Omaha Westside quarterback Braylen Warren is back under center for his junior season and is taking on a leadership role, starting with a victory on night one.
The Class A No. 2 Warriors beat the No. 3 Omaha North Vikings 58-27 at Kinnick Stadium on Thursday night. Warren went 12-20 for 108 passing yards and two touchdowns in the team’s win while junior running back Tay Tay Jenkins carried the load, rushing for 252 yards and four touchdowns.
“With me just being really vocal in practice and in games, I think I can really pump up my guys and get them ready for games, and get them going in games too,” Warren told Hurrdat Sports. “So me being vocal is probably the best thing for our team right now.”
Braylen’s father, Steve Warren, was a defensive tackle for Nebraska. He spent four seasons in Lincoln, from 1996 to 1999, before entering the NFL Draft. He set the Nebraska defensive lineman record for most pass break ups in a game with three and finished his career with 10 of them. Named to the All-Big 12 First Team in 1999, Warren was part of the Nebraska national championship team in 1997.
The Green Bay Packers selected Warren in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He spent three years with the Packers, playing in 25 games before injuries cut his career short.
Steve created the Warren Academy in 2008 to teach athletes the skills it takes to succeed at the next level. He was also Braylen’s coach growing up.
“It was great,” Warren said. “It’s my son, so it’s different coaching your son, and I was really hard on him, I was really tough on him, but that’s just part of me knowing he was going to be really good. I wanted him to understand like what it means to be good, and what it means to be coached hard. When you’re coaching your son, it’s a little difficult too, because you don’t want to feel like people are giving him favorites. So I was a little harder on him than most people probably are, but I knew he could take it, because I knew he was going to be built for it.”
During his sophomore campaign, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback started all 13 games, passing for 2,105 yards and 30 touchdowns.
After losing in last year’s Class A state championship to Millard South, a loss that snapped a 32-game win streak for the Warriors, Warren has his eyes set on what he and the team want to accomplish in 2025.
“My goal is just to do the best I can, and just do my job fast and efficiently,” Braylen said. “Our team’s goal is really just get back to state and hopefully win it.”
Although he won’t graduate until 2027, Warren has offers from Missouri, Iowa, Iowa State, Florida State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, South Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, California, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Wisconsin and Toledo. He said that he has upcoming visits to Kansas State, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.
“It’s been going really great,” Warren said of the recruiting process. “I’ve been talking to a lot of new colleges and building good relationships with the colleges I’m going on visits with.”
For now, Warren is focused on taking in the moment.
“My goal is just to really play my heart out and cherish this moment that I have of playing high school football,” Warren said.
The Warriors will host Columbus for their home opener at Phelps Field next Friday, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT.
