BOCA RATON, FL — The first thing you notice when you pull into West Boca Raton High School isn't the football field. It's Patrick Mahomes. His Gladiator logo is on the street-pole banners leading onto campus, on the wind screens surrounding the stadium and on tents scattered along the sideline. It's painted on both 25-yard lines, too, while players and coaches move around in pregame shirts bearing the same logo.
For one Friday night, West Boca's football complex looked less like a high school stadium and more like a Mahomes-branded showcase. And, in a way, that's exactly what it was. West Boca is one of just 28 high school football programs nationwide selected to receive jerseys from Mahomes' Gladiator line. The white, ice-out jerseys haven't arrived yet — players are expected to receive them next week — but the program's introduction to the partnership came with plenty of evidence that something different was happening.
"It was definitely a goal," West Boca Raton coach Dylan Potts said. "I think that's part of becoming a perennial power. One of the steps is to get that sponsorship, whether you're with Adidas or Nike or Under Armour or Reebok. It was always one of our goals. We take tremendous pride in the way the place looks. We have this thing done in the Adidas and Mahomes logo to everything out here. "It was definitely a big deal for us and even after the first state championship, we had a great relationship with Adidas. We were looking to make that next step and become one of their select sponsored schools, and we had to win that second one for them to really give us that opportunity." Now, that success has manifested itself in a different way. The Bulls will debut the new ice-out uniforms in their Week 1 matchup against American Heritage, a program entering the season ranked No. 23 in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25.
And the uniforms aren't something just any program can order. The ice-out design is exclusive to Texas Tech, Mahomes' alma mater, and the 28 high school programs selected for the Gladiator initiative. That puts West Boca in a particularly small club — one that includes a Power Four program but only a select group of high schools nationwide. Miami doesn't have them. Indiana doesn't have them.
West Boca Raton does. For a program that has spent the past several years trying to establish itself as a perennial power, that exclusivity is part of the appeal. And for the foreseeable future, the Mahomes branding will be part of the pitch to the next generation of Bulls. A prospective player walking onto the West Boca campus won't have to wonder whether the program has arrived. The evidence will be on the walls, the field, the wind screens and, soon, the jerseys. "It's a tribute to our kids for staying hungry and the success they've had has led us to having a deal like this," Potts said. Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X at @NP_AlexMartin or via email: amartin@usatodayco.com. For additional high school sports coverage, be sure to follow USA TODAY High School Sports on Instagram and X. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's it like being a Patrick Mahomes school? This Florida state champ knows