Former Katy H.S. state champ now the face of Nortwestern's Defense

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When Paddy Fisher was growing up in Katy, Tex.,his family had a holiday tradition.

Along with his best friend,Travis Whillock, Fisher and his family would pile into their minivan and drive to Dallas or Houston to watch the Katy Tigers play in the state championship game. The boys would sit side-by-side in massive NFL stadiums, gazing onto a spectacle they would one day hope to dominate themselves.

“We were sitting there in the stands and we were like, ‘Man, hopefully one day that’s us,’” Whillock, now a redshirt sophomore, said.

Lo and behold, it would be.

In December 2015, the boys walked onto the field to a roaring sea of red, the raucous Katy supporters ready to cheer their team on to another state title.

“It’s definitely like we have the whole city behind our back,” Fisher said of the championship game. “The environment is awesome, it’s loud and we’re just focused in and ready to cut loose.”

Katy had every reason to come into the game with confidence. In ten regular season games, the Tigers allowed 18 points.

The result was never in question. Fisher and Whillock led a defense that only allowed seven points in a 27-point romp over Lake Travis. The boys had achieved what every young kid in Katy wants to one day — they were state champions.

In its perfect 16-0 season, Katy shut its opponent out 10 times, including three times in the playoffs. When the dust settled, Katy was named the No. 1 team in the country byUSA Today.

Having accomplished all they could as Katy Tigers, Fisher and Whillock both matriculated asNorthwestern Wildcats. In Evanston, Fisher has continued to excel.https://www.insidenu.com/2018/6/27/...n-football-feature-travis-whillock-katy-texas

 

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Already a Star for Northwestern, Paddy Fisher Is Just Getting Started
EVANSTON, Ill. — When Paddy Fisher was home in Katy, Texas, over a break last year, he and Travis Whillock, the Northwestern defensive back who attended high school with the linebacker, put on a tape of their youth football highlights. Whillock was suited up at quarterback. Fisher, who now stands 6’4” and weighs 246 pounds, was in at running back. “He was [throwing] touchdown passes,” Fisher says. “I was running around people, which never happens. I don't know when the last time was I ran around someone."

The best linebacker in the Big Ten is veering toward self-deprecating, laughing at the incongruity between that kid, already big for his age and about to be ill-suited to run the ball, and the figure he cuts now: the biggest player at his position on Northwestern’s roster by a margin of two inches and 11 pounds, one of the tallest linebackers in the Big Ten. (Only three players at his position in the conference top 6’4”.) But don’t kid yourself; Fisher can move, to the tune of 227 tackles (14 for a loss), two interceptions, a sack, five passes defensed and eight forced fumbles in just two seasons. As a redshirt junior this fall, he’s the leader of a defense looking to power its team to a second straight Big Ten West title, and as Northwestern continues its best stretch of football in a century, Fisher has a chance to leave his mark on the program in a big way.
***https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/08/30/northwestern-wildcats-paddy-fisher