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KJ Lacey sets records in front of Steve Sarkisian in Alabama state championship

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook12/09/23josephcook89
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K.J. Lacey (Mickey Welsh / USA TODAY NETWORK)

2025 Saraland (Ala.) quarterback and Texas commit KJ Lacey set an AHSAA championship game record for passing yards on Friday in Saraland’s 31-28 loss in the 6A state championship to Clay-Chalkville with Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian in attendance.

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Lacey, who committed to Texas on June 3, was 28-for-39 for a record 391 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans. He broke the previous record of 375 yards set in 2002. He found teammate, Five-Star Plus+ Alabama commit, and Texas target Ryan Williams 12 times for 236 yards and two touchdowns during the championship showdown in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Sarkisian returned to where he worked under Nick Saban for two seasons to see his commit put on a tremendous display despite falling a couple of yards short of another state championship.

The first touchdown was a long connection on Saraland’s first offensive play from scrimmage.

The second was another long pass that saw Lacey roll out of the pocket and find Williams downfield for another score.

For the season, Lacey was 219-for-315 for 3448 yards and 42 touchdowns over eight interceptions. He also scored five touchdowns on the ground for the Spartans.

Lacey is ranked as the No. 77 overall prospect, the No. 6 quarterback, and the No. 7 player in Alabama according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He is the only member of Texas’ 2025 recruiting class.

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Lacey evaluation from the Recruiting Notebook

Lacey is an absolute gunslinger who is rightly drawing a lot of comparisons to Alabama’s Heisman winning quarterback Bryce Young. His style of play is very heavy on scrambling for time and using his arm to hit throws down the field, which can become pretty overwhelming if a team can’t contain him in the pocket. Lacey excels at making very fast decisions and getting the ball out, sometimes at the cost of better footwork that would make for more consistent throws. Occasionally he manages to make incredible off-platform throws with pure arm. Sometimes he sets himself up well, at other times the ball gets away from him. As his skills develop with time, his ability to see opportunities and zip the ball out will be better supported by his footwork and he’ll become increasingly dominant. In Steve Sarkisian’s offense he’d excel hitting the deep shots down the field and would also benefit from opportunities to move around and attack with a spread field. – Ian Boyd 

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