Texas High School Football, Under the Lights: Week 4 Recap

Alec Morris Highlights (via 247SportsStudio)

Alabama is getting a good one in 2012 Allen QB Alec Morris. The Allen Eagles deserve their # 1 national ranking. More after the jump. 

Bill was faced with a difficult decision on Friday. Watch the top ranked team in the country or Blake Borron man crush 2013 Prestonwood Christian Academy DE / TE Christian Morgan? After studying the schedules, and realizing PCA has a home game on a Friday that doesn't conflict with my schedule, I went with Allen. I came away impressed with the Eagles. They are, and should be the # 1 high school football team in the country.  

Allen defeats Plano 44 -7 

2012 recruits RB Jonathan Williams and QB Alec Morris headline the Flyin' Eagles. Williams is still coming back from a back injury and held to  79 yards on 13 carries and one score. Williams ran hard, but I didn't see that extra gear against Plano, likely due to injury. He keeps his feet chopping and excels at stepping out of tackles. Williams never gives up a run and keeps driving forward. He turned a sure stop into first and goal from the one which he later converted. Williams was surrounded by Plano defenders, but kept breaking tackles. His power is very impressive. 

Having seen both Johnathan Gray and Jonathan Williams live within a few weeks of each other, I will say Texas is getting the much more dynamic back. Williams is a stud though, and will make defenders pay. I hope / pray Missouri stays in the Big 12, but Williams has the potential to be a work horse SEC type back. 

Alec Morris is flat out an elite quarterback. I scratched my head with the rest of the recruitniks when Alabama offered and received a commitment from Alec Morris. Morris at the time had very few offers, and was committed to lowly Wake Forrest. After seeing the young man live, Alabama made a good decision. Losing Winston to Florida State stings, but Morris can be a very good quarterback in the SEC. 

Morris looks like a legit 6'3'' and stands tall in the pocket. His mobility isn't great, but he can pick up a short first down in a pinch. The thing that jumped out at me most about Morris was his ball placement. The ball was where it needed to be on almost every throw. His receiver was going to catch it, or it was going to be an incompletion. Morris threw darts to his receiver to the correct shoulder time and time again. I really liked the zip that he put on his passes. He picked apart the Plano secondary and quickly stole the show from his more hyped teammate. He also throws a good deep ball and has great chemistry with Allen WR Andrew Rodriguez. 

Morris went 22-32 for 306 yards and 4 TDs. Hooking up with Rodriguez on 8 catches for 145 yards and 3 TDs.

To nit pick, Morris can improve his pocket presence. He didn't see a sack coming on third down early in the game and Allen was forced to punt. 

Allen struck me as a balanced team offensively, but with a slight pass preference. While Williams didn't have a spectacular run, some of the younger, speedier Allen running backs did rip off some long runs. The Eagles have some nice options for change of pace backs. I liked Allen's offensive creativity. They ran several WR passes off of reverses. 

The Allen defense was excellent. They played as a team and were opportunistic. They might not have many big names like Denton Ryan or DeSoto, but the Eagles D got it done. I was impressed with their blitz schemes and ability to get the quarterback. Allen held Plano to 24 yards passing and 86 yards running. Great stat line against the undefeated and likely # 2 team in District 8 - 5A. 

Plano was thoroughly beaten. Their only score came on 2012 ILB recruit Xaxier Harbart's 65 yard fumble recovery. I expected a better game from a proud Wildcats team. 

During the Allen game, I couldn't help but look forward to a possible playoff meeting between Allen and DeSoto. Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think Allen is vulnerable if Bryson Echols can lock up Andrew Rodriguez. DeSoto looks like a faster team, but Allen is really clicking right now. If it happens, Allen - Desoto should be a classic. 

Top Match- Up Scoreboard 

Manvel deafeats La Marque 29 -14 

Round Rock Westwood defeats Round Rock Stony Point 21-3 

Converse Judson defeats San Antonio Madison 48 -7 

Recruiting quick hitters

* Coach Wyatt attended Dorial Green - Beckham's game on Thursday in Missouri. 

* Coach Chambers and Coach Harsin were both at Tyrone Swoopes' game on Saturday.

* Coach Chambers attended Christian Morgan's game on Friday. 

* Coach Giles attended Ricky Seals Jones' game. 

* Coach Applewhite attended Dontre Wilson's game. 

* Coach Searels was at Andrus Peat's game in Arizona. 

*Malcom Brown caught a 50 yard touchdown pass at tight end against Magnolia West. Yes he's a DT playing TE outrunning 4A defensive backs. Amazing. 

* Johnathan Gray had 207 yards on 8 carries district foe Keller Timber Creek. 

Dallas Skyline @ Dallas Jesuit is next on the schedule in 2 weeks. I'm excited to see Peter Jinkens, Thomas Johnson and the rest of the Skyline studs square off against Jake Oliver. Cedric Collins vs. Jake Oliver should be an epic match up. 

Coppell plays at Denton Guyer this Thursday at 7:30 pm on Fox Sports Southwest. Texas commit Nick Jordan plays for Coppell. Watch it if you're looking for a good football game. 

I'll be back later this week for Thirsty Thursdays. Blake, Wes and I are working on a 2013 Recruiting Mock Draft. The release date has yet to be decided. 

Have a good week everyone. Hook 'Em.