By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It hasn't been that long ago that it looked like Max Huston's college future would be on a baseball diamond.
But Seaman's former star quarterback is all about the gridiron these days, with the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Huston playing for the East in Saturday's Kansas Shrine Bowl at Dodge City before beginning his college career this fall at Coffeyville Community College.
Former Seaman star quarterback Max Huston completes a pass during Sunday's East Kansas Shrine Bowl practice at Ottawa University. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"Baseball was it my freshman year and I got a whole bunch of offers freshman year,'' said Huston, who committed to Kansas State in baseball early in his prep career before eventually changing course. "I played baseball my freshman season and played JV football.
"Sophomore year I got brought up to varsity (football) and played and we had an alright season. Junior year we had a pretty good season and did some good stuff and football's just more fun to me. I like it more, it's more enjoyable, so I de-committed, switched my recruitment to football and here we go.''
Huston earned TopSports.news All-Shawnee County Top 22 and All-United Kansas Conference first-team honors as a junior and senior and was named the county co-offensive player of the year after helping lead Seaman to the Class 5A state quarterfinals and an 8-3 record last fall while completing 170 of 266 pass attempts for 2,532 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushing for 779 yards and 13 TDs.
After mulling over his college options Finley eventually picked Coffeyville, where he has already begun preseason preparations.
"It (his commitment) was later than most people, just because I was trying to make sure that I went somewhere that fitted me, fitted my play style, fitted where I could go play and that's pretty much when I made that decision,'' Huston said.
"I've been down there for two weeks now, we went down on June 1st. It's hard. We work hard every day, but it's going pretty good right now.''
Huston also feels like this week's East training camp will help him prepare for what's ahead at the collegiate level.
"I think it will,'' he said. "Obviously, there's a whole bunch of great players here and we all want to compete and win. And I'm thinking that us playing an actual game again and getting back on the field with full pads and all of that stuff will make once we get to the fall easier.''
Huston's high school teammates, wide receiver Bryer Finley (6-5, 195) and defensive lineman Kaden Jordan (6-2, 305), will also play for the East while Seaman coach Jared Swafford is an an East assistant coach.
"It's great to be with my friends since freshman year,'' Huston said. "Both of them are great players and we just want to come out here and win with the East.''
Also playing for the East is former Washburn Rural standout offensive lineman Caden Estrada (6-2, 270), a three-time All-Centennial League pick and an All-Shawnee County Top 22 selection last fall.
