'Why not Oklahoma?' Heritage Hall QB continues charmed ride with recent commitment to Sooners
OKLAHOMA CITY - Andy Bass kicked off his senior season at Heritage Hall with a bang.
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound quarterback was on full display as his Chargers took on a talented Oklahoma City Millwood squad in what was a highly anticipated Week 1 matchup.
Bass racked up more than 400 yards of total offense and accounted for six total touchdowns as Heritage Hall rolled to a 47-24 victory.
While the blowout victory was one of the highlights of the start of the 2023 season, it was just the next progression for what had been a life-changing time for Bass. In the past nine months, he went from not knowing if he would be playing college football to earning a spot in the University of Oklahoma’s 2024 recruiting class.
“Honestly, earlier this year, I didn't even know if I was going to play college football,” Bass said. “I had pretty much no interest, and then all of a sudden it just was kind of one after the other.
"So, it's definitely something that I'm going to remember forever. I couldn't be more excited.”
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Bass had offers from the likes of Army, Air Force, Navy, Cornell, Dartmouth, Kent State and UNLV. He narrowed his list down to OU, Syracuse and Kansas State.
But at the end of the day, none of them could compare to Bass being able to play at his dream school.
“It was kind of surreal because I got my first one right before practice one day, and then they kind of came one after another,” Bass said. “I remember, I think I got two within five minutes of each other one time, so it was a very surreal experience.
"I couldn't be more thankful for every one of them, but OU is definitely the best decision for me.”
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Bass remembers exactly what he was doing and what it felt like when he got the offer from the Sooners.
“It was crazy. I remember my phone kind of blew up after that offer,” Bass said. “Just the OU fan base is crazy. It's definitely the best fan base in all of college football, so I couldn't be more excited to play for them.”
Bass verbally committed to Oklahoma a week before Heritage Hall took on Millwood. He explained what went into his final decision.
“Why not Oklahoma? The fan base, the atmosphere on game days, the family aspects, the coaching staff, the players, the talent, everything,” Bass said. "The list really never ends. It's a super special decision for me. I can't wait to get to work.”
Bass is currently the 11th-ranked player in the state and 106th-ranked athlete in the nation. However, he is not expected to continue on as a quarterback at the collegiate level.
Because of his athletic ability and his Swiss army knife skill set, Bass could be used anywhere.
“The coaches told me I'd have an impact kind of all over the field,” Bass said. “I feel like it would be a great place to kind of showcase my entire skill set and really put everything on display. I can't wait to work for Coach (Jeff) Lebby (the Sooners' offensive coordinator) and (OU) Coach (Brent) Venables.”
Getting the commitment out of the way so Bass could concentrate on his final run with the Chargers was important for him.
“I'm just really focusing on my senior year trying to run it back for a gold ball again,” Bass said. “So, nothing short of that.”
Bass didn’t grow up in the Heritage Hall system, having arrived after his freshman season. However, because he had to sit out his entire sophomore year, Bass didn’t play in his first game until he was a junior.
Despite that, the Chargers' coaching staff knew they had a special player on their hands.
“His athleticism stuck out immediately,” Heritage Hall coach Brett Bogert said. “When he first got here, it was all work and he was ineligible to play varsity, so he was a scout team guy, JV guy. But he did everything that we asked him to do, and he made our varsity defense look silly sometimes.
"So, it's kind of like, ‘Well, this is going to be fun when this guy is calling the numbers next year.’ But we definitely knew he was going to be something special.”
Last season, Bass teamed up with tailback River Faulkner to lead the Chargers to a 13-1 record and the Class 3A state championship after defeating Metro Christian, 72-56. In the title contest, Bass amassed 361 total yards.
Bass wants to close out his prep career with the same type of performance, as long as it means another gold ball to take home.
“We've done it already, so we know what it takes,” Bass said. “Just got to come to practice every day, locked in on game day, starting strong, finishing strong. All that put together, I think we'll be able to do it for sure.”
Heritage Hall will take the field again on Friday as the Chargers travel to face Clinton.
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