"Its kind of always been my position. I like to throwing the football a whole bunch. I like everything about the position. My strengths would be technique, footwork and my drops. I'm working on just getting stronger and faster and quicker feet. But I'm working on every area of the game because I feel I have a lot of room for improvement."
The Bulldogs came out of nowhere in 2001 to make a run in the playoffs. Now Burnet is being seriously noticed across the state in the 3A ranks. "We've got a great coaching staff. I think we've always been a town that have enjoyed athletics. Right now we're fortunate to have a lot of really talented kids. You add that to a town that really supports us and we should be really good."
Stephen burst to the attention of college coaches everywhere with an outstanding sophomore season for the Bulldogs in 2001. Under new head coach Bob Shipley, Stephen was asked to take the reins of a high-powered passing offense and it was an unmitigated success. He started all 11 games for the Bulldogs passing for over 1800 yards and 20 TDs. He also scored 8 more touchdowns on the ground and he even caught a couple of passes for 101 yards and yet another score. "I guess I kind of anticipated the success. I kind of expect a lot so nothing really grabbed me by surprise. It was fun and I learned a lot. There are lot of things I can look back and improve. Hopefully it should be a lot better with most everybody on the team coming back."
He saw some brief action in the final two games in his freshman season in 2000. But the Bulldogs were in a run-oriented offense that season. Stephen moved from Alamo Heights in San Antonio in the 8th grade.
Texas, UCLA, Stanford, Colorado, Purdue, Wisconsin, A&M, Notre Dame, Duke, Illinois, Oklahoma State and Michigan among others, have expressed interest in Stephen through the Burnet coaching staff.
It may be early, but Stephen already has some schools that stand out to him as favorites: "I like UT. They've always been the team I've followed. Of course the competition there is going to be real tough there. But I also like Stanford a whole lot. And I like UCLA, A&M and Colorado. I like Stanford for the school. If you graduate from there you have a degree you can fall back on at any time. The UCLA program is one of the top in the nation and their campus is beautiful. A&M is up there kind of because its close to home and its so rich in tradition. And it'd be fun to play there. I love the Buffs. I enjoyed watching them play this past year. There's just something about them and I can't really tell you what it is right now. I just like watching the play."
Stephen spent much of the summer of 2002 on the camp circuit. "I started out going to the Nike Camp at A&M in May. After that I went to Texas for a mini-camp on June 16th. I then I went ot a Gulf Coast Camp in Houston on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (6/18-20). Its at University of Houston and is held by David Lee, the offensive coordinator from Arkansas. Its not really an exposure type camp as much as a skills. Then I went to the A&M Mini-Camp on the following Saturday (6/22). This past weekend, I went to Branndon Stewart's Hill Country Camp on Saturday and Sunday (6/29-6/30) at St. Stephen's."
Stephen on Nike Combine: "It was a lot of great D-1 players and I was just one of a few juniors there. Bob Johnson was there and that was neat. It was great to matchup against some of the top guys in the state. I though some of the guys like Drew Tate would be a lot bigger & better, but it was great."
Stephen on Texas Camp: "I loved it. I'm a big UT fan. I got to talk to (UT Offensive Coordinator) Coach (Greg) Davis a little bit and I met some of the other coaches. Both sessions were great even though it rained on us. I worked out with guys like Philip Daugherty & Kris Heavner."
Stephen on A&M Camp: "It was neat too. I got to talk to Dino Babers & RC Slocum for awhile. They were really nice and they had nice facilities. They were telling me the new acility is going to be the best in the nation. Drew Tate was there of course, since he's going there. It was fun but it was more of an exposure thing for me."
The time spent at the camps is already proving valuable. "After both Texas and Texas A&M camps, they said they were very interested in me and they have talked to our coaches and told them I was high on their lists."
But the summer hasn't been just about camping. Its also been about competing in 7-on-7 competitions for Stephen and his Bulldog teammates. "Our 7-on-7 team is going to state after we won the Waco Midway tournament. We started out with Gatesville, Corsicana, Killeen, Copperas Cove and then we beat Waco Midway in the Championship. It should be fun in College Station. Its just our second year to have 7-on-7 and we won all four of the tournaments that we've had all our guys playing in this year."
In the weightroom, Stephen benches 270 and squats 485.
He also stars at point guard on the basketball for the Bulldogs under his father, Rodney McGee, who is the head coach. "There's a little bit of comparison between point guard and quarterback. The leadership skills are important in both seeing the whole floor and passing are your main tasks."