Dan Mohrmann
HIGHLANDS RANCH — If there hasn’t been a spotlight on Valor Christian quarterback Dylan McCaffrey yet, it will be shining directly on him in two weeks.
The senior for the Eagles is ready to step to the forefront and try and lead his team to back-to-back Class 5A state championships.
It’s been a heck of a year for the McCaffrey family between last year’s state title run and the national exposure that Dylan’s older brothers, Max and Christian, received for their football accolades.
Having already committed to Michigan, McCaffrey took some time to talk about the expectations that might be on his shoulders, the jitters that come with playing on national TV and who was on what sides during family battles.
Question: Coming into this year, does it feel different than the start of your sophomore or junior season?
McCaffrey: In a lot of ways, but in a lot ways it doesn’t as well. There’s no one above us now so we seniors have to take more of a leadership role on this team so that’s been very new.
Other than that, we have the same standards going in every year at Valor and all the guys have the same views, so that’s stayed the same. It’s just the preparation and the anticipation of the season has all been the same as years past for sure.
Q: What about you? You’ve committed to Michigan, you’re hitting camps everywhere, is there a point with you still being a kid in high school that it’s transitioned from being fun and a game to being a job?
McCaffrey: There’s always that little aspect of it. I think even people going into high school will see that, just from youth league is so much different. I definitely feel that a little bit, but it’s one of those things where I wouldn’t want any other job in the world.
A lot of these guys go out and have summer jobs and this just pretty much takes up all my time. I haven’t had time to get a job or do a lot those things, but I wouldn’t want it that way.
I love football and as long as it’s a job, it’s the job I want to do for sure.
Q: It’s been a solid 365 days for your family with you winning a state championship, Christian taking second in the Heisman race and Max signs with an NFL team. What’s that ride been like?
McCaffrey: It’s been awesome. We’ve been really lucky this past year. It’s been amazing. It’s definitely been one for the books.
Since we were little, we all had to fall in love with the game before we did this. Our parents never forced us to play football. My mom always wanted us to play soccer, actually. We all played soccer until we realized there was football out there and once we tried that, we were pretty much hooked.
That’s where it all started, where we all decided that we wanted to take this game as far as we could take it.
Q: Is there a point where your parents get tired of when the four of you are all together and all you talk about is football?
McCaffrey: We like to mix up the conversations a little bit at dinner because there’s so much talk about it. It’s such a fantastic world we live in so I think we definitely mix it up.
Probably for my mom (it gets old) a little bit. By Monday she’s so worn out with football that she never really watches Monday Night Football. The whole weekend, all she’s doing is watching football from Friday night through Saturday then Sunday.
So she doesn’t watch (Monday) because she needs a little break every now and then.
Q: You mentioned she wanted you to play soccer, was there every anything else for you guys? You and Christian play basketball, he ran track. At what point for each of you did you know that football was going to be it?
McCaffrey: I’d say all my brothers — we all played basketball, that was a big thing. Luke is a big lacrosse player, I know for a while he said he wanted to play lacrosse in college, but I think throughout high school are when mine and his views started to change.
In middle school I would’ve told you that I wanted to play basketball in college. But after high school started and I got a feel for high school football and I got a glimpse of what college football would be like, that’s when I knew I wanted to play football. So I put (basketball) on the side and started focusing on football more.
I know my little brother has done the same, but he was big on lacrosse growing up. I know now he really wants football.
Q: Have you talked to Max and Christian a lot about what big time college football is about or is that a conversation you’re waiting to have until after the season?
McCaffrey: I think it definitely comes in little bits and pieces. The more they learn about it, the more they tell me. I know Max, the first time, he was the first of us to go through it so he would share bits and pieces every now and then, once stuff happened to him and as he learned more.
Christian was the same way. He learned a lot from Max so he knew what to prepare for and he’s just the same way. He’s told us more as more has happened and that’s just how it works.
Q: How surreal was it to see what Christian was able to do last year?
Christian McCaffrey. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
McCaffrey: Oh, it was fantastic. I think we all had that feeling like he would do it eventually, but I think it was sooner than even I thought, which was awesome. It was such a good feeling. I was so happy for him, he’s worked so hard for that success. He’s earned it more than anyone else out there has, I know that for a fact.
