Follow the leader: Del Valle's Jake Fette shines as El Paso's top QB college prospect

The easiest attribute to notice about Jake Fette is his golden arm.

The Del Valle junior quarterback has a cannon there, a remarkably accurate one, that currently has him at nine scholarship offers and counting and has drawn scouts from Texas and Oklahoma.

Fette cites his legs as his strongest asset, while his coach Rudy Contreras started with his poise and intelligence. All of that added up to a sophomore season that saw him throw for 2,465 yards and 27 touchdowns, plus 13 rushing touchdowns.

What may be his biggest strength, however, isn't something that's obvious to notice, though the Conquistadors' 9-2 record hints at it.

"The best part about it is he's our hardest worker," Contreras said. "That's what makes him stand out right now, his work ethic. (Leadership) is in him. As a quarterback, you want someone who can go out there and get it done not only on the field, but in the locker room, the weight room, in the building.

"He's our guy."

What teams that win the heavy majority of their games have in common is a quarterback who is a leader and sets the tone everywhere. Fette is that person, which is why the best player on one of El Paso's best teams may be the best player in El Paso.

"You have to lead by example always," said the 6-foot, 190-pound Fette. "If you're caught slacking off, everyone is going to do the same. It's making sure no one is slacking, leading by example, always make sure everyone you're doing the right thing."

His father Rick, now in his 16th year as an assistant coach at Del Valle — the former UTEP defensive lineman (1999-2002) began there right around when Jake was born — sees that every day.

"He's not extremely vocal, but you can look at him and see him doing the right things," Rick Fette said. "He's the quarterback who comes into the weight room and works out with the strongest linebackers and fights to keep up with them.

"You can expect him to be doing the right things. That's the most important part of being a leader."

While Jake Fette has always been good at that, he didn't always seem meant to be a quarterback. While he idolized the last big-time college quarterback to come out of El Paso, 2015 Del Valle graduate and later Colorado star Steven Montez ("I thought he was the coolest person ever" said Jake Fette, who was 6 when Montez finished up at Del Valle), Fette grew up as a receiver.

"Early on, I discouraged him from it: There's one quarterback on the field, there are four defensive backs," Rick Fette said. "Try to be one of those other ones. But once I realized he did really good job in middle school, I encouraged him. Go all in."

Fette's football life changed in sixth grade when the quarterback on his youth team moved.

"I never thought I'd be a quarterback, I never wanted to be a quarterback," Jake Fette said. "Then my Little League quarterback moved away to Dallas and they threw me in the spot. I did pretty well there."

His arm became obvious immediately.

"At quarterback, he's really good and I didn't see that coming," Rick Fette said. "I didn't have him quarterbacking a whole lot when he was a little kid. By middle school you could kind of tell, he could throw really far compared to other kids his age. That's when I realized this is something he should go after."

By then, other attributes were rising to the top.

"As a sophomore we knew he was an athlete, we knew he had an arm, we knew he was accurate, but how was he going to play on Friday night?" Conteras said. "He showed us early on he was a guy who could control a game, carry this team on his shoulders and take us where we needed to go.

"His composure, he's a very smart kid. The way he goes through progressions, the way he's able to understand the game plan, then go out and execute — as coaches you write it up and game plan, but when you have a quarterback who can really go out there and get everybody in the right spot and know exactly what we're trying to do in every situation, it's big."

At the moment, that's added up to scholarship offers from UTEP, Texas Tech, TCU, Arizona State, Cal, Houston, North Texas and Texas State, with many more likely on the way. Fette plans to make his decision in February and right now he's leaning toward the power conference schools.

There is a difference between him and the city's last college quarterback star, Montez, who only had two major offers. Montez did bring more attention to El Paso, just as Fette is now.

"We've had some big-time schools out here," Conteras said. "Texas came down to watch him, Oklahoma came down to watch him. We had some big names out here in spring football.

"It's a great platform that's provided for all our kids. It's fun when you're out there practicing and you see the offensive coordinator from Texas there. It's fun for the kids."

While it is fun for Fette, he has a good idea of what's really important.

"It's cool, it's a motivating factor, but at the end of the day, the (scouts) can come see you, but if you can't perform, nothing will happen.

"The goal is to make a deep playoff run. Everyone wants personal stats, but at the end of that day, that doesn't matter if you can't lead your team."

That right there is what Jake Fette is best at.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Follow the leader: Del Valle's Jake Fette shines as El Paso's top QB college prospect