QB Magazine Athlete Feature
Isaiah Maldonado’s first football hero wasn’t a quarterback.
When he was very young, Isaiah and his dad watched Barry Sanders highlight videos together. He saw the cuts, the stops, and the way Sanders seemed to slip through defenders who had him surrounded. Isaiah decided he wanted to move just like that. Ten years later, the Class of 2030 quarterback from Abilene, Texas still plays with that same spark. Now he just has the ball in his hands on every snap.
The quarterback position fits him because he likes what most players try to avoid. “I love the pressure,” Isaiah said. He also loves what the position lets him do for other people. In his view, helping his teammates reach their best also brings out his best. More than anything, he wants to be the player his teammates know they can count on.
Ask Isaiah what makes a great quarterback and he describes it like a problem to solve. “Figuring out the puzzle, so to speak,” he said. Solving that puzzle takes a steady temperament. You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low, and you have to stay calm in the storm. You lead by example, and you stay humble. “This game will humble you if you don’t,” he said. It’s an unusually mature answer from a player who came up through Wylie East Junior High.
Isaiah doesn’t have one football role model. He’s built a whole list. He wants to be a playmaker like Johnny Manziel, a leader and accurate passer like Patrick Mahomes, a runner like Lamar Jackson, and a gunslinger like Matthew Stafford, all with Tom Brady’s mindset. Those are five very different quarterbacks, and the list shows that Isaiah studies each part of the position on its own.
He has had plenty of help doing that. Isaiah works on strength and speed with Roberto Alaniz at The Fieldhouse Abilene, and he trains with two quarterback coaches, Quincy Titus and Foster Sawyer of AP Ranch. He has attended camps at Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and TCU, and he goes to Quarterback University every year. “It takes a lot of support to chase your dreams,” he said, “and these men definitely help me however they can.”
The toughest stretch of his football life came when he broke his leg. Beyond the injury itself, there was doubt that he would fully heal. Isaiah says he got through it by leaning on his faith. He trusted that Jesus would take care of him and believed that everything happens for a reason. He came back and kept building.
One of the proudest moments of his career came when he won the Texas Sports Heisman Trophy award, which recognized him as the top player in what he calls the most competitive league in Texas. He says that award gave him a lot of reason to believe in himself.
The person who has been there for all of it is his dad, the same person who sat beside him for those Barry Sanders videos. “He’s always there to lift up my spirits when I need it,” Isaiah said, “but also loves me enough to tell me when I’m wrong or critique my game when I need it. He’s been there since day one.”
Isaiah’s goals for the coming year are clear. Over the next six months, he wants to get as big and strong as he can, dig deep into film study, and keep building his football IQ. Within twelve months, he wants to earn the trust of his high school varsity coaches and make varsity as a freshman. He’s going after that goal right now, and he’s approaching it the same way he approaches everything else: one piece of the puzzle at a time.
Follow Isaiah: @that_athlete_zay on Instagram and @the_warrior_zay on X
Putting the Pieces Together
Isaiah describes quarterback play as solving a puzzle, and his football story already has a lot of pieces: a Heisman award, camps at three major college programs, a yearly trip to Quarterback University, a comeback from a broken leg, and a goal of making varsity as a freshman. What those pieces need is one place where people can see the full picture.
To be clear, he’s a freshman with four high school seasons ahead of him. There’s no rush and no decision being made about him this fall. The advantage of starting now is that his record gets to grow alongside him, with each season added as it happens, so it never has to be pieced together from memory later.
At Practice Squad, $17.99 a month on X or Instagram, Isaiah gets a recruiting profile with his performance and academic stats, one feature article a year, a custom graphic designed for him every month, two monthly story reposts, and 25 percent off camps.
At Starter, $44.97 a month with promotion on both X and Instagram, he gets two feature articles a year, four weekly story reposts, a monthly wall collab shared between QB Magazine’s page and his, the monthly custom graphic, and social media consulting. That consulting would be especially useful for a player who already runs two accounts, @that_athlete_zay and @the_warrior_zay, and wants both to reflect how seriously he takes the game. Starter also includes consideration for the Top 50 QB Mag Watchlist, priority for the QB Mag College Bus + Camps TOUR, and 50 percent off camps.
The camp discount is where Isaiah’s family should look closely. Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU, and a yearly Quarterback University trip are already on his calendar, along with training through The Fieldhouse Abilene and two quarterback coaches. With camps already part of the plan, saving 25 or 50 percent returns part of what the family is already spending. For a family with a camp schedule this full, the discount alone can go a long way toward the monthly cost.
The graphics fit Isaiah especially well. He models his game on five different quarterbacks, so his highlights will show several kinds of plays: a scramble like Manziel, a tight-window throw like Mahomes, a run like Lamar, or a deep shot like Stafford. A custom graphic each month lets each of those moments stand on its own instead of being lost in a long highlight reel. When QB Magazine reposts them, they reach people who follow quarterback development in Texas and beyond.
Over time, all of it builds on itself. Two articles a year at Starter means a new chapter every season: the varsity goal, the offseason in the weight room, and the film study. By the time Isaiah is an upperclassman, his name will carry four years of documented growth.
It started with a kid and his dad watching Barry Sanders videos, and it has become a quarterback who stays calm in the storm and leads by example. Every article and graphic adds another piece to that story.
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