QB Magazine Athlete Feature

There is a version of the quarterback job nobody puts in the highlight reels: standing in a huddle with ten people looking at you, and having to say something.

For William Blas — Liam to everyone who knows him — that was the hard part.

“When I first started playing quarterback, I was more shy and not very confident, so it was hard for me to talk and be loud on the field,” the Class of 2032 quarterback said.

That is an honest thing to admit in an interview about yourself, and it is a real obstacle rather than a modest one. Arm strength can be trained on a field by yourself. Volume cannot. A quiet kid at quarterback has to do the uncomfortable thing in front of an audience, over and over, until it stops being uncomfortable.

His approach is exactly that.

“I’ve been working on it by communicating more with my teammates and pushing myself to be more confident.”

No shortcut, no trick. Just talking more, on purpose, until it takes.

Five Touchdowns and a Catch

The game he keeps suggests the work is paying off.

“I threw 5 touchdowns, had 1 interception, and scored a touchdown myself on a halfback pass play during one game.”

Five touchdown passes is the headline number. The detail worth appreciating is the last one — on a halfback pass, Blas was not the quarterback. He was the receiver. Somebody drew up a trick play where the quiet kid at quarterback had to go run a route and catch a ball with the whole defense watching, and he scored on it.

He also volunteered the interception, unprompted, in a document written to make him look good. Small thing. Says a lot.

Two and a Half Years

Blas has only been playing for two and a half years, all of it flag football, which makes the rest of his file more impressive rather than less.

What he loves about the sport is not what you would expect from a flag player.

“I love how fast and physical football is,” he said. “I like being part of a team where everyone depends on each other, and making big plays is exciting to me. Plus I like throwing the ball.”

Everyone depends on each other — from a kid who found the social part of the position difficult. He is drawn to exactly the thing he had to work at.

He has been building the technical side at camps for three straight years: the Trent McDuffie camp at Marina High School in Huntington Beach in 2024 and 2025, and the Don Shumpert camp at Buena Park High School this year. He trains with Coach Don and Coach Guzman.

Ask him what the position requires and the list is all inputs: training, effort, hard work, responsibility, and being a leader. Four of the five are things you choose to do rather than things you are born with.

Burrow

His favorite quarterback is Joe Burrow, admired for accuracy, arm strength, and footwork.

It is worth noting the kind of leader Burrow is. He is not a shouter. He commands a huddle by being unmistakably prepared and unbothered, which is a style available to quiet people — and probably a useful example for a young quarterback still finding his voice.

The person Blas credits most is his dad.

“He pushes me to do my best and helps me understand what my coaches are teaching me so I can get better.”

Translating coaching, not replacing it. That is the most useful thing a football parent can do.

The Jump

His short-term goal names the next real hurdle.

“To be the starting QB on a tackle team. I’ve only played flag football for the last 2.5 years.”

That transition is a significant one. Tackle football adds a pass rush, a pocket, and consequences to standing still — and it asks considerably more of a quarterback’s command, since now there are linemen who need to hear the call. Longer term, he wants to keep improving enough to be scouted at the high school level.

He closed his questionnaire the way he seems to approach most of it, by pointing at other people.

“Thanks to my coaches and my Dad for helping me get better at a game I love to play.”

The loud part is still a work in progress. Everything else appears to be ahead of schedule.

A Note on Memberships

Liam has a real step ahead of him — the move from flag to tackle, and the starting job he wants when he gets there.

Heading into the fall, an upgraded QB Magazine membership adds a professionally designed athlete graphic, feature placement across QB Magazine’s channels, and a profile that grows season by season as he does. For a player whose next few years are going to look very different from his last two, having each season recorded as it happens means the whole progression is there to see — a line of development rather than a page started from scratch later on.

Explore membership options at quarterbackmagazine.com/memberships.

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