St. John XXIII head football coach Clay Richardson is still learning about his incoming freshman Deossie Yancey.

Whether it’s while watching during camps earlier this year or one of the daily workouts Yancey posts on Twitter, the veteran coach is still amazed at his 6-foot-5, 365-pound offensive tackle every now and then.

“He does things that make you go, ‘Whoa,’” Richardson said. “We could be on the verge of something special here.”

The defending TAPPS Division V state champion Lions may have that in Yancey, a 14-year-old West Virginia native who spent his sixth, seventh and eighth grade years at Thornton Middle School in Cypress and is now enrolled at the college preparatory school off Grand Parkway.

Yancey has been to a plethora of camps since February, including the Under Armour All-American camp, Rivals Adidas camp, LSU camp and USA National Football camp, among others. That experience has helped him get ready for the start of his high school career, which begins August 1 with the start of training camp with the Lions.

“I’m nervous, but I’m excited. I’m ready for it,” Yancey said. “Going to those camps made me feel comfortable and excited about the competition I’m about to go up against. We’re just trying to make things happen and get another championship. There’s already a target on us. Let’s just make that target a little bit bigger and get another one.”

Yancey’s father, Donnie Jr., said his son is actually “seeing the game now.” No longer, Donnie Jr. said, is Yancey like a “horse with blinders. He’s seeing the game with a 360 view.”

“At Thornton, he was going up against kids half his size,” Donnie Jr. said. “Then he gets to these camps, and he’s going against kids closer to his size, his height. He had to adapt. In boxing, they say you have to go southpaw sometimes. He went southpaw. Each camp has been progressive for him, mentally and physically in the game.”

One thing Yancey boasts is a top-notch work ethic. He trains six days a week, with multiple trainers, often multiple times during the day. Water aerobics, weight lifting, sand pits, hills.

That dedication is not only impressive, Richardson said, but requisite of players who wish to be elite.

“You can always tell somebody who’s going to be a bit special, like Deossie, and that’s things you learn in practice, you go home and go over them again,” Richardson said. “So, you come back the next day and you’re ready to go. Deossie goes home, looks at football, thinks football, and does what he needs to do.”

Yancey’s primary acclimation, Richardson said, will come schematically. Camps are one-on-one settings, not team-oriented. Come the season, Yancey will face defenses that double-team him or zone-block him.

It helps that he’ll be going up in practice every day against 6-foot, 250-pound lineman Jake Baudler, the Lions’ best player who is strong, has decent size and is very quick.

“It’s a whole different animal for Deossie, going up against guys that are much, much smaller, but, boy, so tough to block,” Richardson said.

Where there won’t be an adjustment for Yancey is the environment. In the spring, he had the opportunity to visit programs and see where he wanted to play high school ball. After his “Shadow Day” at St John in March, it was clear. Yancey was enamored with the school’s classmates who were respectable and made him feel welcomed.

“The main thing is being around people who care, individuals who respect you as a person, and a coach who really cares for the players,” Donnie Jr. said. “Education is No. 1, and you know you’re going to get a high-quality education. The opportunity was here. They embraced him with open arms.”

Yancey’s interests are unique. He wants to be a chef or an animator; his favorite dish to make is pasta and he makes a good burger as well. Since sixth grade, he has enjoyed watching YouTube tutorial videos on anime and studying the art by reading books on the subject.

Yancey is simply a well-rounded individual who happens to be a budding football prospect, with a target on his back just like his new team.

"I want to show people I’m ready for this,” Yancey said. “I’m not going to be that one ninth-grader who flops out of nowhere. If I fail, I’m going to keep getting up. Just know I’m coming.”