An elite double threat: St. Pauls’ Setzer throws, runs way to Robeson County Heisman

ST. PAULS — On some nights, a St. Pauls opponent might game plan well to stop the pass. So Theophilus Setzer would run.

If they focused more on the run, the Bulldogs’ senior quarterback could beat them through the air.

It was rare for anyone to keep both in check at the same time. The result was a big season, both for Setzer and the St. Pauls offense, and his production as a prolific dual-threat quarterback has earned him honors as Robeson County Heisman, selected by The Robesonian.

“That’s a thing that a lot of teams struggle with, they’ve either got a passing quarterback they’re going against or a running quarterback,” Theophilus Setzer said. “Since I’m able to do both, it’s kind of hard to stop our offense. That’s a big part of everything that all the coaches tell me and everything that’s special about me, and I’m just blessed to be able to have that ability. My versatility is a big part of my game. … I improved a lot this year, I definitely got faster, my arm got stronger. I feel like all my attributes got better this year, and that’s what you hope to do every year.”

Setzer’s award-winning season saw him pass for 1,344 yards and 15 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,015 yards and 10 touchdowns; he totaled 2,359 yards of offense.

“I thought he had a really good senior season,” said St. Pauls head coach Mike Setzer, Theophilus’ father. “Theophilus has the ability to put his cape on, and when he put his cape on then he gave people a lot of problems. … He did exactly what we needed him to do this year.”

Setzer passed for 100 yards or more seven times, throwing for three scores on three separate occasions; he also ran for 100 yards or more five times, including a 230-yard day Sept. 20 against Charlotte Latin, and ran for two touchdowns or more four times including a three-rushing-touchdown performance when the Bulldogs beat Midway Nov. 1 to win the conference championship.

Setzer was previously Robeson County Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 and an All-County selection in 2022.

He improved, in ability and consistency, in the passing game, completing 91 of 157 attempts (57.2%) and averaging 14.8 yards per completion.

“Just putting more work in with the receivers is what I really focused on,” Theophilus Setzer said. “I focused on building a relationship with them to know what they were doing, and that really changed my game this year. We put up a lot more points, put up a lot of yards every game, and that was just a big part of working with everybody and getting close to everybody and focusing on small things.”

“I thought his intermediate game has been really good the last couple of seasons, but I wanted his deep ball to improve,” Mike Setzer said. “I thought he worked on it and I thought his deep ball was very much improved this year. He showed the ability this year that he has touch on his ball and he also has a big arm. He definitely made another big leap and progress in the throwing game this year.”

When he couldn’t pass and had to scramble — or when the Bulldogs called a designed quarterback run — he could showcase his speed to the tune of an astounding 16.0 yards per carry, becoming one of just three 1,000-yard rushers in Robeson County this season. It’s the same speed that he showed in helping St. Pauls win a 4×400 relay state championship in May. At a recruiting camp last year, he ran a 4.42-second 40-meter dash.

“People say, this is coming from head coaches, ‘we knew he was fast, but you don’t know how fast he is until you see it,’” Mike Setzer said. “The kid still hasn’t touched how fast he can be. Obviously being a state champion in track, but I thought some of the biggest compliments he got was from older coaches saying ‘look man, this guy is different; he’s fast, it’s a different kind of speed.’”

Setzer’s running ability provided the Bulldogs with a stellar duo of dashers, with All-County selection Yoshua McBryde alongside him in the backfield.

“My running back was (Yoshua McBryde), and Yosh is the best running back in the county right now, so people having to come against both of us was a big part of our game too,” Theophilus Setzer said. “Not just the ability to pass, but having the best running back and me being the running guy I am, that’s opened up a whole other book for playing in the game, so that was special too.”

Setzer’s production helped the Bulldogs score 37.4 points per game as they went 8-3 on the season and won the Southeastern Athletic Conference championship.

Winning a title before graduation was important to Setzer and his fellow seniors.

“I said look man, your senior year, you’re about to walk out of this door without a championship, you’ve got to fix that,” Mike Setzer said. “I saw him take on more of a leadership role this year, and I saw that he took it on himself and spoke about it, made the decision that he was going to leave out a champion, so I’m proud of him about that.”

“That was my first conference championship of my high school career, so that was really special to me,” Theophilus Setzer said. “That was a big thing on our shoulders this year was that this senior group hadn’t won a conference championship, so winning that was really special.”

But the conference standings aren’t the only place where Setzer is ranked No. 1. He is also the top-ranked student in St. Pauls’ class of 2025.

“He’s a Heisman and he’s also No. 1 in his class — I think that needs to be a beacon for our athletes in our county,” Mike Setzer said. “Because we constantly preach that we’ve got the athletes, but sometimes we’re failing in the classroom, and we’ve got to make sure we’re not failing in the classroom. St. Pauls kids have done a tremendous job in the classroom.”

Theophilus Setzer — who wears jersey No. 13 after seeing both older brothers, Kane Banner and Sayvon Sampson, wear the number playing at Duke — completed a run of all three of Mike Setzer’s sons playing high school football for their father. Mike Setzer joked that Theophilus was the best ball boy of the three, and said he’s now the “most dangerous” quarterback he’s coached, even as he carried the “burden” of following his two older brothers and directly following former Bulldogs standout Mikail Breeden at the position.

“Knowing I’m the third one — I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of that anywhere else, where somebody’s been able to coach all their sons in high school like that,” Theophilus Setzer said. “That just a big thing to show how good he is, but also … you kind of get used to him being there every day and coaching and everything, and knowing that you’re about to go to the next level and that’s going to be a whole new world for you, that’s a different thing to get over. But it’s definitely pretty cool to me.”

He also carries on a streak of Robeson County Heisman winners in the St. Pauls program, joining Marquiese Coleman in 2019, Kemarion Baldwin in the spring and fall 2021 seasons and 2022 and Chris Bryant in 2023.

“I always told my sons, it’s not about awards; if you really love the game those things will come,” Mike Setzer said. “Him getting the Heisman just allows me to point back to him one more time and say look, I told you, it’s not about awards; if you love the game and you go at the game 100 mph like you’re supposed to and you treat the game like you’re supposed to treat it, accolades will come. He probably doesn’t like his dad being right all the time, but this is just another proof of that, and we’re just so appreciative.”

With his senior football season at St. Pauls now complete, Theophilus Setzer’s attention now turns to the recruiting process, with several Division-I schools courting him to play in their program. This includes upcoming official visits at Army West Point and The Citadel. Additional opportunities may open following the transfer portal’s open period in December.

“I’m just trusting the process and trusting God with the decision he puts in front of me,” Theophilus Setzer said.

Wherever he ends up, they’ll be getting a player who is an elite talent, both through the air and on the ground.

The 2024 All-County Team and postseason awards can be seen here.