De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) junior quarterback
Bart Houston said he'd someday like to learn how to build bombs — as a chemical engineer.
Bart Houston threw 20 touchdowns and
four interceptions last season.
Photo by Dennis Lee
He already knows how to throw them with a pigskin and next year he plans to do both at the University of Wisconsin.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior, who has led De La Salle to back-to-back California Open Division Bowl titles, picked the Badgers Tuesday over Big Ten rival Iowa and a host of Pac-12 schools, including UCLA, Cal and Stanford.
"Going to a strong school and football program was big for me," Houston said. "Wisconsin has a great football tradition. Just like De La Salle."
There's quite a football lineage in Houston's family as well.
His father Guy was a college quarterback at St. Mary's College and his grandfather Fred was a highly successful high school coach in Texas and California.
"Bart has been around the game," De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur said. "He knows the grind and how tough the game is. He doesn't get down when we're hard on him. He just behaves like a football player."
And he knows how to win.
Since taking over as starter five games into his sophomore season, the Spartans have won 25 straight games, including a rather shocking 48-8 win over then Servite in the 2010 state bowl finals.
Houston had a gaudy 138 quarterback rating last season after completing 102 of 153 passes for 1,922 yards, 20 touchdowns and four interceptions.
With better than average mobility, Houston has turned himself into a strong ballhandler in De La Salle's veer attack. He rushed for 236 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.
He'll join a Wisconsin team that went 11-2 last season, including a 21-19 loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin rushed for 3,194 yards and threw for 2,593 yards last season and sports four quarterbacks on its spring roster, including last year's backup Jon Budmayr.
Houston is the fourth Wisconsin recruit from the Class of 2012 and first quarterback.
