While many of Anderson’s athletes signed a few weeks back, Wednesday marked the first day of the early signing period for college football, and star players Max Gerlich and Ed Small signed on to play at UTSA and TCU respectively. After legendary careers as Trojans, bringing the team back to the playoffs for the first time this decade, the pair will graduate later this month and begin spring practice for their first college seasons.
According to 247sports, Gerlich is the Roadrunners’ 3rd highest-rated recruit in their 2025 class and a top 80 quarterback nationally. These rankings are well deserved after a fabulous senior campaign, where Max completed 63% of his passes for 3100 yards and 41 touchdowns and ran another 3 scores in on the ground. At today’s signing day, Coach Donald Hatcher said he never waivered in his faith for Max and that he told him before the season he would throw for over 3000 yards. Gerlich holds just about every passing record for the Trojans, and he was one of the main reasons the team returned to the playoff.
Gerlich started his career with Trojan Pop Warner before moving to play at Del Valle for his first two high school seasons. He returned to Anderson during the spring of his sophomore year. He spent the beginning of his junior season splitting time with then-senior Brady Gephart before a knee injury cut his campaign short. However, he came back from that injury in a big way, putting together the best season by an Anderson quarterback in years.
Gerlich was nothing short of incredible, but he wouldn’t have had nearly the same success without his leading receiver Ed Small. The wideout was sensational, catching 66 passes for 1344 yards and 18 touchdowns, likely school records in all three categories. He was the district MVP, the team’s MVP, and has been by just about all accounts the best athlete to come through Anderson since the turn of the millennia. He set Austin ISD’s record for receiving yards with an all-time total of over 3800 over his four-year varsity career. Additionally, he scored a whopping 56 total touchdowns during his time at Anderson.
Small was the 5th-ranked recruit in TCU’s 24th-ranked class of 2025. He was rated as a four-star by 247s composite, the 421st recruit nationally, and a top 65 receiver. Small chose TCU out of a double-digit list of Division 1 offers for football, and that’s not even taking baseball into account. He is a blue-chip prospect and will likely have an immediate impact for TCU as a freshman as a receiver or return man.
Both Ed and Max had incredible tenures at Anderson and took the team higher than they’ve been in almost 15 years. They’ll forever be remembered as Trojans, and everyone in the community will be looking to see them shine in their new uniforms next year.
