly content is back as Brauny's Best rolls on for Week 5 of the high school football season. Let's take a look at some of the best performances from across the state and beyond.
Texas A&M commits
2024 Tupelo (MS) LB Tristan Jernigan
- 13 tackles, 2 hurries, 1 deflection, 1 fumble recovery
Friday night featured quite the “Welcome Back” performance for Jernigan as he returned to the field for the first time this season after injuring his shoulder just before it began. Jernigan was all over the field. He made plays at the line of scrimmage. He made plays in the backfield. He made plays down the field in pass coverage. In fact, he probably should have had an interception added to his stat line when you watch the tape. I think people forget that Jernigan is super young for his grade and still has a lot of natural physical development on the way. He isn't afraid of contact and plays the game with a ton of emotion. Overall, it was more than an encouraging start to his senior campaign.
State of Texas
2026 Dayton ATH/QB Denim Foster
- 8-for-14 passing, 184 yards, 3 TDs; 17 rushes, 201 yards, 5 TDs
We've seen some pretty crazy quarterback stat lines across the state this season. While I would classify Foster as an athlete right now in terms of his recruiting profile, he put up video game numbers at quarterback this week in a blowout win over Santa Fe. To be honest, I had heard about this kid's playmaking ability a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't watched any video until I saw his numbers from Friday night. He's not a bad thrower at all, but he made his hay on the ground and showed some intriguing characteristics as a ball carrier. Foster will be a name to keep an eye on going forward, especially if the production continues to shine.
My Coverage
2026 Fort Bend Marshall S Isaiah Williams
- 12 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
I was tempted to give this one to the entire Port Neches-Groves defense since they swallowed up a talented Fort Bend Marshall offense and pitched a shutout in an upset win. However, since this is about individual performance, I'll go with what might be my top sophomore prospect in the state of Texas. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Williams was absolutely dynamite. This kid is super advanced for being such a young safety prospect. He's all over the field. He triggers extremely fast and loves to come down into the box and stick his nose into the fray. That coaching staff has seen a bunch of really talented players come through their program, and they believe Williams has a chance to be the top defensive prospect they've ever had. High praise for a 2026 graduate, but he's definitely playing like he's ready to chase that distinguishment.
