“I just like to solve problems. It’s like in football. If there’s a problem, I’ve got to solve it.””

Mayde Creek senior Daniel Huery

Daniel Huery is good at math. Very good. Calculus, for instance, is a welcomed class on the schedule next year. The Mayde Creek senior is also gifted in science and physics.

Problem-solving interests him, and he sees the game of football as nothing different.

“I just like to solve problems,” Huery said, breaking into a smile. “It’s like in football. If there’s a problem, I’ve got to solve it.”

More often than not, the 5-foot-9, 155-pounder does.

Need a first down? Give the ball to Huery. Need good field position? Create room for Huery. Need a touchdown? Find Huery.

Or, as Rams coach Mike Rabe puts it: “Get him in as much space as possible and get the ball to him.”

Huery had a breakout season in 2018.

He led the team in rushing, amassing 629 yards and seven touchdowns on 79 carries, good for eight yards per carry. He was second in receiving with 542 yards and three touchdowns on 39 receptions, averaging 13.9 yards per catch.

And he returned 16 kicks for 506 yards and a touchdown, good for 31.6 yards per return.

“He’s an extremely versatile kid,” Rabe said. “He took a couple snaps at quarterback last year, he played slot receiver, outside wide receiver, running back. We can put him anywhere. He returns kicks. He’s got great knowledge of the game, he’s a quick learner and he’s extremely explosive.”

Rabe said Huery is one of the fastest kids on the team. He is, however, the quickest.

“A guy that’s quick can move in a small area really fast, really fluid,” Rabe said. “He looks really comfortable in tight areas, whereas speed is once you get loose, you’re gone. Nobody is going to catch you.”

Huery runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. He’s always been fast. In youth football, when he played quarterback, teammates called him “Speedy.”

He played running back at Cardiff Junior High before Rams coaches moved him to receiver.

“I’m small, but when you have the numbers, they can’t say nothing,” said Huery, who played football and basketball growing up and also runs the 100-meters, 4x100 relay and 4x200 relay for the Rams’ track team. “It’s all about heart, baby. I’m not surprised by any success I’ve had. When you put in the work, the grind … I earned this.”

But a lot of kids are fast. Many are physically, if not genetically, blessed. Where Huery likes to separate himself is knowledge.

Whether it’s in the film room or asking coaches questions, Huery loves to learn. A game of football is, well, a problem to him. He has to solve it.

Playing quarterback in Katy Youth Football, Huery learned to read defenses with his dad as the offensive coordinator. Even today, a snap is broken down to a series of problems: Where is the safety playing? If it’s an out route and the defender is playing man up, Huery takes him inside just a bit, fakes in, stems up the defensive back and breaks out. If it’s a deep route and the defense is playing Cover 2, Huery knows to split in between.

If the DB is playing inside of him, Huery knows he can go right past him on the go route.

“My thing is trying to stay 2-3 steps ahead of everybody,” Huery said. “That comes with putting in the extra work. I don’t have the typical height or size, so I try to be a few steps ahead of the defense. You just read things. If you can read defense and know how it’s playing before the snap … speed kills.”

Rabe reaffirms Huery’s wits.

“He’s a real smart kid,” Rabe said. “He’s fun to have a conversation with and he’s real aware of things that are going on. His GPA coincides with his football intelligence. It doesn’t take a huge amount of reps for him to figure something out. He’s really easy to coach in that aspect.”

Pound for pound, Rabe said Huery is the strongest kid on the team. He bench-presses 260-plus pounds and squats well over 400 pounds. The future petroleum engineer is adept at changing direction, boasts wickedly sleek cutbacks and switches sides of the field effortlessly. His acceleration out of cuts is impressive.

Huery has received some interest from schools. East Texas Baptist has already offered, and he visited Stephen F. Austin just before the end of school in May. But Huery, who’s shooting for 2,000 all-purpose yards this season, wants more. He wants what he feels is his, which is why he’s been, again, one of the hardest workers on the team this summer, putting in just as much time in the weight room as he is working on his hip mobility with offensive coordinator Ryan Henry.

“I think he can play at any level he wants to play. He’s that kind of player,” Rabe said. “He’s not a very big person, but he plays like it. You put him in small spaces, he’ll be hard to touch. In this day and age of the game, everybody wants to put players in big spaces, and when he gets that opportunity, he usually scores from it.”

(This story is featured in the Katy Times' On the Grid high school football preview magazine that came out Aug. 29).