Finding his Calling: Mangham’s taken off with Colby Casey at QB
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Colby Casey attributed his decision to play the quarterback position to one person.
It was almost love at first sight when Casey saw quarterback Drew Brees, who spent 14 years of his career with the New Orleans Saints.
Brees recently took his rightful place in the NFL’s Pro Football Hall of Fame for his record-setting career, overcoming such stereotypes that tend to follow players that border listed at 6-foot in stature. He also battled back from a potentially career-ending shoulder injury and rectified a career that eventually took him from New Orleans to Canton.
The numbers were tangible marks on a decorated career, but Brees not only lifted a region following the effects of Hurricane Katrina, but he also lifted those around him with a commanding presence at practice and in the games.
Imagine the delight when Brandon Casey brought his son Colby to the Superdome to watch his favorite player, the one who had a great deal of influence on the 5-foot-11, 178-pounder to grow and play the same position. Colby Casey helped Mangham to the Superdome to face Haynesville in the Division IV non-select state championship last December, an opportunity Casey flourished on the same field as his idol.
“When I was younger, I was a big Drew Brees fan,” Casey said. “I always watched him. It made me want to be a quarterback, lead my team, and have the ball in my hands. Do it the way he used to do it.
“When I was five, my dad took me to watch Drew Brees in a playoff game,” Casey said. “I watched how he led his team, and he talked to his team. That’s when I told my dad I wanted to be a quarterback.”
Casey’s the third member of his family to play football for Mangham, following the path of his older twin brothers Colt and Cole, and has found his own niche – playing quarterback – where the junior has already started the past two seasons where he’s 20-7 as a starter, and led the Dragons to the state quarterfinals and championship game, the latter of which has served as a motivator for the entire team.
“I feel more experienced than I’ve ever felt going into this season,” said Casey, a starting shortstop/pitcher on Mangham’s Division IV nonselect state championship baseball team. “Playing all of these games builds up your confidence so much just knowing that you’ve started. You know what to expect when you go into the games.”
Veteran coach Scott Wilcher, who begins his 24th season at Mangham, said Casey was a natural to hand the reins to in his first season. The varied job description of a starting quarterback points toward someone comfortable in a leadership position and capable of leading an offense that can execute at an extremely high rate.
“We knew as eighth graders this bunch was special and several of them started as freshmen for us,” said Wilcher, who enters his 32nd season in coaching. “Most of his receivers were freshmen at that time on the team that went to the quarterfinals. We had him (Casey) earmarked as the starting quarterback immediately as he got to high school. He was just that type of talent and the other kids were too.”
Wilcher’s introduction to Casey came on baseball fields in town when Casey was a 10-year-old teammate of Wilcher’s son, Ty, in little league competition.
“He’s always been a tremendous athlete,” coach Wilcher said.
Casey preferred playing defense in football until he saw Brees. He’s also five years younger than his brothers, who played outside linebacker and wide receiver and shared their love of playing for Mangham High, a community of 600 people in Richland Parish.
Backyard football games were the norm for the Caseys, an experience the youngest sibling wanted to build on and was further fueled by his brothers’ playing career with the Dragons on Friday nights.
“They’re the reason for who I am today,” Colby said. “They taught me, made me better. They told me how to catch. They just threw the ball at me. Watching my brothers play, I thought they played it the right way. They taught me how to play the right way.”
Brees cinched Casey’s choice for offense and quarterback where he would have the ball in his hands on every play. Like Brees, Casey was considered slight of build for the position but wasn’t deterred because of the level of fire he played with and his ability to inspire others.
“I don’t let my height and weight affect the way that I play,” he said. “There’s no one that can talk down to me. I don’t listen to it. I just play the game. I love playing and playing the right way.
“Before games, I look through his quotes and read them,” he said of Brees. “I watch videos of him hyping up his teams. It gives me confidence in how to lead the team.”
Mangham has evolved as Casey’s developed at quarterback.
The Dragons went 9-4 in 2024 with a quarterfinal trip; a season Casey passed for 1,400 yards and 13 TDs. He also rushed for 800 yards and 24 10 scores.
“They just believed in me, and that helped me build my confidence to lead them,” Casey said. “I was nervous at the beginning of the season. All of the seniors kept talking to me and helped build my confidence to lead them. They were always there for me.”
Wilcher said offensive coordinator Bo Meeks, a former head coach at Airline, Mangham and Calvary Baptist, has been a great teacher for Casey.
The team’s spread offense has its share of shifts and motions with plenty of ball-handling involved.
