2017 schedules for UT’s current football commits

Texas Longhorns wide receiver commit Rondale Moore and his Louisville (Kentucky) Trinity teammates began their season last week with a dominating 31-3 win over Carmel (Indiana), the Hoosier State’s defending Class 6A champions. Two other out-of-state commits will play their first game of the 2017 season this coming weekend. All of UT’s in-state commits, along with their one Juco commit, will open their season during the weekend of August 31-September 2.

For the past couple of high school football seasons I have written a weekly series of recap/preview posts following along with the exploits of recruits committed to Texas at the time, and those posts will resume next week with the start of the 2017 Texas high school season.

Those recap posts were a lot of fun to write in 2015, as then-junior QB Sam Ehlinger had an All-State season and led his Austin Westlake team to a state championship berth, junior defensive lineman LaGaryonn Carson wreaked havoc in 4A backfields en route to Defensive Player of the Year honors for that classification, 5 commits saw their teams reach at least the fourth round of the Texas high school football playoffs, only one commit’s team missed the postseason, and then-senior Malcolm Roach earned All-State honors in Louisiana.

The 2016 season, by comparison, was much more of a chore to write about, even though Texas had a much smaller number of commits to follow for most of that season. Two of the biggest stars of my 2015 recaps, Ehlinger and Carson, missed most of the 2016 season due to injuries (Ehlinger) and suspensions (Carson). Only one commit - Ta’quon Graham of Temple - saw his team’s season last beyond the third round of the playoffs, and the teams of two commits missed the postseason altogether. Another losing season by the Longhorns and Charlie Strong’s week-to-week presence on the hot seat hindered the team’s recruiting efforts through the fall, and going into the 2016 Texas state championship weekend (which was four weeks after Tom Herman was hired to replace the fired Charlie Strong) the Longhorns had just eight total commits for the 2017 class.

If you’re reading this you have most likely followed and read over the past 9 months about the outstanding successes Tom Herman and the new UT staff have had on the recruiting trail. No need to rehash them all here, but suffice it to say, the #RevolUTion18 group of commits should go a long way toward making these posts fun again, and hopefully they’ll play a big part in making UT dominant again in the coming years.

I won’t post a detailed preview here for this weekend’s games for out-of-state commits Cameron Rising, Rondale Moore, and Ayodele Adeoye, but I will post the full schedules for all of UT’s current commits to give readers a heads-up on where and when their teams are currently scheduled to play. If you’re in or around Ventura County, California, Oklahoma City, Louisville (Kentucky), the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, Houston, north Dallas, Fort Worth, east Texas, central Texas, the Golden Triangle, the south end of the Panhandle, or San Antonio, there’s a good chance a Longhorn commit will be playing not far from you at some point.

Once the Texas high school season begins you’ll start to see weekly posts that will recap the previous week’s action from games involving commits, and preview games on the upcoming weekend’s schedule. Call this a preview preview, if you will.

It’s normal for a season to see at least a game or two with UT commits on opposing sidelines. As of this writing the 2017 schedule has five such games, a number that could easily go up if the Longhorns get commitments during the season from some of their most-coveted recruits, especially ones from greater Houston. For readers who would like to watch two future Longhorns for the price of one this fall, here are those five games:

Sept. 1 - Houston Lamar at Houston Westfield (WR Al’Vonte Woodard vs. DT Keondre Coburn)

Sept. 8 - Cibolo Steele at Lake Travis (DB Caden Sterns vs. K Cameron Dicker)

Sept. 15 - Spring Dekaney at Alief Taylor (TE Malcolm Epps vs. WR Brennan Eagles)

Oct. 6 - Spring Dekaney at Houston Westfield (TE Malcolm Epps vs. DT Keondre Coburn)

Oct. 21 - Houston Lamar at Houston Heights (WR Al’Vonte Woodard vs. CB Jalen Green)

2018 Texas Longhorn football commit schedules

QB Cameron Rising (Newbury Park, CA)

Aug. 25 - vs. Oxnard Pacifica
Sept. 1 - at Agoura
Sept. 8 - vs. Westlake (Thousand Oaks, CA)
Sept. 15 - vs. Valencia
Sept. 22 - at Venice (Los Angeles, CA)
Sept. 30 - vs. Palos Verdes
Oct. 6 - at Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, CA))
Oct. 20 - at Calabasas
Oct. 27 - vs. Moorpark
Nov. 3 - vs. Thousand Oaks

