Former Saraland quarterback K.J. Lacey shows some of his trademark qualities, throwing sidearm while on the run, during his senior season. Lacey, who is now at Texas, was named the state’s Mr. Football Tuesday. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
Former Saraland quarterback K.J. Lacey displays his Mr. Football and Class 6A Back of the Year awards Tuesday after a ceremony in Montgomery. Shown with Lacey are, from left, QB Country founder David Morris, Saraland coach Jeff Kelly and Lacey’s father, Karle. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — K.J. Lacey isn’t going to have much time to enjoy making history after being named the state’s Mr. Football on Tuesday.
He is wanted back in Austin, Texas.
The former Saraland four-star quarterback, who is now a freshman with the Longhorns, had to finish conditioning work in Austin Monday, so he wasn’t able to fly to Pensacola until late Monday night. Lacey and his family drove to Montgomery Tuesday morning and he had to fly out of Montgomery back to Austin in the afternoon.
Out in the Forty Acres, winning awards is commendable but Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is more interested in the work required to win championships in the future.
“Coach Sark doesn’t play,” Lacey said as he held the coveted Mr. Football plaque, which has gone to a Saraland player for an unprecedented three straight years. Former Spartans receiver and current University of Alabama star Ryan Williams won the award in 2022 and 2023, the only player in state history to win it twice.
“I don’t know if that will ever be done again and K.J.’s been a big part of all of it,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said.
Some felt it was time for former Elba star running back and Auburn freshman Alvin Henderson — the state’s all-time leading rusher — to win Mr. Football but the Alabama Sports Writers Association looked more favorably on Lacey’s consistently excellent body of work in Class 6A. He finished his high school career as the No. 2 passer in state history with 10,985 yards, only 40 yards short of surpassing Piedmont’s Jack Hayes to set the record. Lacey missed two games with an injury as a senior, likely keeping him from being No. 1 all time. He passed for 3,846 yards and 39 TDs in the playoffs alone.
“When I was told to come back, I was hoping but you never know,” Lacey said. “There’s a lot of good players, really good players. It could have went a lot of ways.”
Lacey threw for 132 touchdowns in his career and was 39-3 in three years as Saraland’s starter. He took the Spartans to three straight Super 7 appearances, including the 2022 Class 6A state championship.
As a senior, Lacey completed 185 of 299 passes for 3,042 yards, 40 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He passed for more than 3,000 yards in each of his last three seasons.
“We’ve been the best in the state for three years, at least with the record,” Lacey said. “I feel like Class 6A is the hardest division out of high school and we consistently did what we did and I feel like that shows.”
Kelly knows he coached a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
“I’ve been doing it 20 years and I’ve never coached anybody like him,” Kelly said. “There’s not many guys walking around that are his caliber, not only the physical things but all the other things that make a quarterback really special — those intangible things to make decisions and process information to lead his team. He’s absolutely a once-in-a-career kind of guy. Getting a chance to coach him and be with him behind the scenes, seeing him in the locker room and being a leader, I’m really proud of him.”
QB Country founder David Morris, who was at Tuesday’s ceremony at the Renaissance Hotel, said three years ago that Lacey already had an NFL-caliber arm but his accuracy from multiple angles and the ability to adroitly read a defense set him apart. Morris has also trained Jackson four-star quarterback Landon Duckworth, who was named the Class 4A Back of the Year Tuesday and should be a strong contender for Mr. Football as a senior.
“Those two guys are as good as we’ve ever had come out of the state and they’re both kind of scratching the surface,” Morris said.
Morris said Lacey loves perfecting his craft.
“He has a different work ethic,” Morris said. “He’s always eager, eager, eager. There’s a standard there where he understands what it takes to be a good player. You get kids that make it look easy but you know it’s not. When you get a kid that makes it look easy, you know you’ve got a special one.”
Lacey will compete with redshirt sophomore and presumptive starter Arch Manning at Texas and said he is already learning a lot from a member of one of football’s most famous families.
“I’m watching how he leads the team, how he does his stuff,” Lacey said. “He’s a really good leader. He leads by example the whole time. There’s never a time where Arch is like just fooling around or anything like that. He always has the energy up. Everybody always talks about how he is the athletic Manning and you can tell he has the swagger.”
The 6-foot-1 Lacey said he needs to add about 10 pounds of muscle to reach 190.
“The main thing is just gaining more muscle,” he said. “You need to know how to eat. You don’t want bad weight.”
Morris said Lacey must be patient at Texas and learn how to be a winning quarterback in the SEC.
“He’s got to wait his turn,” Morris said. “I know he’s going to compete and I know he’s going to take every ounce of soaking it up. He’s got big aspirations. We’ve had that conversation of working hard but being patient, too, and a big part of that is learning from Arch. He’s also got some of the best quarterback staff in America. He’s in great hands.
“He’s going to have to get better. Playing in the SEC is going to be a challenge but he’s such a good athlete. And he’s a kid who’s always played up early. There’ll be a transition, like there is for anybody, and whenever his time is, he’ll be ready.”
There is also going to be a transition in Saraland, where junior quarterback Jameson Roberts will follow Lacey behind center.
“We’ve got to spend an offseason figuring out what we can do,” Kelly said. “We’ll continue to evolve every year. We’ve done it the last three years. We were a different offensive team this year than we were in the past. I’m excited about Jameson coming up. He’s got huge shoes to fill. He’ll be his own person. He’s had an opportunity to learn from K.J. and that will benefit him.”
Lacey’s parents are also getting accustomed to their oldest son not being in the house. His mother, Whitney, joked that she is looking forward to the water bill going down.
“It’s just different as far as the room being empty,” said his father, Karle. “You just pass by there and you don’t see him no more. But the best thing is just knowing where he is.”