Q: Does that make you nervous for any expectations that might be on your shoulders at Michigan?
McCaffrey: A little bit, but also at the same time, not really. I know it’s my own story and like I said, I chose football. I was never forced into anything so I really don’t have to live up to him.
He and I are so different anyway. We play completely different positions, we have different body types. So I mean, it really is almost a different life, just with some help from him.
Q: When you guys were growing up, how did the family teams always shake out?
McCaffrey: We would switch it up, it would usually be me and Christian and then Max and Luke. Sometimes it would be me and Max against Christian and Luke.
Christian and Luke are kind of the most similar so they would always end up together. There’d be those unfair times where Max and Christian would be on a team when me and Luke were pretty young so we’d always get killed by them. That was never any fun.
Q: So if a brotherly scuffle breaks out in the house, do you always side with a particular one of them?
McCaffrey: I think I would side with Max. He’s wily. I think he might win in a fight because he would start pulling out some dirty moves. I’d have to side with him somehow.
Q: It seems with the three oldest, you have a wide receiver, a running back and a quarterback. Why didn’t you all gravitate toward the same position?
McCaffrey: I think we were naturally built into where we landed. Max looks like a receiver. Christian didn’t get some of the height, but he got more speed than some of the other brothers got so he was a perfect fit for a running back.
I got the tall, lanky genes so I’m a little bit slower and I have to sit back in the pocket.
I think it also ended up that when we played in the back yard, we had all the positions there. That could be a big factor. Max had first say, he was the oldest, so he would take receiver. Christian just liked running so he took that and I was the quarterback.
Luke would take defense, offense, whatever. Luke would go wherever he wanted.
Q: After you guys fell short to Cherry Creek two years ago in the state championship, what was the feeling like last year, coming away with that title?
(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
McCaffrey: It was great. Last year was one of my favorite seasons I’ve ever played in my life, it was just so much fun. I thought out team stuck together the entire season and it showed with the way we finished that game.
I know there were definitely parts during that last game where I thought, “Oh no, it’s happening again. We might be the second to team to lose (the state title game) at Valor.”
But the team stuck together and I know no matter what that season would’ve been much more successful than (2014) because we bought in as a team. That’s a big reason why we didn’t lose.
Q: You guys get some national TV exposure early, how does that feel? Is it fun? Is it stressful? Is there still the kid in you that’s pumped about being on ESPN?
McCaffrey: There’s a little bit of that, but it’s all fun. It’s such a cool opportunity. Once you set aside the nerves and realize that there’s not a lot of people in the country that get to do that, it really is something special.
You really try and enjoy it.
It’s just a regular football game so you have to play football and enjoy the moment.
I’m also looking for some redemption. My freshman year we had an ESPN game and I had one of the worst throws of my life. My only throw. Wow that was tough. I have to redeem myself.
Q: How do you redeem yourself? You have two chances so what do you do to redeem yourself on national TV?
McCaffrey: Just come play like we’ve been practicing recently. That’s a big part of it is not letting TV get to us. Just come out knowing that it’s a regular game. We’re playing a good team and we’re going to have to play well to hang in there and beat them.
The biggest part is not worrying that it’s a TV game and come out like it’s an everyday conference game.
Q: Do you need to finish this year before you can look back and figure out what your best times were here at Valor or is there already something that sticks out right now?
McCaffrey: I think I’ll have to finish this year to get the whole grand scheme of things, but there are definitely things that I can look back on and if I was done now, I’d probably say those are the best times.
There have been a few of those.
Q: Care to share any of them?
McCaffrey: Probably the biggest one is when I was introduced to Valor football my freshman year. I just got moved up to the varsity team. We had a practice then we went on a retreat.
That was the first time I met a lot of the guys. My brother was there and I already knew a lot of his friends, but I remember a few guys, Ben Waters and Joe Bear (Ortiz), a couple of old players of ours.
They kind of took me under their wing. I just remember sitting by the fire all night and just talking and enjoying life. And that meant so much to me. That’s when I bought into this program and realized this is a special place and I love it here.
Dylan McCaffrey. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)