QB Casey Thompson (Newcastle, OK)

Sept. 1 - at Noble
Sept. 8 - at Tuttle
Sept. 15 - vs. Blanchard
Sept. 22 - at Weatherford (OK)
Sept. 29 - vs. Chickasha
Oct. 6 - at Elgin (OK)
Oct. 12 - vs. Clinton
Oct. 20 - vs. Oklahoma City Heritage Hall
Oct. 27 - at Elk City
Nov. 3 - vs. Cache

RB Keaontay Ingram (Carthage)

Sept. 1 - vs. Gladewater
Sept. 8 - vs. Texarkana Liberty-Eylau
Sept. 15 - at Whitehouse
Sept. 23 - at Gilmer
Oct. 6 - at Henderson
Oct. 13 - vs. Kilgore
Oct. 20 - at Center
Oct. 27 - vs. Bullard
Nov. 3 - at Palestine
Nov. 10 - vs. Tyler Chapel Hill

WR Brennan Eagles (Alief Taylor)

Aug. 31 - vs. Fort Bend Bush
Sept. 8 - at Cypress Falls
Sept. 15 - vs. Spring Dekaney
Sept. 23 - vs. Katy Seven Lakes
Sept. 29 - vs. Clute Brazoswood
Oct. 6 - at Pearland
Oct. 13 - vs. Alief Elsik
Oct. 27 - at Alief Hastings
Nov. 3 - vs. Pearland Dawson
Nov. 9 - at Richmond George Ranch

WR Rondale Moore (Louisville Trinity - Louisville, KY)

Aug. 18 - vs. Carmel (IN), W 31-3
Aug. 25 - at Indianapolis (IN) Warren Central
Sept. 1 - vs. Cincinnati (OH) Archbishop Moeller
Sept. 8 - at Louisville Male
Sept. 15 - vs. Hialeah (FL) Champagnat Catholic
Sept. 22 - at Louisville Jeffersontown
Sept. 29 - vs. Louisville St. Xavier
Oct. 6 - vs. Louisville Eastern
Oct. 13 - vs. Louisvile Seneca
Oct. 20 - at Louisville Ballard

Note: Moore had 7 catches for 32 yards in Trinity’s season-opening win over Carmel, Indiana’s defending 6A state champions and the top-ranked team in that state’s preseason AP Poll. Trinity’s opponent this week is Indiana’s new #2 team in Class 6A: Warren Central. Though Trinity has games scheduled against teams from four different states, their game this Friday will be their only one in the regular season played outside of Louisville!

WR Al’Vonte Woodard (Houston Lamar)

Sept. 1 - at Houston Westfield
Sept. 7 - at Fort Bend Hightower
Sept. 14 - vs. Klein Collins
Sept. 22 - vs. Alief Elsik
Oct. 7 - at Houston Westside
Oct. 13 - vs. Houston Chavez
Oct. 21 - at Houston Heights
Oct. 27 - vs. Houston Math Science & Tech
Nov. 4 - at Houston Bellaire
Nov. 9 - vs. Houston Westbury

TE Dominick Wood-Anderson (Arizona Western C.C. - Yuma, AZ)

Sept. 2 - at Eastern Arizona
Sept. 9 - at Pima
Sept. 23 - vs. Eastern Arizona
Oct. 7 - at Snow
Oct. 14 - vs. Phoenix
Oct. 21 - vs. Pima
Oct. 28 - at Glendale
Nov. 4 - vs. Mesa
Nov. 11 - vs. Scottsdale

TE Malcolm Epps (Spring Dekaney)

Aug. 31 - at Galena Park North Shore
Sept. 8 - vs. Humble Atascocita
Sept. 15 - at Alief Taylor
Sept. 28 - vs. Aldine Nimitz
Oct. 6 - at Houston Westfield
Oct. 12 - vs. Aldine Eisenhower
Oct. 19 - at Aldine Davis
Oct. 27 - vs. Spring
Nov. 3 - vs. Aldine
Nov. 9 - at Aldine MacArthur

OL Rafiti Ghirmai (Frisco Wakeland)

Sept. 1 - vs. Frisco Liberty
Sept. 7 - vs. Lovejoy
Sept. 14 - at Richardson Pearce
Sept. 22 - vs. Dallas Woodrow Wilson
Oct. 5 - at Frisco Reedy
Oct. 13 - at Frisco Centennial
Oct. 20 - vs. Frisco Lone Star
Oct. 27 - at Frisco Independence
Nov. 2 - vs. Frisco Heritage
Nov. 10 - at Frisco

