Before Arbor View football stars Thaddeus Thatcher and Damani Warren play their final year of high school football together this fall, the brothers shared one more milestone: their college commitment announcements.
Two of the top class of 2027 high school football recruits in the state made their verbal college commits on Friday evening together surrounded by friends, family and Arbor View teammates at their family home.
Thatcher, a three-star quarterback, committed to Oregon State, choosing the Beavers over UNLV, UCF and Michigan. Warren, a three-star wide receiver, committed to Texas A&M over Michigan.
“You can’t beat it,” Thatcher said of sharing the commitment announcement with Warren. “Most people think you do it on your own day, but me and Damani, we wanted to do it on the same day. We wanted to be with each other, wanted to do it at the same time. That just shows the relationship me and him have is something special for sure.”
Warren is Thatcher’s adopted brother, and the two have known each other since their youth days of playing football with one another. The brothers were two of the most sought after class of 2027 recruits by many of the top Division I programs across the country.
Warren, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide receiver had 41 college offers, according to 247Sports as the state’s third-ranked 2027 recruit. Thatcher, a 6-foot-2, 178-pound quarterback as the state’s 10th-ranked recruit, had 13 college offers.
“It feels good because of our track record – it’s just a great day to be able to announce where we will be attending college on the same day,” Warren said. “That’s my brother and I love him and I’m excited to see him go dominate at the college level as well.”
‘Honestly crazy’
For Thatcher, the announcement was more than just the beginning of his next steps. It marked a significant moment in his journey as one of the state’s top quarterbacks who faced off-the-field adversity when he was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia at 7 years old.
“It’s surreal just thinking of how far I’ve made it and how far I’ve come,” said Thatcher, whose treatment for the disease lasted 3 ½ years. “Praise God for real, I would not be here if it wasn’t for him. If someone would (say to me) when I was 7-years-old that I would be here, I don’t know It’d be hard to believe. I’m excited.”
Thatcher originally committed to Utah in March 2025, but decommitted from the Utes on Jan. 1 of this year after a coaching change that saw longtime head coach Kyle Whittingham step down and eventually take the Michigan job.
“It was honestly crazy, the whole recruitment process,” Thatcher said. “After I decommitted from Utah, everything changed.”
Thatcher, the younger brother of Memphis linebacker Christian Thatcher, received an Oregon State offer on May 2. Then he followed with recruiting visits to Corvallis, Oregon, and also visited UNLV, UCF and Michigan during May and June. The right-handed quarterback said “something was different” about the staff and environment at Oregon State.
“The coaches over there, they’re really genuine,” Thatcher said. “I really love every single one of the coaching staff over there. They’re all great people and it all came down to the coaches.
“They said they liked everything on my tape. They came and watched me throw multiple times too. They liked the athleticism, me extending the plays, my accuracy, throw power, throw on the run – everything about my game, they loved overall.”
‘Be great’
Warren had a who’s who of offers from a breakout sophomore year with Alabama, Oregon, Auburn, Georgia, Miami and Ohio State among some of the other notable power conference schools that had offered him.
He said from his first days visiting College Station, it “felt like home.” Warren visited Texas A&M on June 5, and also visited Michigan and Oregon this month.
“As soon as I go there, I’ve been getting love by everyone,” said Warren, who joins a Texas A&M 2027 class that is the top-rated recruiting class by 247Sports. “The culture is great there, from the people, the coaching staff, just from everybody and the teammates. … The coaches want you to be great on and off the field. That’s somewhere I feel like I should be.”
Thatcher last year was a first-team All-Southern Nevada selection for the second straight season and threw for 2,625 yards and 29 touchdowns with a 70 percent completion percentage. He added seven rushing touchdowns to lead the Aggies to the state title game of the top classification (the Open Division state title game in 2025) for the second straight season.
Warren battled injuries as a junior last year and appeared in six games with 16 catches and 223 receiving yards. But as a sophomore in 2024, Warren had 584 yards and five touchdown catches and said he is looking forward to being healthy this fall and to “dominate every week.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
