The saying goes athletes want to be music stars, and music stars want to be athletes. A friendship strung together by imitating Jason Derulo’s song “Trumpets” down the then-seventh grader Quddus Ogunbase’s road at midnight bonded the friends. As they got older, you could catch them on a different recording. One that earned them the chance to play collegiate football.
San Marcos defensive backs Kannon Webb and Ogunbase celebrated their commitments to Texas State and Mary Hardin-Baylor, respectively, on Wednesday together as longtime best friends.
Webb has had one of the most successful individual careers in a Rattler uniform in school history. First-year head football coach John Walsh spoke on behalf of the senior, saying that “if I had to pick a position coach to speak for him, they would all be up here.” Walsh designated himself the speaker, highlighting the Texas State commit as one of the reasons he took the San Marcos job.
“When you actually get here and see what he’s able to do on the field, it’s even better than watching the film,” Walsh said in his speech.
His impact on the field didn’t go unnoticed, creating some of the top plays of the year. His Hail Mary catch to beat Lockhart 26-25 in the 2020 season, being one of few players in District 26-6A to run, throw and receive a touchdown and breaking the San Marcos all-time tackle record while averaging 10.2 tackles per game as a senior are among the highlights. He will be a preferred walk-on at Texas State this fall as a slot receiver.
“I'm going in as a slot receiver, kind of going back to my offensive roots. Had a great talk with (wide receivers coach Bryson) Abraham whenever I decided to commit. As a freshman, I am really looking to go in there, try to earn a spot on special teams and make an impact there, try to see the field a little bit on offense.” Webb said. “Then as a sophomore, you know, try to earn the starting spot, if not more playing time and work my way up from there, hopefully break a few records, get them all written down.”
Ogunbase faced isolations on his side of the field and was the shadow to a lot of the state's best receivers. Opposing teams rarely threw his way — when they did, he affected the play with sheer hustle. Five pass deflections and 38 tackles later, he's gotten looks from schools like Bates College, Southwestern, Texas Wesleyan, Iowa Wesleyan and McMurray. After a long recruiting process, the corner found his new home at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
“It was definitely stressful. The whole recruiting process, it was a lot,” Ogunbase said. “You know, I just feel relieved to finally just be able to focus on one thing, instead of having to talk to all these coaches at once and focus on just trying to get better.
“UMHB felt like home. As soon as I stepped foot on campus I knew it’s where I wanted to be. Plus, I’m a winner and they know how to win.”
Ogunbase is right about the purple and gold-winning. UMHB is the most dominant school in the American Southwestern Conference, winning 18-straight conference games the last two seasons they were allowed to play. Adding a lockdown corner like Ogunbase could go this program to even more prominent heights.
The friends will get to hear the tune of a different trumpet during their football games at locations only separated by 90 miles. The newest Bobcat and Crusader are sure to have support from their San Marcos community.
