Brauny's Best: Highlighting top high school performances from Week 1

A new football season means a return of Brauny's Best.

For those of you unfamiliar, this is simply a piece where I go through the weekend in high school football and pull out some top performances from Texas A&M's recruiting class, the state of Texas, and, lastly, the games that I covered the previous week. Therefore, without further adieu, let's take a look at my standouts from last week.

Texas A&M’s 2025 Class

2025 Bellville DT DJ Sanders‍

• 7 tackles, 3 TFLs, 1 blocked punt

Jason Howell was in attendance last Friday night to see Mr. Sanders wreak havoc as he often does. He's such a disruptive presence in small-town football, and he's such an intriguing player because his upside is through the roof. Right now, Sanders just bullies people with his power and remarkable athletic traits for a kid his size. Just take a look at some of the videos from Bellville's showdown against Celina. He's ragdolling people.

State of Texas

2026 Lexington DT Gabe Turner‍

• 8 tackles, 4 TFLs, 2 interceptions, 2 touchdowns

I've searched all over the internet, and I can't find any highlights of this performance.

However, how many times have you ever seen a defensive tackle come away with an interception? Not too often, right? Well, Mr. Turner not only hauled in one pick, but he nabbed a second and returned BOTH for touchdowns. That has to be the ultimate dream night for an interior defensive lineman. Those guys lay awake at night dreaming of a chance to score touchdowns, and he got to live it last Friday in a win over Marlin.

My Coverage

The Klein Cain Hurricanes

• 57-7 win over Cy-Fair in the season opener

I'm cheating here and picking an entire team.

That's how impressive Coach Clancy's Klein Cain Hurricanes were in a rout of a very respected Cy-Fair program in last week's season opener. They showed zero signs of rust or inefficiency. What's crazy is that the scoreline could have potentially been even more one-sided when you consider the fact that Klein Cain had five offensive possessions in the first quarter that ended in three touchdowns and two red-zone turnovers. 2026 QB Zach Johnson‍ leads the way for the Canes from a prospect standpoint, and he was sharp from the get-go — connecting with Max Hendrick‍ on a 74-yard score in the game's opening possession. I'll be keeping a close eye on this group going forward. I think they have a chance to surprise a lot of people in Houston this year.