Into the room walks Navasota's Dexter Pratt, one of the nation's most heralded NCAA Division I offensive recruits who wants to brag.

Not about himself.

Pratt starts talking about his team's defensive performance in a scrimmage.

It's not the first time Pratt has enjoyed speaking up for his teammates. While the standout running back is more than willing to do his part, his personal goals take a back seat to the soaring team expectations surrounding his Rattlers.

"Last year we were playing Coldspring and they were packing the box," Navasota coach Lee Fedora said. "We were throwing the ball left and right, and he had hardly any carries. I was waiting at halftime to see what he would say.

"He said, 'We need to keep throwing the football, because nobody can cover us.'"

While Pratt is unselfish and focused on winning first, it's not as though the 6-foot-2 senior running back is unaware of his accomplishments. In an instant, he can tell you "last year I had 16 receptions for 366 yards."

He also rushed for 2,054 yards and scored 20 touchdowns, averaging 9.4 yards per carry with a long of 78.

What Pratt points out, however, is that Navasota is not a one man show. Sure, he averaged 158 yards per game on the ground, but Fedora's offense is know for its run-pass balance.

"That's what I like about coach Fedora," Pratt said. "This takes stress off me. You never know what may come in the game. We might throw it, or we might run it. It keeps teams on their toes, and that's what I like about our offense."

Pratt is a big back at 228 pounds. He can pick up yardage with his power. But like the offense, he prefers to keep defenders guessing, mixing up his game with speed, quickness and power.

"People ask me all of the time 'Why don't you just run them over?'" Pratt said. "Sometimes you just want to get by. It all depends on what situation you're in."

Pratt's impressive achievements go hand-in-hand with the play of his teammates. He knows it because he understands the game he plays very well.

Only it wasn't supposed to be his game.

"I've always been into basketball and never really liked football," Pratt said. "Coach Fedora told me to come try it. I was going to go to a private school my freshman year and play basketball. He talked me into trying football."

As he often does when he plays, Pratt made a good decision.

"No regrets," he said with an easy laugh. "I was talking to my Mom the other day about if I had gone to that private school, I would never have played football. I don't know what would have happened."

His love for basketball goes back to Little Dribbler days, when he played against Madisonville's Chris Whaley, a district opponent and another of the top national recruits among high school running backs.

"When we were 9, 10, 11 and 12, I used to play against him and his brother [Alonzo] a lot," Pratt said. "In junior high, we were the only two people who could dunk."

Pratt can still play basketball, well enough, in fact, to earn a first-team selection on the All-Brazos Valley team as a junior. He has likely played his last high school basketball game, however.

Pratt plans to graduate in December and enroll at LSU for the spring semester. After considering Oklahoma, he committed early to the Tigers and is pleased to have the recruiting process out of his line of sight.

"I just wanted to get that done before my senior year, so I can focus on my senior year," Pratt said.

And what a senior year it could be. Navasota opens the season ranked second statewide in Class 3A by Texas Football.

"I think we earned [attention] coming off two 3-7 seasons by stepping up and making it to the third round of the playoffs last year."

Pratt always believed it would happen.

"When coach Fedora came in, after he had been at Rogers and Waco [Robinson], he said it would take two years, maybe three years, to reach the same point," Pratt said. "He did it."

It began showing last year during Navasota's district season, says Pratt, who believes his team sewed the seeds of success in a game he had to watch from the sideline.

"I believe it was when we played Bellville and stopped Bellville," said Pratt of the 35-25 district victory. "I was hurt that game, but the team stopped them, and I knew we would take it a little bit in the playoffs."

And he calls playing in the playoffs the highlight of his career so far.

"I had never been to the playoffs, and it was pretty fun," Pratt said. "Needville was saying we were just a basketball school, and we had a little jitters, but once we stepped on the field, we just played."

He adds proudly: "It's the farthest we have been since 1988. When [TCU's] Chris Smith and some of those guys left, they thought it would never be the same, but we brought some of the spirit back."

The turnaround happened in the Rattlers' first season at Navasota Stadium, making it even more special as the school said goodbye to its old downtown Brule Stadium and christened the new digs with a season to remember.

"We talk about it as players, that it's like a movie when you step on the field," Pratt said. "At Brule, everything was real, real dark. It's nice on the new field."

Navasota opens its season against Henderson on a Thursday, facing the Lions at Lufkin's Abe Martin Stadium on Aug. 28.

"We've never won the first game since I've been on varsity," Pratt said. "I want to win the first game and then become district champs. Everything out there after that will speak for itself."