SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — It was a birthday Peyton Houston will never forget, as friends, family, coaches, teammates and the entire Evangel Christian Academy community gathered for the four-star quarterback’s commitment.

Students went wild as Houston entered the room ahead of his commitment, and the energy tripled as he revealed the LSU shirt under his jacket.

“Honestly, it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had in my life,” Houston said. “Just really came down to a lot of prayer, a lot of trusting in God, and it was a couple of days God just put it on my heart and that’s what I’ve been praying for.”

When it came down to choosing LSU, there were a few boxes Houston needed checked, including what the community was like and how he would fit into the offense.

“The school that would help me to development wise, the other thing was life outside of football. I mean, being a home state kid it’s pretty easy to go to LSU and be set for life, so that was one and also a lot of prayer to have a great foundation of faith so that’s why I decided,” Houston said.

But development was the pilar that secured the Houston family.

“Honestly, development is where it really landed, that was the 5th box because it was so many schools that checked 4 of the boxes, but we felt like LSU as far as development was the most significant,” Houston’s mother, Naomi, said.

The Tigers have had their eyes set on Houston for many years now, and Houston is no stranger to Baton Rouge, with family ties introducing him to LSU many years ago.

“My whole life I’ve been to Death Valley a lot. It really started with Devin White. He’s my godbrother, so just grew up with him, it paved the way,” Houston said.

North Webster’s White spent three years as a linebacker at LSU before declaring for the NFL draft, where he led the SEC in tackles (133) in his sophomore season.

“He really just say keep working, you’re never where you wanna be in life, so just keep working and find a happy place,” Houston said.

With the commitment out of the way, Houston can focus on the rest of his junior and senior seasons, where he still has much he plans to accomplish.

“My personal and team goals are to be number one in the district and hopefully a state championship if God says the same, so just finding ways to continue to work and just realize that you are where you need to be,” Houston said.

But the future never strays too far from Houston’s mind as he is already hopping on to help LSU on the recruiting trail.

“Just building the class around me, focusing on the people that I wanna be around going into my senior year, going into college and just building the class,” Houston said.

247 Sports has Houston ranked as the no. 14 quarterback in the class of 2027. ESPN has him as the no. 77 overall prospect in his class, and the top pocket passer in the ESPN Junior 300.