OL Reese Moore (Seminole)

Sept. 1 - at Lubbock
Sept. 8 - at Idalou
Sept. 15 - vs. Snyder
Sept. 22 - vs. Amarillo River Road
Sept. 29 - at Monahans
Oct. 6 - vs. Midland Greenwood
Oct. 13 - at Pecos
Oct. 20 - vs. Lamesa
Oct. 27 - at Sweetwater
Nov. 3 - vs. Fort Stockton

DT Keondre Coburn (Houston Westfield)

Sept. 1 - vs. Houston Lamar
Sept. 8 - at Euless Trinity
Sept. 15 - vs. Galena Park North Shore
Sept. 29 - at Spring
Oct. 6 - vs. Spring Dekaney
Oct. 12 - at Aldine MacArthur
Oct. 20 - vs. Aldine Nimitz
Oct. 28 - at Aldine
Nov. 2 - at Aldine Eisenhower
Nov. 10 - vs. Aldine Davis

LB Ayodele Adeoye (IMG Academy - Bradenton, FL)

Aug. 26 - at Chandler (AZ)
Sept. 2 - vs. Corona (CA) Centennial
Sept. 8 - vs. Baltimore (MD) St. Frances Academy
Sept. 15 - vs. Washington (DC) St. John’s
Sept. 22 - vs. Miami (FL) Central
Sept. 30 - vs. Miami (FL) Northwestern
Oct. 6 - at Venice (FL)
Oct. 20 - at Salt Lake City (UT) East
Nov. 3 - at Hoover (AL)
Nov. 11 - vs. Virginia Beach (VA) Bishop Sullivan Catholic

Note: Saturday’s IMG vs. Chandler, Arizona tilt will be broadcast live on ESPNU, and is scheduled to begin at 9:30 pm Central.

LB Byron Hobbs (Fort Worth Eastern Hills)

Sept. 2 - vs. Dallas Pinkston
Sept. 8 - at Fort Worth Southwest
Sept. 15 - vs. Dallas Hillcrest
Sept. 29 - at Richland
Oct. 6 - vs. Colleyville Heritage
Oct. 14 - at Fort Worth Dunbar
Oct. 20 - at Birdville
Oct. 26 - vs. Fort Worth Polytechnic
Nov. 3 - at Grapevine
Nov. 11 - vs. Fort Worth Carter-Riverside

DB Jalen Green (Houston Heights)

Aug. 31 - vs. Fort Bend Travis
Sept. 9 - vs. Crosby
Sept. 15 - vs. League City Clear Creek
Sept. 21 - vs. Katy Tompkins
Sept. 28 - at Houston Math Science & Tech
Oct. 6 - vs. Houston Bellaire
Oct. 13 - at Houston Westbury
Oct. 21 - vs. Houston Lamar
Oct. 28 - at Houston Westside
Nov. 3 - vs. Houston Chavez

DB B.J. Foster (Angleton)

Sept. 1 - at Galveston Ball
Sept. 8 - vs. El Campo
Sept. 16 - at Houston Chavez
Sept. 22 - vs. Houston Westside
Sept. 30 - at Rosenberg Terry
Oct. 6 - vs. Victoria East
Oct. 20 - at Lamar Consolidated
Oct. 27 - vs. Victoria West
Nov. 3 - at Richmond Foster
Nov. 10 - vs. Port Lavaca Calhoun

DB DeMarvion Overshown (Arp)

Sept. 1 - vs. Tatum
Sept. 8 - at Hughes Springs
Sept. 15 - vs. Alto
Sept. 29 - at Waskom
Oct. 6 - vs. Elysian Fields
Oct. 13 - at Beckville
Oct. 20 - vs. West Rusk
Oct. 27 - at Troup
Nov. 3 - vs. Harleton

Note: As of now Arp only has 9 regular season games on its schedule. They played 10 in 2016 but their Week 4 opponent from a year ago, Shelbyville, has a full 10-game schedule, which has left Arp with an open week on September 22 as well as a scheduled bye in Week 11 (the weekend of November 8-10).

