VYPE Klein December 2022

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\\ By De n n i s S i l v a I I K L E I N C O L L I N S ’ W Y A T T A S T A R I N F O O T B A L L , B A S K E T B A L L DUAL-SPORT ROYALTY

IN AN ERA OF SPORTS SPECIALIZATION AT THE HIGH SCHOOL RANKS, KLEIN COLLINS SENIOR ETHAN WYATT ISN’ T JUST A STANDOUT CONTRIBUTOR FOR THE TIGERS’ VARSITY FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL TEAMS. HE’S A STAR PLAYMAKER WHETHER IN SNEAKERS OR CLEATS. The 6-foot-3, 189-pounder is an al l-district per former on the basketbal l cour t , where he averaged 16.5 points , 5.6 rebounds and 1 .9 steals per game for the Tigers last season. And he’s a three-star prospect and Division I-cal iber receiver for the footbal l team, total ing 446 yards and seven touchdowns on 21 catches through the f irst f ive games of this season. “I ’ ve been doing this forever,” Wyatt said. “We star ted playing both at the same time. I ’m just used to i t . I don’ t even know how I do i t . I ’m just used to i t .” “We” is Wyatt and his twin brother El i , a cornerback on the Tigers’ footbal l team and point guard on the basketbal l team. They star ted playing basketbal l when they were three years old. They star ted footbal l when they were f ive. Wyatt ’s favori te basketbal l memory? “Probably my freshman year when I got moved up to varsi t y,” he said. “My coach trusted me. I star ted in the middle of the season and went from there, scoring l ike 20 points every game.” And his favori te footbal l memory? “My sophomore year when we went against

feel I can get there.”

“Footbal l , I love playing wi th my team,” he said. “I ’ ve been playing wi th my brother since I was l i ttle. We both l iked the spor t ever since we touched the bal l . It ’ l l always be fun.” It ’s the spor t he’s looking to play at the nex t level . Wyatt currently holds offers from Marshal l , Tulsa, Kansas and Texas Southern. “I ’m leaning towards footbal l right now,” Wyatt said. “I ’m looking for a school that can take me to the nex t level right away. I

Tombal l Memorial , my f irst catch was unbel ievable,” he said. “I got my f irst offer off that game.” Wyatt , who admires former Houston Texan DeAndre Hopkins and the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James , said footbal l helps wi th his aggressiveness on the basketbal l cour t . Basketbal l helps wi th condi tioning and training as he heads into footbal l offseason in the spring. But i t ’s footbal l that has won Wyatt ’s hear t .

Five years from now, Wyatt sees himsel f playing in the NFL . For now, though, he’s riding out his senior season at Col l ins and enjoying playing wi th El i one last year. “He helps me a lot ,” Wyatt said of El i . “We go outside every day, one on one. Argue wi th each other, f ight . It ’s a big help. We’re always there for each other, and i t ’s always going to stay l ike that .”

k l e i n i s d . n e t / / D E C 2022 / / K L E I N I S D / / 27