GRIDIRON GURUS: WEEK 5 PICKS

PUTTING IT ON THE LINE: As Week 5 of the Texas high school football season sees a few district races open across the Heart of Texas, ninth-ranked Aggies hosting Auburn, Cowboys face Green Bay

Moving into Week 5 of the 2025 Texas high school football season, THE SPORTS BUZZ Gridiron Gurus pick’ems panel selects 28 high school games from across the Heart of Texas, along with a slate of 20 Texas college football games.

The Gridiron Gurus also take at look Week 4 in the NFL featuring the Houston Texans (0-3) looking for their first victory by hosting the winless Tennessee Titans (0-3) in an AFC South battle for survival, while the Dallas Cowboys (1-2) host the arch-rival Green Bay Packers (3-0) on Sunday Night Football.

This season, THE SPORTS BUZZ Gridiron Gurus pick’ems panel welcomes back its entire group – Steve Conrad, owner of Clifton Feed & Service Center, while Jeff Boutwell, a retired Recreation Business Line Manager at Lake Whitney with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Toney Rogers, the Crawford High School band director and entertainment promoter, Ed Rieser, owner of the Corner Drug Café and Screen Door Inn in Clifton, and The Sports Buzz’ Brett Voss.

In his second season, Steve Conrad was born and raised in Clifton, where he attended Clifton Public Schools through graduating from high school in May 1976. Growing up in the Womack community on the family ranch founded by his great grandparents in the 1880s, Conrad attended Texas A&M University, graduating in May 1980 with a degree in Agricultural Education.

After working as a sales manager with Ralston Purina Co., Conrad became the General Manager of M&M Farm Supply in Franklin, where he spent 32 years, the last 14 as President. Currently, Steve serves the Sales and Operational Manager at Clifton Feed & Service Center in Clifton, where he works with his siblings to continue serving the people of Bosque County through this family business that was founded by his parents in 1968.

Steve and his wife Charlene raised three daughters who graduated from Franklin High School before earning degrees from Texas A&M University in College Station — as a teacher, a business owner and a journalist. Steve’s values include faith, family, setting goals and holding each other accountable, believing in working within your skill set and making a difference in your community.

Back for a fourth season, Jeff Boutwell is a longtime “resident” of Laguna Park and an unapologetic Aggie. Born and raised in Cameron, Boutwell played on Cameron’s 3A State Football Championship team before graduating in the Class of 86 at Texas A&M where he was a member of Company S-2 of the Corps of Cadets. Boutwell also played Aggie football as a member of the famous 12th Man Kickoff Team from 1984-86, playing on two Southwest Conference Championship teams, playing in the 1986 Cotton Bowl against Auburn and Bo Jackson, as well as the 1987 Cotton Bowl against Ohio State with Chris Carter and Chris Spielman.

Boutwell has worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 1986 where he started his career as a Park Ranger at Lake Whitney, and he has also served overseas supporting the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2007 and 2009 and again in Afghanistan in 2011. During the Texas high school football season, Boutwell works as a crew chief in the Waco Chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Official, so he will not be selecting high school games due to a conflict of interest.

Back for his third season, Ed Rieser was born and raised just west of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in Beaver Falls, and proudly claims to be an avid Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirate and Penguin fan. A graduate of St Edward’s University (BA) and Oklahoma City University (MBA), Rieser retired from the U.S. Department of Treasury with 33 years of government service.

Owner of the Brooks Building in Clifton along with his wife Phyllis and daughter Nikkolina, they own and operate the Corner Drug Café and Screen Door Inn. Rieser also serves as a member of the Cranfills Gap Independent School District School Board, a member of the Cranfills Gap Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Board of Trustees of the Bosque Museum, and member of the Clifton Economic Development Corporation board of trustees.

Toney Rogers, owner at Daddy T Entertainment and entertainment agent at Netex Productions, returns to the pick’ems panel for his sixth season and currently serves as the Crawford ISD Director of Bands. He has also served as an announcer for various high school to professional sporting events for several years, such as being the Voice of Crawford Lady Pirate Softball and announcing for UBU Bodybuilding Expos, while serving as Marketing Director for the Waco Tornado indoor football team.

In addition to being involved in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years as a professional musician and a booking agent, Rogers has also been involved in several community organizations such as, Entertainment Director for Fallfest and a member of Lions Club.

As the long-time veteran of pick’em panels, Brett Voss established THE SPORTS BUZZ website in 2019 delivering award-winning sports coverage with daily posts in the Heart of Texas focusing on Class 3A, 2A and 1A high school athletics while including insights into college and professional sports.

With over 40 years of experience as a professional newspaper sports writer and columnist that includes a stint at the Dallas Morning News, Voss’ numerous awards include the Texas Press Association’s prestigious Fred Hartman Award for Excellence in Sports Writing presented the best sports writer in Texas in 2017.

At 11 years old, Voss knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. When Roger “The Dodger” Staubach arrived and finally led his beloved Cowboys to their first Super Bowl championship in 1971, a family friend sent Brett a copy of the Dallas Morning News covering the Cowboy Super Bowl win. While reading Bob St John’s account of the game, Brett thought to himself, “Someone actually gets paid to do this as a job?”

Join us every Thursday throughout the 2024 football season as THE SPORTS BUZZ Gridiron Gurus pick their winners for a select group of the week’s high school games, your favorite college teams from the NCAA Div. I, Div. II and Div. III, as well as the state’s two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.

Be sure to make your picks as well!