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Frisco Wakeland logo (sportsdaydfwcom)
FRISCO – Frisco Wakeland is guaranteed to make history in back-to-back seasons.
Last year, the program had its highest-ever win total, going 11-2 and advancing to the regional semifinals. And this season, Wakeland is set to become the first Frisco ISD program to play in Class 6A.
The jump to Texas’ highest classification isn’t a simple transition for the school either. Wakeland’s enrollment of 2,245 barely crossed the threshold for what the UIL set as the minimum requirement for 6A at 2,215. As far as football-playing programs, it’ll be the fifth-smallest school in the classification in the D-FW area. For comparison, Little Elm with nearly 200 more students is the next-closest.
Not everyone was in favor of the move, but the team is hoping the reputation it’s built as one of the stronger teams out of Frisco will help smooth the transition. Since head coach Chandler Isom took over the program in 2022, only Lone Star and Reedy have won more games than Wakeland during that time period, 35.
“Whenever you have a culture that's kind of what we've been able to build over the past 20 years, you definitely need to lean into that,” Isom said. “When you have some new faces on offense, defense, obviously the step up to 6A and a new challenge there, that legacy of the guys that have come before them have built the culture of winning around here.”
When it comes to being the smallest school in its district and one of the smallest 6A programs in the metroplex, is Wakeland going to play into that? You bet.
“We’re gonna play with our chip on our shoulder,” senior running back Braxton Cole said. “But at the end of the day, we're gonna go out there and compete. It don't really matter who's on the other side, they’re human just like we’re human. I'm gonna go out there, give my 100% every single time, win or lose. I'm still gonna trust in my teammates.”
Isom says it’s taken a few years for people to get used to seeing Wakeland consistently competing at the top of the district standings, so the outside perception of the school as the new little brother on the block isn't unique.
“We're just barely over that 6A mark, which is fine,” Isom said. “But whenever you're able to put some bulletin board material out there about people doubting us or doubting our team, even last year we weren't picked to finish as high as we did or have the season that we did, that’s something that drives us.”
Wakeland’s foundation will be tested on the field with a relatively new varsity roster taking the field, at least as far as starters are concerned. The team will count on a JV team that went 8-2 to help replenish a squad that was senior-heavy in 2025. The quarterback position is still up for grabs heading into the first week of fall camp, after Jayden Maples manned the position last year.
But Cole, who ran for over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns last season is expected to ease the burden on whomever takes snaps from behind center.
“I'm willing to do anything that it takes to win,” Cole said. “I just gotta lean on my teammates because it's not just me that's going out there to try to win games, it’s everybody, all 11. I can only do my part, so I gotta lean on my teammates.”
Junior tight end Casey Jones is a name that Cole mentioned who’s emerging as a leader around him on offense.
Defensively, Wakeland only returns two starters and senior safety Myles Lashley, who emerged last season and is one of the names to watch this fall. He’s the son of AEW professional wrestler Bobby Lashley and is looking to make a name for himself after recording 12 tackles as a junior.
“I've been loving it,” Lashley said. “I've been working to get an opportunity that I have now. So I'm just taking it day by day, doing my thing.”
Isom says both Cole and Lashley are pivotal in helping guide a lot of fresh talent through the early season and helping maintain the standard set last season as well.
“You got to have the guys on each side of the ball that you can go to and depend on and have a sidebar conversation with,” Isom said. “You let them know that we're going to have to rely on them a little bit more than you may have been expecting. It's not something that they really ask for, but they accept it as being the leaders of the program.”
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Sign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.This article originally published at Frisco Wakeland has 'chip on our shoulder' as one of newest, and smallest, 6A programs.
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