The DeKalb County High School Football Tigers had a record breaking season last season and two more of the team's star players have announced their intentions to move on to the collegiate level. Last Wednesday afternoon, both Axel Aldino and Tyzaun Ladet announced where the future would be taking them.
Aldino, the Tigers' star quarterback, will be signing with the University of Central Missouri at Warrensburg, Missouri to play quarterback. There, he says he will be majoring in business marketing.
“I feel pretty excited to start a new chapter in my life and take the next opportunity I can,” said Aldino. “The University (Central Missouri) and the coaches gave me a good opportunity and showed they were really interested in me. They showed a lot of love to me, especially Coach Chambers. He recruited me really well and he always stayed in touch every week and made sure he knew how I was doing. That's why I chose that school.”
When asked about his individual awards, Aldino was quick to credit his team. “Honestly, that was based off everybody else. That wasn’t just me. Without everybody else on the team, I couldn’t have got all those awards. Individual awards aren’t really individual, they're team awards.”
Aldino did say that being nominated for "Mr. Football" did have a special place for him. “It meant a lot because I think only one other person here in DeKalb has been able to do that. It felt pretty good.”
“I'm just really excited for Axel," Tigers Head Coach Steve Trapp told the Smithville Review. "Watching him grow up over these last four years as a young man, and also in the quarterback position. He started from day one as a sophomore and just really had a great progression these last two years. He was leader of our offense, the catalyst of our offense, and made a ton of big plays."
"Like he's always said, he's had some great guys around him too," Coach Trapp continued. "But, he ultimately had to touch the ball every play, and make those decisions. There's just been a lot of memorable moments watching him play, and I am super excited for him to have the opportunity to play at the next level."
At the same press meeting, Ladet announced that he will be playing outside linebacker for Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee. In the 2019 season, he was named the team’s Receiver of the Year and 1st Team All-Region. He also caught the winning touchdown pass that season, in the state play-off game against Marshall County, that sent the Tigers to the quarterfinals.
Ladet was out for all of the 2020 season due to a broken leg as a result of a car crash last July in California. The accident, claimed the life of Ladet's mother, and injured three of his siblings.
“First off, it started as TSU, but then they fell off and Bethel showed me the most love and stayed connected,” Ladet told the Smithville Review.
When asked about how he was recovering from his injury, he said things look good. “It's going good. I've been doing a lot of physical therapy. I've started going three times a week now. The bone's looking great, it just takes time.”
When asked about his fondest memory of playing with the Tigers, of course he mentioned his wonderful junior season. “My junior year was the best year of high school for me. We made history, and this year they made history again. My junior year really hit it off for me, and I got colleges to notice me."
“I'm just really happy for Tyzaun," Coach Trapp said. "From last July, and having to miss the entire season ... everything he's had to go through as a young man and as a family, it just speaks volumes as to how well he played his junior year to have this opportunity to continue to play.
"He's still got a lot of work ahead of him," Coach Trapp continued. "But the good thing is he's been good in the classroom and that has helped him in this situation. If he wasn't a good student, after having the accident he had, missing the entire season, and going through rehab, he wouldn’t have this opportunity. I am really proud of the work he's put in.”