DB Caden Sterns (Cibolo Steele)

Sept. 1 - vs. San Antonio Madison
Sept. 8 - at Lake Travis
Sept. 15 - vs. San Antonio O’Connor
Sept. 22 - vs. Smithson Valley
Sept. 29 - at Converse Judson
Oct. 13 - vs. New Braunfels
Oct. 20 - vs. New Braunfels Canyon
Oct. 27 - at San Antonio East Central
Nov. 3 - vs. San Antonio Wagner
Nov. 10 - at Schertz Clemens

K Cameron Dicker (Lake Travis)

Sept. 1 - at Converse Judson
Sept. 8 - vs. Cibolo Steele
Sept. 15 - vs. Dallas Jesuit
Sept. 22 - at Pflugerville Hendrickson
Sept. 29 - vs. Buda Hays
Oct. 13 - at Austin Westlake
Oct. 20 - vs. Kyle Lehman
Oct. 27 - at Leander
Nov. 3 - vs. Cedar Park Vista Ridge
Nov. 10 - at Austin Vandegrift

2019 Texas Longhorn football commit schedule

QB Roschon Johnson (Port Neches-Groves)

Sept. 1 - at Silsbee
Sept. 8 - vs. Baytown Sterling
Sept. 15 - vs. Lumberton
Sept. 29 - at Livingston
Oct. 6 - vs. Baytown Lee
Oct. 13 - at Vidor
Oct. 20 - vs. Port Arthur Memorial
Oct. 26 - at Beaumont Central
Nov. 3 - vs. Beaumont Ozen
Nov. 10 - at Nederland

Revisiting 2016’s Unheralded Senior Athletes of the Week

In most of last season’s posts I profiled a talented senior Texas high school athlete whose skills and tape I liked but who seemed to be mostly flying under the radar. That feature may be returning this season, and I may even highlight some out-of-state senior recruits who have D1 tape but not the offers to match.

For readers who followed my weekly posts from a year ago, I wanted to give an update on if and where each of my “Unheralded 2017 Athlete of the Week” picks decided to continue their athletic careers.

Week one: RB Ted Fuller (Harleton)

Fuller, a 5’10” 200-pound dual-sport star with legit 4.5 forty speed who rushed for over 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns as a junior and hit over .400 for a state-ranked baseball team, entered his senior season holding offers from Louisiana-Monroe and Wyoming. He made me look like a prophet after I featured him at the end of my week one preview: he carried the ball 22 times for 309 yards and 5 scores in his team’s opening game. But his season went downhill from there due to a combination of injury, illness, and a very difficult schedule. His play was hampered by a lingering knee injury that affected him throughout the season, and after running wild in Class 2A Division I as a junior his school was moved up to 3A Division II and slotted in a very tough district that included four schools that had reached at least the third round of the football playoffs the previous year. Fuller only cracked the century mark in rushing yards two more times after week one and finished the season with less than 1,000 yards on the ground.

He did not sign with a college in February, and none of the recent posts on his Twitter account indicate where or if he is attending a college or Juco this fall.

Week two: WR/RB Caleb Twyford (Farmersville)

A 6’ 175-pound four-year starter at a 3A Division I school in Collin County just north of Dallas, Twyford led his team in receiving yards in each of his first three years of high school, then did the same as a senior while also compiling over 1,700 yards rushing and scoring 34 total touchdowns in 13 games. Farmersville’s head coach compared Twyford’s burst and lateral movement to that of former Oklahoma Sooner five-star RB recruit Jermie Calhoun, who he had coached earlier in his career. Texas State offered him as a receiver in June 2016 and they remained his only offer by the start of his senior season. He committed to the Bobcats in late September and signed with them in February.

Week three: DE/TE Xavier Waggoner (Electra)

A dominating 6’3” 215-pound defensive lineman from a north Texas school playing in the UIL’s smallest classification for 11-man football (2A Division II), Waggoner didn’t attract a lot of high-level college interest despite earning all-state honors in both his junior and senior seasons. He piled up a ton of tackles despite lining up primarily as a 4-tech defensive end in a 3-4 front, finishing his junior season with 118 tackles and 5.5 sacks, and his senior year with 157 tackles, 44 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles. He also earned all-district honors at tight end after grabbing 8 touchdowns and averaging 23 yards per catch on offense, and was an all-region selection in basketball as a senior after averaging 12.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks per game.

