Byron Eaton Jr. taking over his father’s old gig – QB at Lincoln High

DALLAS — It used to be that if you said “Byron Eaton, Lincoln High School,” you were talking about a generation ago.

“The hey days,” Lincoln head coach Randall Johnson said. “Being one of the best programs in the city. His picture is on the wall in the building.”

But now, there’s a new Byron Eaton – Junior.

“It’s an amazing thing to watch your son follow in your footsteps,” Byron Sr. said.

Byron Jr. is playing the same position his father did nearly 20 years ago, when Byron Sr. led Lincoln to the state title game in 2004.

“It’s tough,” Johnson said of the spot his quarterback is in now. “The expectation is for him to play like his dad.”

And that’s a big ask. But the younger Eaton is ready for it.

“It ain’t no pressure,” the younger Eaton said. “I just gotta make my own name.”

“Kids have to have their own identity,” Johnson said. “People call him ‘Junior’, I call him ‘Byron’.  We don’t compare him to his dad. We don’t do that. We let Byron paint his own story.”

While Byron’s father provided the athletic gifts, it is his mother LaBrietha who is the rock in his life.

“She pushes me every day to get my grades up, and to help this team win, everything,” Eaton Jr. said.

“She sent me a text today,” Johnson said. “Her son, usually he’s all 90s, and he didn’t have a 90, and that’s a problem. That’s the [kind of] structure that she provides [him].”

Meanwhile, with his dad, it’s all trash talk.

“I’ll send him a video and be like ‘you ain’t got nothing on me’,” Byron Sr. said. “And just joke back and forth about it.”

“Oh, I do everything better than him,” Byron Jr. said. “It’s me. That’s what I do.”

So, when people look back in 10 to 15 years, and think “Byron Eaton at Lincoln,” are they thinking of you, or are they thinking of Pops?

“Oh, they’re thinking of me,” Byron Jr. said. “Because I’m gonna do everything better than him.”

An early best-of-luck to Byron Eaton III – he’ll have a couple tough acts to follow.