Tom Brady’s successor? Stephenville’s Jarrett Stidham in that position now

Jarrett Stidham will be linked as a possible Tom Brady successor early on in his NFL career.

The former Stephenville High School quarterback was taken late in the fourth round by the New England Patriots, No. 133 overall, and joins the organization with an opportunity to prove himself as Brady’s heir apparent.

Stidham had an interesting college career, starting off at Baylor his freshman season then having a brief pit stop at McLennan Community College before landing at Auburn on the heels of the Art Briles scandal. Stidham played well in his two seasons at Auburn, throwing for 5,952 yards and 36 touchdown.

Stidham could’ve returned to college for another season, but opted to turn professional. At the Senior Bowl in the pre-draft process, Stidham talked about the “adversity” he’d faced as separating him from other quarterbacks in the class.

“I’ve faced a lot of adversity on and off the field,” Stidham said. “It put a really unique perspective on life and football for me. When you look at drafting a quarterback, a guy leading your organization for however many years it may be, he’s got to have a little bit of grit to him and he’s got to be able to weather the storm a little bit. I’ve done that a lot on and off the field.”

Stidham feels his Stephenville roots help him too. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, throwing for 6,516 yards and 80 TDs in his standout high school career.

“Believe it or not, Stephenville prepared me a lot for Auburn,” Stidham said at the Senior Bowl. “People don’t realize how important high school football is in Stephenville. It’s the most important thing.

“Being at a big-time program like that, being able to play in front of at least 10,000 fans every Friday night, really helped set me up in knowing how to handle those kinds of things in those environments.”

Well, that environment is going to grow even more as the Patriots are one of the most covered teams in the NFL. And Stidham is stepping into a role behind arguably the game’s greatest player.

This story was originally published April 27, 2019 at 1:09 PM.