AUSTIN, Texas — Throughout the week, those who played a role in the development of both Drew Brees and Nick Foles as quarterbacks while they attended Westlake High School all said similar things about the two Super Bowl MVPs.
"Those are the two best young men I know," Derek Long, former Chaparrals head coach, said.
"They just have that innate personality that causes players to rally around them," Ron Schroeder, another former Chaparrals head coach, said.
It's fairly amazing when you think about how much Westlake football is in the national spotlight just weeks after the actual Chaparrals season came to an end.
But, those two names -- Brees and Foles -- are both responsible.
Adding another layer to that, Foles' former assistant coach and Westlake's current principal, Steven Ramsey, said Foles is exactly who he is now as he was at Westlake.
"I think that people believe in Nick because he believes in them first," Ramsey said.
The same can be said about the Westlake quarterback 10 years prior to Foles, Brees.
"He had some of those strong characteristics that champions have," Schroeder said.
Schroeder was the head coach during the Brees era at Westlake and Long during the Foles era.
"They give credit to their teammates, and the teammates know it's sincere. That raises their level of play," Long said.
Long was Schroeder's defensive coordinator during the Brees-led state title season in 1996.
"I think Ron Schroeder gets all that credit," Long said.
Both Schroeder and Long weren't sure if Foles would play quarterback when he was a freshman at Westlake.
"Of course we always laugh about it. We thought he was going to be a basketball player," Schroeder said.
They are two coaches with a wealth of stories about the two Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks -- such as as the one about Brees prior to the 1996 state title game at Texas Stadium.
A junior varsity player who pulled up to the varsity and traveled with the team for the playoffs loved Troy Aikman. Brees' locker belonged to Aikman, but he gladly moved to another locker so his teammate could experience using the same locker as his favorite Dallas Cowboy.
"That gives you insight of the type of person Drew has and the compassion he has for his teammates," Long said.
The player-coach relationships for both Brees and Foles continues to this very day.
"I enjoy watching him and his kids as much as I watch him play," Schroeder said. "It shows how good of a father he truly is."
They are former coaches bonded for life as second fathers to both Brees and Foles.
"If you have children you want someone to emulate, Drew Brees and Nick Foles because they've got things in perspective," Long said.
MVPs as role models as well as quarterbacks.
The second meeting in an NFL playoff game between the two former Westlake quarterback is a first in NFL history -- the first time a pair of Super Bowl MVPs from the same high school will face each other in a playoff game.