From Independence to Joplin: Brothers reunite as quarterbacks at Missouri Southern

Dayne Herl followed an eerily similar path to his older brother Dawson.

Both hit dramatic growth spurts in high school. Both became star two-sport athletes at William Chrisman High School in Independence, at quarterback in football and at guard in basketball. This week, Dayne made the next step following in his older brother’s footsteps: starting his college career Thursday at Missouri Southern State University, where Dawson is the starting quarterback.

“From the outside perspective, it’s like, ‘Why? You both play the same position. You’ve had him your entire life,’” Dayne said.

But Dawson has pushed Dayne his entire life.

The two brothers have always been super competitive growing up, said their dad, Dale. According to him, Dawson is more laid-back but just as competitive. Dayne is “much harder on himself, more intense.”

Does that come from being a younger sibling?

“Without a doubt,” Dayne said.

Dayne has one thing over Dawson though, quite literally: an inch. Dayne is 6-5, while Dawson, a redshirt sophomore who is three years older, is 6-4.

Dayne doesn’t let Dawson forget about it.

“He’s been the little brother his whole life, and he finally took over being taller than me,” Dawson said. “So he loves it. But I just tell him I’m stronger.”

They both also freely admit to a healthy amount of trash talk: there’s still an ongoing debate about who’s better on the basketball court, even if Dawson has long since moved on to college football.

After he came back from his first year from Missouri Southern, Dawson first noticed that Dayne could match him on the court.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, during Dayne’s sophomore year of high school, he started a 7-inch growth spurt.

“I bloomed super late. So it was kind of hard for me to play football because I was always the smallest guy, and that was kind of ironic,” Dayne said. “So that period where we were out for COVID, when I left and came back, everyone was like, ‘Woah, you grew a lot.’”

College coaches certainly took note.

During Dayne’s junior year, after his first year as a varsity starting quarterback, he started going to quarterback camps, where Missouri Southern coaches who he was already familiar with through Dawson would chat with him.

Then came the full court press from the Division II school in Joplin.

“I have a little drawer of college mail,” Dayne said. “But if you go in, there’s a fat packet of letters from all the coaches at Missouri Southern. And each one is a handwritten letter. That was the only college where every single coach wrote to me.”

Before he could choose a school, however, Dayne still had another decision to make: which sport to play in college.

His main focus growing up was always basketball. He said he always liked basketball a little bit more.

Earning all-state honors his senior year after leading his team to a district title, Dayne had interest from colleges in basketball and also to play both sports. But, like his brother, he felt like he had more untapped potential in football.

“There’s a lot of 6-5 guards in basketball, but not a lot of 6-5 quarterbacks,” Dayne said. “I’ve definitely spent more time on basketball than I have on football ... all throughout basketball, I’ve had these coaches, these trainers. In football, I’ve never really had that. Even through high school, I never really had a quarterback coach at the school either.”

That’s where Dawson has stepped in.

He said he chose football over basketball for similar reasons. Never having had a quarterback coach either, his learning curve with his transition to college football was steep.

“It was just so much information hitting me at once,” Dawson said. “I feel like if I had known that earlier, I would have been a lot better in high school. So I just tried to pass that along, help (Dayne) with his throwing motion. That’s one thing (the coaches) changed right when I got here, making my throwing motion quicker.”

Dawson picked up the changes quickly, earning the starting job last fall as a redshirt freshman and throwing for 16 touchdowns and 2,260 yards in a breakout season.

Most of the advice Dayne said he’s received from his brother comes on the football field: small tips with his throwing motion, how to run an offense or even the right workouts to get ready for camp.

Dawson will be joined in the quarterback room by Dayne, who is trying to carve his own path.

“I’m not going in like, ‘That’s my brother,’” Dayne said. “That’s just the starting quarterback at Missouri Southern.”

But Dawson will be there to help Dayne if he needs it.

“He’ll be just another guy in the quarterback room, but there’ll be a little bit more,” Dawson said. “Just because I want to see him succeed. I know how to coach him a little differently than say all the other quarterbacks in the room.”

“It’ll be a fun first year being with my little brother and getting to really teach him all the things that I’ve been taught over my years here at Southern so far.”