The text was fired off soon after Greg McElroy threw his first NFL touchdown pass, the winning score Sunday in the Jets’ 7-6 victory over the Cardinals.
It was from Hal Wasson, longtime friend and the head football coach at Southlake Carroll Senior High in Texas, a national powerhouse and McElroy’s alma mater.
“Well done, my man.’’ Wasson wrote. “I can’t say I was surprised.’’
After the game, McElroy responded: “Thanks, buddy, looking forward to catching up soon.’’
Anyone who knows Greg McElroy is not surprised he came off the bench to lead the Jets to victory Sunday.
“I’m so proud for, him but I’m not surprised with anything Greg does,” Wasson told The Post Tuesday. “He’s a phenomenal young man, extremely competitive, very smart, very attentive to detail in everything he does — a very, very confident young man. Confidence is a choice and Gregory has always chosen to be very confident in his abilities and the guys around him. He makes guys around him play at a different level.
“He’s a winner,’’ Wasson added. “Even when he was at Alabama people would say, he’s not this or that, but the guy just wins. Last time I checked that’s what matters. It’s not a beauty contest, it’s a football game and Gregory has always won.’’
Yes, he has. McElroy did not lose a game as a starting quarterback until his senior year at Alabama.
Wasson, 55, first met McElroy when the quarterback was in ninth grade. Even then he was a youngster, he would work every day, throwing hours into a net at the indoor facility during the offseason.
Wasson was the running-backs coach at Southlake Carroll. Wasson’s son, Chase, was the starting quarterback. Chase Wasson was followed by Chase Daniel, who is now with the Saints. McElroy took over after Daniel graduated. In his senior season, McElroy passed for 4,698 yards and 56 TDs as he led the Dragons to a state championship and a mythical national title.
At the time Wasson was the head coach at nearby Fossil Ridge but eventually returned to Southlake as head coach. Todd Dodge was the head coach at Southlake Carroll during McElroy’s time and watched McElroy blossom from a backup to a gold standard QB, who set the state record for touchdowns in a season.
“He was the ‘B’ team quarterback in seventh grade, the ‘B’ team quarterback in eighth grade, the ‘B’ team quarterback in the ninth grade,’’ Dodge said. “He was just a guy who kept working to get better and better. Every six-month window of his growing up was just tremendous improvement.
“He ended up being player of the year in the state of Texas his senior year,’’ said Dodge, who is now head football coach and athletic director at Marble Falls High, near Austin. “He did that as just a one-year starter. That’s unheard of to go from junior backup to 16-0 state champion. Then he goes to Alabama, red-shirts and eventually leads them to a national championship. He’s gone to the Jets and was a low-round draft choice, kind of grinding his way through and now he’s getting a great opportunity.
“All of this is really not a surprise to me,’’ Dodge added. “I’m so proud of Greg, but it’s kind of what his athletic career has been like. There’s been guys like him in the NFL who grinded through the early part and ended up being tremendous players. I think the sky is the limit for Greg.’’
Wasson often has McElroy, 24, come back to speak at the Dragon Skills Camp at Southlake in the summer. This is what McElroy tells the young players:
“Worry about the things you can control. You can control your work ethic. You can control the way you go about your business. Always be positive and assertive. Put team first.’’
All tremendous advice as the Southlake Carroll Dragons are playing another huge playoff game Saturday against the No. 1 nationally ranked team in the country, DeSoto.
McElroy wanted to play quarterback at Texas, but went to Alabama instead. In his junior year, his first as the starter, McElroy led Alabama to the national championship, beating Texas.
The 2011, seventh-round draft choice finally got his big NFL chance Sunday with the Jets. He brought an immediate spark to a dead team and a winning drive that was capped off with a 1-yard TD toss to Jeff Cumberland.
McElroy is smart and savvy with tremendous instincts.
Wasson was asked if he would start McElroy in Jacksonville.
“He would start for my team,’’ Wasson said with a laugh, “but I’m not the coach.’’
Rex Ryan should start McElroy Sunday, but if he doesn’t, McElroy will worry about what he can control. That’s how he was raised.
Always a compassionate child, when a close childhood friend lost a battle to cancer in 1999, McElroy was deeply touched, his mother told Al.com in 2010.
McElroy’s parents had no idea their son would be playing against the Cardinals. Greg McElroy Sr. is senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Dallas Cowboys. When his son entered the game, he had to wake up his wife, Jami, who was taking a nap at their Texas home.
Seeing Greg lead the Jets to victory was “surreal.’’
“If Mark plays, that’s great,” McElroy Sr. told NFL.com. “He’s happy being the backup or third-string — whatever Rex wants to do. I know he’ll just do what he’s done the first 11 games and just work hard and prepare and at least he got to play in a game. You can always say, ‘Hey, I threw a touchdown pass in the NFL.’ … But if Rex decides to give him the ball, I know he’ll work hard and prepare and do the best he can.”
McElroy and his girlfriend, Meredith Gray, have been dating for four years. They met at Alabama. Her dad, Scott Gray, told The Post: “Everybody in the state of Alabama is proud of him. Any time you’re a national- championship winning quarterback at the University of Alabama, it’s a pretty big deal. I think one thing that we’re proud of is how he conducts himself. He conducts himself in a very professional manner. From a personal standpoint, you’d think that if you’re a national championship winning quarterback and then play for the New York Jets, you’d have a bit of a big head, but Greg is not that way, he is very down to earth and a good person to be around and he treats everybody around him with a lot of respect.”
Scott Gray is a Jet fan. The Jets, you know, have a history with Alabama quarterbacks.
“We followed Joe Namath back in the day, Richard Todd,’’ Gray said. “I’ve personally been a longtime Jets fan because of Joe Namath. We certainly paid attention Sunday. We’re very interested in that and very proud. I’m primarily a college football fan but I would consider myself a longtime Jets fan because of Namath and Richard Todd both.”
So, should Greg start Sunday?
“I would like to see him start if that’s Coach Ryan’s decision,’’ Gray said. “If he starts, that would be cool, I’d love to see it. If Mark Sanchez starts, if Tim Tebow starts, I’d be happy to see that, too.”
Greg McElroy’s football life is a testament to how you finish, not how you start.
Additional reporting by Anthony Sulla-Heffinger
kevin.kernan@nypost.com