SAN ANTONIO — One would be hard-pressed to find two brothers closer than Seth and Aaron Grubb, who were football teammates at La Vernia High School before earning scholarships at UTSA as walk-on wide receivers.
The sons of a longtime high school coach, the Grubbs followed their father into the profession after completing their careers with the Roadrunners.
Seth has been an assistant coach at Clemens since last year, and Aaron is in his first season as an assistant at Brandeis.
The Grubbs will be on opposite sidelines when Brandeis (11-0) and Clemens (10-1) square off in a Class 6A second-round playoff game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Alamodome.
Seth and Aaron keep in touch by phone daily, but this week has been somewhat different.
"We've talked a little bit about here and there," Aaron said, chuckling. "Just kind of talked about 'Hey, this guy on your team is really good. That guy on your team is really good.' Just kind of talked about our players but, obviously, nothing schematically about what we're doing and they're doing.
"Talked to him for a while last night (Tuesday), and it was more family stuff than anything. We just have such a tight relationship. We've always been close. A lot of brothers, when they grow up, they fight all the time. When I got to seventh grade and he was a freshman, we really became best friends."
Seth, 28, graduated from La Vernia in 2010 and earned a spot on the UTSA roster as a walk-on during the Roadrunners' practice season that year. Seth played on UTSA's first team in 2011 and earned a scholarship before completing his career in 2014 as a four-year letterman.
A 2015 UTSA graduate, Seth started his coaching career with a three-year stint at Yoakum before Clemens coach Jared Johnston hired him in 2018 to coach the Buffaloes' wide receivers
"When I had the opportunity to interview Seth, I knew that he was someone I wanted to get on our staff," Johnston said. "Great story. Was a walk-on, earned a scholarship.
"He was a kid from La Vernia that everyone said was undersized. When you can bring someone like that on your staff that has defied all odds and was successful doing it, I want him around our kids."
Like his brother, Aaron was overlooked by college recruiters. But with Seth lobbying for him, Aaron got a shot at UTSA after graduating from high school in 2012. He made the team that year and was put on scholarship during the offseason of 2013. Aaron went on to become a four-year letterman.
Seth recalled telling then-Roadrunners offensive coordinator Kevin Brown and then-receivers coach Tony Jeffery about Aaron, who had feelers from Division III Texas Lutheran. He also was invited to walk on at Washington State, where current Incarnate Word coach Eric Morris was on Mike Leach's staff and coached the inside receivers.
"I'd stayed close to home and I wanted him to have the opportunity to play in San Antonio with me," Seth said. "I had mentioned to Coach Brown and Coach Jeffery multiple times, 'Hey, my brother is a senior. Will you watch his highlight film?' The first couple of times, they kind of shrugged it off a little.
"But I remember the day Aaron came to UTSA to visit. Aaron, my father (Scott Grubb) and I were in there talking with Coach Jeffery. Coach Brown came out of the other part of the office and he was like, 'Dude, I just watched the first three or four plays of your highlight film.' He's like, 'You can go.'"
Aaron credits Seth for paving the way to his college career.
"He's a guy I've always looked up to," said Aaron, 26. "I've always wanted to be just like him. The example that he set for me, as far as I know, it was perfect. Just the best big brother you could have. We talk about everything. He's always been the guy I wanted to follow in the footsteps of."
The only children born to Dana and Scott Grubb, Seth and Aaron were fixtures at La Vernia workouts and games during their father's long tenure with the Bears.
"We were around football all the time," Seth said. "We would be on the sideline during games until we got to junior high, basically. We would be the ballboys on the sideline. The coolest thing for us when we were little was catching the extra point. Just being out there was awesome."
Seth, who is married, did not start college planning to pursue a career in coaching.
"I thought about doing something else, but in the end, it always came back to coaching," Seth said. "Growing up around my dad, I saw the impact that he had on his players. Seeing his former football players, basketball players, whatever, come see him at the house years later, just seeing that bond, that's what it's all about.
"That's why I do what I what I do. I love the game, I love the X's and O's part of it, but it's about impacting these kids."
Aaron, who graduated from UTSA in 2016, started his coaching career under his father at La Vernia that year.
"I went back home," Aaron said. "My dad had just gotten the head coaching job. He'd been coaching there for 27, 28 years. He had been an assistant there forever."
After one year at La Vernia, Aaron was an assistant coach at Cuero for two seasons. The Gobblers won the Class 4A Division II state championship last year.
"That was an awesome experience," Aaron said. "Winning state was one of the best days of my life. It was really, really cool."
Aaron joined David Branscom's staff at Brandeis this year as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.
"He married a girl, his high school sweetheart, who's an architect in San Antonio, so he was coming to San Antonio regardless, even though they won a state championship at Cuero," Branscom said. "So it was a match made in heaven."
Like his brother, Aaron did not consider a career in coaching a sure thing in his life.
"I did think about doing something else," Aaron said. "Seth started off undecided and by the time I got to college, I had an idea that's really what I wanted to do. But I had thought about being a firefighter. I had thought about physical therapy.
"I had an awesome physical therapist when I messed up my shoulder in high school. He kind of inspired me. But I realized how much I loved football. I loved what it did for the kids. It ended up being what I wanted to do. And here I am."
On Friday night when Brandeis and Clemens clash in the second round of the 6A Division II playoffs, the Grubb brothers will face off for only the second time in their coaching careers. Aaron is 1-0 against Seth, coming out on top when Cuero beat Yoakum in a non-district game.
"It's different feeling," Aaron said. "That was an interesting deal, walking on the field and seeing him in a different color than me."