After moving to the Austin area, Brees did not play tackle football until high school and was on the flag football team at St. Andrew's Episcopal School, where his teammates included actor Ben McKenzie, who was in the same year. In high school, he was a varsity letterman in baseball, basketball, and football, and was considering playing college baseball rather than football. College recruiters quickly ran after Brees blew out his knee in the 11th grade. After overcoming the ACL tear, he was selected as Texas High School 5A Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1996 and led the Austin Westlake High School football team to a 16–0 record and a state championship. As a high school football player, Brees completed 314 of 490 passes (64.1 percent) for 5,461 yards with 50 touchdowns, including in his senior season, 211 of 333 passes (63.4 percent) for 3,528 yards with 31 touchdowns. When Brees started for two seasons, Westlake went 28–0–1 and beat a Dominic Rhodes-led Abilene Cooper 55–15 in the 1996 title game. He was given honorable mention in the state high school all-star football team and the "USA Today" All-USA high school football team, alongside former San Diego Chargers teammate and long-time friend LaDainian Tomlinson. Brees had hoped to follow in his father's and uncle's footsteps and play for the Texas Longhorns or Texas A&M Aggies, but was not heavily recruited despite his stellar record.