'He wants to chase after Brock': Perry's Kael Snyder ready to emerge as next big QB in Arizona

Brock Purdy Way no longer directs students into Gilbert Perry High School. That sign was only temporary , placed in February as a way to honor the former Pumas quarterback as he led the San Francisco 49ers into the Super Bowl.

Kael Snyder didn't need a sign to direct his future when he was a Perry ball boy in 2017, watching Purdy dissect defenses on the way to the state championship game.

He always had this route mapped out in his mind.

"Brock was always a guy he looked up to," said Adam Snyder, Kael's father, and a former 49ers offensive lineman. "When choosing high schools, Perry was where he wanted to go. He wants to chase after Brock and be just like Brock.

"I use that now as a form of motivation. I go, 'What would Brock do?' "

In 2018, Kael also watched Brock's brother, Chubba, lead Perry back to the state final at quarterback.

Inspired by the Purdy brothers, Kael Snyder is ready to take the keys to coach Joseph Ortiz's offense as a 6-foot-3, 200-pound sophomore, and pave a path similar to Brock Purdy. Snyder was named the starter in the July camp in Show Low, after returning starter Diesel Taylor moved with his family to California.

"The seniors rallied around Kael, loved him, welcomed him," Ortiz said. "He competed all summer and did a really good job."

Snyder dreamed of this since he was an 11-year-old, playing quarterback for a youth team, the Chandler Bears.

"I'm super excited," Kael Snyder said. "It definitely boosted my confidence."

Brock Purdy, who is in 49ers training camp getting ready for his third NFL season, has been there for Snyder during his journey.

"He just tells me to keep working, keep my head down, stay focused on the goal and it will all come true," Snyder said.

Snyder, who played on the Perry freshman team last year, starts his varsity career on Aug. 30 at home against Mesa Desert Ridge, looking up at the incredibly high bar Purdy set at Perry.

That blueprint is nearly impossible to follow, but Perry might have the next big quarterback to hit Arizona high school football varsity football fields this season.

"I think at the end of it, by the time he's a senior, he can be one of the top recruits in Arizona," Ortiz said. "He's got high potential, a big football IQ. He's super smart, with his dad playing in the league for 10 years. His mom was a Division I athlete at Oregon in volleyball.

"He's got an athletic pedigree around him."

Ortiz expects Snyder to take some lumps this season, but there will be more bright moments to build on in the most brutal football region in the state, the 6A Premier.

Since the Purdy brothers graduated, Perry hasn't been able to beat any of the Big 3 (Chandler, Basha and Hamilton) in the Premier.

It took Purdy until his junior year to really take off at Perry.

Kael embraces the legacy Purdy left.

Because this is an open-enrollment state, high school athletes can attend any school as a freshman, no matter where they live. Even though the Snyder family was zoned not to go to Perry, Kael chose the school, mainly because of what Purdy did there.

"He wanted to be the change of the program," said Adam Snyder, who was an assistant coach at Perry during the Purdy brothers' era, and is back as the offensive line coach now. "He told me, 'I want to be the change.'"

Since Chubba Purdy graduated in 2020, Perry's only winning season came last year, when the Pumas went 8-4. The Pumas went 0-6 in the COVID-reduced 2020 season, followed by a 3-8 season. Preston Jones, who had been Perry's only head football coach in the school's history, stepped down.

Ortiz, who led Glendale Cactus out of 4A into the eight-team Open state playoff field in 2021, knows how to get an offense revved up. He feels good about getting it going under Snyder's leadership.

Ortiz said that Snyder's field vision is as good as most seniors.

"The good thing is, he saw what Diesel did for a year (throwing for 2,296 yards and 29 TDs)," Ortiz said. "Diesel had to move to California for family reasons.

"Kael is the next man up and we're super excited."

Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'He wants to chase after Brock': Perry's Kael Snyder ready to emerge as next big QB in Arizona