He signed with NCAA Division II program Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, which is about 30 miles from his home. He is listed at 6’3” 220 pounds on MSU’s current roster, and just turned 18 earlier this month. I can easily see him filling out and playing at 240-250 pounds in a few years and earning All-Lone Star Conference honors before his career is over.

Week four: RB Roman Turner (Wichita Falls Hirschi)

A 5’9” 190-pound running back with elite speed and good strength for his size, Turner entered his senior season with little fanfare after having run for 827 yards in an injury-shortened junior season in which his team finished 0-10. At the time I wrote about Turner, he had rushed for 326 yards and 6 TDs in Hirschi’s first three games, and his team was 2-1 and one win away from equaling its combined win total from the previous two seasons. The Huskies went on to earn a playoff berth and finish 6-5, and Turner led the way on offense by rushing for 1,611 yards and 17 TDs, topping the 100-yard mark in eight games and the 200-yard mark twice.

He was even better on the track, the sport in which his mother had earned All-America honors as a jumper at Arkansas in the early 90s. As a junior he finished 2nd in the 100 meter dash at the 4A state track meet, and as a senior he won that event at nearly every meet he entered while consistently running times int he 10.4-10.6 range, culminating in a wind-legal time of 10.34 and another silver medal at the state meet last May. He reported receiving football offers from Virginia Military Institute and a pair of Division II programs, then reported receiving a slew of D1 track offers in the spring, including Texas, Georgia, North Texas, Purdue, and Iowa State. In April he announced that he was accepting a full-ride track offer (an extreme rarity in that sport) from Texas Southern.

Week five: WR/TE Tyler Henderson (Kyle Lehman)

A multi-talented offensive weapon, the 6’4” 220-pound Henderson spent time at wide receiver, running back, and as a running quarterback as a senior. He committed to Navy in June of 2016 and his other recruiting interest was mainly coming from FCS schools at the time I profiled him. In Lehman’s first four games of the 2016 season, he rushed 33 times for 346 yards and 5 TDs, and also caught 9 passes for 83 yards. His production slowed down afterward and he finished the season with 76 carries for 474 yards and 7 TDs and 18 receptions for 151 yards and 3 scores, but his play earned him Utility Player of the Year honors from District 25-6A and he helped Lehman to a 3-7 record, which matched the program’s win total from its previous three seasons.

Four months after committing to Navy (who recruited him as a wide receiver) he was offered by Oklahoma State (as a tight end) in late October, and he flipped to the Cowboys shortly before Thanksgiving Day. He had one more commitment in him though, as Baylor and their new head coach Matt Rhule offered him in January, and he switched his commitment to the Bears the weekend before Signing Day. Baylor’s current roster lists him at 6’4” and 231 pounds.

Week six: none featured

Week seven: RB/S Trey Sterling (Sunnyvale)

An all-state safety as a junior, Sterling took over as his team’s primary running back as a senior and went on to earn all-state honors at that position. Entering his senior year, Sterling had made only occasional appearances in the offensive backfield and had just 73 career carries for 441 yards. When I profiled him, he had rushed 79 times for 860 yards and 14 TDs through Sunnyvale’s first five games, numbers that might have been a lot higher if not for a few blowout wins his team enjoyed early on that helped catapult them to a #4 state ranking in Class 3A. Sterling finished the season with 2,383 yards from scrimmage and 36 offensive TDs in 12 games, as Sunnyvale won its first 11 games before being ousted in the area round of the playoffs by Farmersville and Week Two’s Unheralded Athlete of the Week: Caleb Twyford.

Though he was a returning all-state honoree and the son of former North Texas tight end Ron Sterling (now Sunnyvale High’s principal), his recruitment was slow to take off, but got moving quickly once offers finally arrived. He received his first offer from Navy on October 17, less than two weeks after my Week Seven post in which he was featured. Within the span of five weeks he went from having zero offers to having six offers and being committed to Oklahoma State, which recruited him as a safety. He went on to sign with OSU and is listed at 6’1” 195 on their current roster.

Week eight: OL Luke McCleery (Grapevine Faith Christian)

At the time I featured McCleery he had been committed to Tulane for two weeks and held a handful of other D1 offers, so he wasn’t an unheralded prospect under most definitions, but I thought the label fit him because none of his offers were from in-state schools and he had barely gotten the attention of the major national recruiting sites, despite having a great motor (he earned first team TAPPS Division II all-state honors on both the offensive and defensive line as a junior), good agility and stamina, and a frame that made him a no-doubt FBS tackle prospect.