“We knew he was special,” Wilcher said. “Having Coach Meeks to work with him as a quarterback, it’s just gotten better and better. Coach Meeks does a heck of a job with our offense, and he’s done a heck of a job grooming Colby into being that quarterback. Maybe as a freshman his reads weren’t clear, but going into his sophomore and junior years, it’s just been phenomenal with the transition he’s made through Coach Meeks.
“He doesn’t say a whole lot, leads by example on the field,” Wilcher said. “You never hear a whole lot out of him. He works hard. Just the growth from his freshman year until now has been tremendous, and we’re looking for big things out of him this year.”
Wilcher has also coached Mangham to four state championships, and three state runners-up finishes in other sports. The Dragons were the Class 1A state champions in baseball in 2009 and 2013, and runners-up in ’07 and ’24.
The Lady Dragons softball program won Class 1A softball titles in ’17 and ’19 and were runners-up in ’18.
Casey raised the bar for himself and the program with a spectacular sophomore season that helped Mangham advance to the Superdome for the first time since 2015.
The Dragons, which won its lone state title in 1956, registered three straight state runner-up appearances in 2013, ’14, ’15, went 8-2 during the regular season with losses to Jena, a Division III state nonselect runner-up, and Ouachita Christian, a Division IV select quarterfinalist.
Convincing playoff wins over West St. John and East Feliciana set up a semifinal matchup with South Plaquemine, the reigning state champion, and Mangham continued its impressive postseason stretch of outscoring their opposition by 35 points.
The Dragons were opposed by Class 1A/Division IV power and undefeated Haynesville, the top seed in the final.
“It was real fun playing in that big stadium with everybody watching,” Casey said. “We were just having fun out there playing the game we love to play.”
Haynesville presented a formidable task, having defeated its opposition by an average of 45 points during the regular season, and 31 in the postseason. The Golden Tornado, who were in search of their 18th state title, had also scored 40-plus points 11 times.
Mangham scored on first-quarter drives of 75 and 80 yards but also lost a fumble at the end of a 10-play drive, stalled on downs after a 73-yard drive, and trailed 32-27 at halftime.
The Dragons rallied for a 35-32 lead in the third quarter when the Tornado responded with a 39-35 advantage.
Casey drove his team inside Haynesville’s 10-yard-line in the final two minutes but was incomplete on a pass to the back corner of the end zone on fourth-and-six.
Casey was one of three 100-yard rushers for the Dragons with 29 carries for 137 yards and 2 TDs. He threw for 83 yards and a TD on 9 of 16 passes.
“We were all sad and mad at the end of the game,” Casey said. “When you look at it, it was a good run. The last play, it was a great play. They were in man coverage, and the play was great for that coverage. I felt like all of the plays we ran were supposed to work. But it didn’t get the way we wanted it to. That loss stuck with me until baseball season.”
Casey was selected to the Class 2A All-State honorable mention team with 2,312 total yards of offense and 31 touchdowns. He averaged 12 yards per play, completing 71% of his passes (98 of 139) with 20 touchdowns and three interceptions, to go with 697 yards and 11 TDs on 96 attempts.
“I enjoy this offense because we’ve got so many people that can make big plays,” Casey said. “We’ve got so much on offense with the running backs and wide receivers. Defenses don’t know what’s going to hit them. That’s what I like about it. We have so much misdirection and so many playmakers on offense; the defense doesn’t know who to guard or who to worry about.”
The success of Mangham’s offense and the growth of Casey lead toward one person, Wilcher said.
“Coach Meeks works really hard on the timing of the offense,” he said. “It’s pretty when that stuff starts going right. Midway through the year you could really tell it coming in and it’s just carried over to this fall camp. He has great touch, doesn’t overthrow balls.
“He has great touch, doesn’t overthrow balls,” he said of Casey. “To only throw three interceptions last year was tremendous. One of them came at the wrong time in the dome, and we also turned it over three times, which was uncharacteristic of us that led to three scores. But he really knows this offense. During the offseason, we’re up here throwing on Sundays at 2 o’clock with the receivers. We do football pretty much year-round here.”
Five months after the disappointment of the state championship loss in New Orleans, Mangham competed for a state championship in baseball in Sulphur.
One of the compelling arguments for living in rural America is the friendships that are built and fostered over time.
Whether they found a field to throw a football, a court to shoot basketball, or a baseball field, Casey counted on many of the same faces that made up Mangham’s baseball team that won the school’s first state title in 13 years.
“It was the best feeling ever,” he said. “After coming off a loss in football, and then bouncing back and winning it in baseball, it was a great feeling to win it. In my mind, I really wanted it in football. To win it with all of my close friends that I grew up with, and winning it their senior year, was as a great feeling.”
It didn’t begin that way.
Mangham lost eight of its last 10 games of the regular season and stood 12-11 going into the postseason. The Dragons had also lost three of four games in District 2-2A play to Oak Grove and Ouachita Christian in the last month of play.
Seeded third in the Division IV bracket, Mangham caught fire following an opening-round bye and recorded consecutive five-inning, run-rule shutouts of Montgomery (11-0) and Delcambre (13-0) to reach the state tournament, where they defeated No. 2 Oakdale, 6-2, in the semifinal.
Mangham (16-11) exploded for seven runs in the third inning, leading 8-0 before No. 1 Welsh scored four times in the sixth in the title game.
Casey bounced back from a subpar pitching effort in the regular season to get the ball for a 1.1 inning effort in relief to slow down Welsh’s offense. He also collected two hits at the plate and drove in two runs, including a sacrifice fly on May 13.
Casey, who plays shortstop when not pitching, achieved Class 2A All-State honorable mention status with a .380 batting average, 10 doubles, three doubles, two homers and eight stolen bases.
“At the beginning of the year I had my doubts, but we all came together to play how we knew how we play,” Casey said of the team’s accomplishment. “We all grew up playing baseball together. We know how we’re supposed to play. We just all came together and started having fun.
“Going into the game at that moment, I had so much confidence; I thought it was our game,” Casey said of 1.1 innings relief effort. “The person who pitched before me is like my best friend. Seeing him get taken off the mound made me realize that I had his back; I was going to win it for him. I didn’t have the season that I wanted pitching. I knew in that moment I had to do the best I could. I went in with a lot of confidence, knowing that I could do it.”
Casey’s spring also included helping Mangham’s track team to a seventh-place finish at the LHSAA’s Outdoor track and field championships in Baton Rouge. He was part of 10 of the team’s 23 points with legs on both the third-place 4×200 relay and fourth-place 4×100 team.
Because of the length of the baseball season, Mangham wasn’t able to conduct spring drills and tacked those days of practice onto the start of fall camp.
After a week off after the baseball state title, Casey was back on the practice field twice a day, continuing to develop his rapport with his receivers. There was participation in 7-on-7 games, taking the necessary steps for the upcoming season.
Casey also gained exposure at college camps at McNeese State, Northwestern State, and UL. Those experiences didn’t shake his focus, which is squarely on a return trip to New Orleans.
“I want to be more focused on the team right now so we can go back to the dome and win it this year,” he said. “We still have all our receivers, but we have a young running back (sophomore Kylan Goods) coming up. It’s just going to take time for him to get the feel of it and not be nervous when he gets the ball. We’ll have to lead him, and talk to him and build up his confidence, so he can play at his best.”
Casey showed off a fearless style in ’25, one that earned him second-team mention of the Louisiana Football Coaches Association’s Class 2A All-State team. He was also chosen the District 2-2A Offensive MVP.
His highlight tape showed someone with the determination to break tackles and a shiftiness to avoid defenders.
Casey had a keeper for a 63-yard touchdown in a 49-28 league win over Oak Grove. He also scrambled outside, avoided a defender, and cut back between two more on a 45-yard score.
His best run, though, in the regular season was taking the ball from his own 15-yard line, following two offensive linemen and with three defenders in the vicinity, squirted free for an 85-yard score.
“I would like to pass, but my first instinct is when I feel pressure, I run and make sure I can get yards and have us in good field position,” Casey said.
Mangham, which started 14 sophomores last season, returns eight starters on offense.
Junior wide receiver Rayon Bell, the son of former Rayville High and Alabama standout Kenny Bell, joins Ty Wilcher, who had 700-plus yards in receptions and 13 TDs; Bell has a younger brother, KJ Bell, who started last season as a freshman.
The Dragons, who open the ’26 season at Jena, take part in a new-look District 3-2A with Delhi Charter, Ferriday, Madison Parish and Rayville. They will also still play Oak Grove on Sept. 18, a team that’s no longer part of the district, along with Ouachita Christian.
Wilcher believes Casey’s the ultimate example of a player who creates a buzz without having to raise his voice.
“This whole group, they don’t need that person on the field barking; they take care of their business,” he said. “Colby leads by example. He’s not a real vocal guy. He knows what to do and what to tell the kids as far as our offense. The thing that I see more going to fall is when things breakdown, our receivers and quarterback are still on the same page. They’ll make things happen. They’ll break the routes off to give him something else to look at while he’s scrambling.
“We’re expecting big things out of him and to have another great year,” he said. “I think he’ll probably run the ball a little more this year on some things that we’ve put in. We’ll add a little more running with Colby. We have to stay healthy; hopefully we can keep him healthy and protected and look for him to do some great things.”