Meet Sadie Robertson's boyfriend, the nation's most famous high school quarterback

Blake Coward has more Instagram followers than you.

He likely has more Twitter followers, too.

He's a talented senior quarterback at Madison Academy who won his third consecutive state championship on Thursday, but that's not why he might be the most popular high school athlete in the country.

He's also Sadie Robertson's boyfriend.

If you aren't familiar, Robertson stars on "Duck Dynasty," A&E's wildly popular reality show, along with the rest of her larger-than-life family.

Robertson is a likable, down-to-earth young woman who recently published her first book "Live Original: How the Duck Commander Teen Keeps it Real and Stays True to Her Values." She has 1.4 million Twitter followers and finished second on this past season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."

So, how did a seemingly innocuous Alabama teenager end up with Louisiana royalty?

Thanks to a few of Robertson's cousins who attend Madison Academy, she met Coward at a softball game close to a year ago. Not long after, Coward asked her out on a date, and they've been together ever since.

Once Coward started dating Robertson, his life changed in a big way. Dating her has made him a minor celebrity in his own right. He has more than 110,000 followers on Instagram (any photograph he takes with Robertson is social media gold).

"It's definitely weird," Coward said. "It kind of happened all of a sudden; it didn't happen gradually. As soon as we started dating it just kind of hit me."

Wherever Coward goes, Duck Dynasty fans follow. Madison Academy has multiple players who will go on to play football in the Southeastern Conference, notably Auburn commit Kerryon Johnson. But when the Mustangs play on the road, it is Coward who gets most of the attention.

After a win against Briarwood Christian School earlier this year, he was swarmed by 50 to 60 giggling teenage girls requesting "selfies."

"Blake is 'Superstar,'" says teammate Malik Miller, who has scholarships offers from Alabama and Auburn, among others. "Me and Kerryon (Johnson) joke with him every day that the media is coming here for you. They want to know about Sadie.

"Playing with Blake is an experience I'll never forget. After games, the other team's girls are trying to tackle him to get a picture."

Beyond the attention that comes everywhere he goes, dating a jet-setting superstar like Robertson comes with its share of challenges. The two rely heavily on video chatting when she's off working away from her native Louisiana. He admits it was "tough" when Robertson was out in California filming "Dancing with the Stars," but was very impressed with her performance on the show.

She attended last year's Junior/Senior banquet at the school and sat in the middle of the student section during Thursday's game. She keeps a busy schedule between filming and promotional appearance, but when she visits her boyfriend in Alabama, she becomes one-half of a very average high school couple.

Those around Coward said he hasn't changed at all since he started dating Robertson. He's still a humble, hard-working quarterback who cedes the spotlight on the football field to Johnson and Miller.

Even with a noticeable hubbub around Robertson's appearance at Madison Academy's game on Thursday -- she had two police officers serving as unofficial bodyguards and a steady stream of strangers asking for pictures -- Coward played smartly in a dominating 70-34 state championship win.

"He's blown up over the last year or so, but it never got to him," said Johnson, who scored six touchdowns during the game. "He came out here every Friday and did his job. I never felt like he thought he was bigger than us."

For the most part, Coward and the rest of the Madison Academy team have gotten used to Robertson being around.

"We went to the lake a couple times in the summer," Johnson said. "They socialize with everybody."

"It was just like having a normal girl around -- other than she's not."

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