Playing both offensive tackle spots at different times, McCleery helped pave the way for an offense that averaged nearly 45 points per game and a team that closed its season with three playoff victories (two in overtime) by a combined margin of 10 points and won the 2016 TAPPS Division II state title. McCleery de-committed from Tulane on January 5 and announced the next day that he had received an offer from Army. He tweeted his commitment to Army on January 18. In July he began basic training as a U.S. Military Academy cadet, and he is listed on the Army football roster as a 6’5” 260-pound offensive lineman.

Week nine: ATH Kobe Hailey (Frost)

Hailey was a star basketball player for his first few years of high school but had only occasional success on the football field before taking over at QB for Frost (a small 2A Division II school about halfway between Hillsboro and Corsicana) about half-way through his junior season. He had a hand in 23 TDs in 2015, then started the 2016 season with a bang on both sides of the ball, intercepting five passes and rushing for 16 TDs in his team’s first four games. He suffered a high ankle sprain in week five and was limited in Frost’s next few games, but he still produced huge numbers on the ground, rushing for at least 120 yards in every game on the season and topping the 200-yard mark five times, including a 14-carry, 225-yard performance against eventual 2A Division II state champion Bremond. He ended the 2016 campaign with 2,031 yards and 34 TDs rushing, and also passed for 820 yards and 9 more scores.

I have found no article or online mention of if or where he is going to school this fall.

Week ten: WR Donovan Davidson (Dallas Roosevelt)

He put some good work on tape during his junior and senior years, showing good speed and stop-and-start quickness to go with a decent amount of explosiveness, but he went almost completely unrecruited due to a combination of factors that worked against him. He had a small frame, standing just under 5’10” and 157 pounds in the spring of his junior year; he didn’t participate in high school athletics until his junior year, so he was inexperienced and not a known name in recruiting circles for his last two years of school; and he played for a bad team. As a junior, Davidson had 37 receptions and averaged over 18 yards per catch for a team that went 1-9 and regularly lost by lopsided scores. As a senior his production dipped far below that and he had only about half as many catches (between 12 and 19, depending on the source) as in 2015. And his team went 2-8 in 2016 and was outscored by an average score of 42-10 for the season.

Davidson signed with Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, which competes in NAIA and whose football program will play its first season since 1941 this fall.

Week eleven: TE Gunnar Murphy (Melissa)

Murphy was a late arrival on the recruiting scene, having missed much of his junior season due to injury and having spent his early varsity seasons primarily as an undersized (for a prospect) offensive lineman and linebacker. As a senior he slimmed down from 240 to 225 pounds and was moved to more of a tight end/H-back role on offense and he was finally able to show off his hands and skills as a pass-catcher. He responded by leading his team with 38 receptions for 626 yards and 8 TDs, and he also led his team’s defense with 91 tackles. He also excelled in the throwing circle in track & field. As a junior he qualified for the 4A state meet in the shot put but finished 7th. In 2017 he shattered his personal record in that event with a heave of 59’3” in early March, a throw bested by only ten other athletes in the state this spring. He reached the state meet in the shot put again and finished 2nd with a toss of 53’4.25”. He also had a top discus throw of 155’4” at his district meet.

He didn’t receive interest from major schools but did get some Juco and D2 offers. He ultimately signed with Division II program Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He is listed on SBU’s current roster as a 6’2” 228-pound linebacker. I don’t know if Murphy plans to compete in track at SBU next spring but its school records in the shot put (49’8.5”) and discus (151’9”) probably wouldn’t be out of reach considering how he performed in high school, even with the shot put ball used in NCAA competition being 4 pounds heavier than the one used in high school track, and with the discus being 0.4 kilograms heavier.

Week twelve: WR Brandon Perez (La Feria)

A speedy 5’11” 180-ish pound receiver, Perez was one of the most explosive players in the Rio Grande Valley over the last two years. He torched south Texas opponents as a receiver, runner, and kick returner, and on film his speed looked like it was on another level from that of the players trying to contain him. Between his junior and senior seasons he scored touchdowns on roughly 1/3 of his receptions, and he was named the Offensive MVP of District 16-4A DI both years.

He reportedly had interest from LSU, SMU, Rice, and UTSA as a preferred walk-on, and had varying levels of interest from a couple dozen other programs, but he decided to accept a scholarship offer from Division II program Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma.