Texas Longhorn commits: Week 4 preview

Last week saw five Texas Longhorn commits get off to a belated start to their senior seasons after their teams’ first two games were cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey. While most of them put up underwhelming numbers, two of them, a cornerback commit and tight end commit, had big showings while playing on the opposite side of the ball that they usually do.

Keaontay Ingram piled up over 200 yards from scrimmage, Rondale Moore put up more video game-like stats, DeMarvion Overshown scored a TD in the fourth different manner that he has so far in 2017, Byron Hobbs got some good news on the injury front, and Keondre Coburn’s team beat a state-ranked opponent.

This week, one offensive commit will play in a battle between the state’s top two teams in Class 4A, while a defensive commit will play in a game involving two of the top five teams in the nation (according to USA Today’s rankings). Read on to check out the recaps from all of last week’s action and see where UT’s commits will be playing this week.

2018 Texas Longhorn football commits

QB Cameron Rising (Newbury Park, California)

Last week: Completed 13 of 26 passes for 103 yards and one interception, and rushed 3 times for 27 yards in a 48-7 loss to Valencia

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, at Los Angeles Venice

Notes: Playing without several injured starters - including their top running back, left tackle, receiver, and tight end - and going against the top-ranked team in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division 2 (who Rising called, “by far the best team I’ve ever played”), Newbury Park never had much of a chance last Friday. Newbury Park was held to just 173 total yards, while a brutally efficient Valencia offense scored touchdowns on 6 of its first 13 snaps(!), per a local report. Rising completed 8 of his first 11 pass attempts but was intercepted on Newbury Park’s first possession. Valencia scored one play later, then Newbury Park fumbled the kickoff back to Valencia, who scored on its first play afterward, and the rout was already on. Valencia led 41-0 early in the 2nd quarter.

Newbury Park will next travel to face a Venice team that is 2-1 and coming off a bye week. Newbury Park beat Venice 28-0 in 2016, a game that Rising missed due to an injury he had suffered a week earlier.

QB Casey Thompson (Newcastle, Oklahoma)

Last week: Completed 31 of 44 passes for 297 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT, and rushed 9 times for 67 yards in a 50-22 loss to Blanchard.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, at Weatherford, Oklahoma

Notes: Thompson had his best statistical game so far at Newcastle (he spent his previous high school years at Westmoore), but it wasn’t nearly enough as his team fell to 0-3. If there is a bright side it is that Newcastle has been outscored by only 70 points through three games, whereas at this point in 2016 the Racers were 0-3 and had been outscored by 123 points. In last week’s loss Thompson had a high completion rate, if not an outstanding number of yards per attempt, and was only intercepted once in 44 attempts. And per a local report he also launched a punt in the game that was downed at Blanchard’s one-yard line. But it wasn’t enough as Blanchard rushed for over 300 yards as a team and scored 6 TDs on the ground.

Newcastle will go for their first win next week in their district opener at Weatherford, against whom they lost 41-14 last season.

RB Keaontay Ingram (Carthage)

Last week: Had 17 carries for 179 yards and 2 TDs, and caught 4 passes for 38 yards in a 42-20 win over Whitehouse.

This week: Saturday, September 23 at 7:00, at Gilmer

Notes: Ingram scored the first and last TD of last week’s Carthage-Whitehouse non-district matchup. A 4-yard run less than four minutes into the game staked Carthage to an early 7-0 lead. The game was tied at 14 following a Whitehouse TD pass with 7:05 left in the 2nd quarter, but Carthage outscored Whitehouse 28-6 the rest of the way, with the game’s final TD being a 67-yard run by Ingram with 56 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. Carthage lost three fumbles as a team, but their 597 total yards more than doubled Whitehouse’s offensive output.

Next, Carthage will play in what might be the marquee matchup in the state this week: a contest pitting the #1 and #2-ranked teams in Class 4A. Carthage, which received 21 out of 24 first-place votes in this week’s AP Poll for Class 4A, will travel to face #2 Gilmer. Carthage is aligned in Class 4A Division I, while Gilmer is in Division II, so there will not be a re-match of this game in the playoffs, and if the two schools should win the 2017 state title in their respective classifications (the two schools have won a combined eight state championships, all since 2004), this game will effectively have served as one deciding bragging rights for all of Class 4A.

With the Texas Longhorns having a bye this week, I think there’s a good chance that current Longhorns and Gilmer alums Kris Boyd and Demarco Boyd will be back in their hometown on Saturday night to cheer against their future teammate Ingram.

WR Brennan Eagles (Alief Taylor)

Last week: Caught 3 passes for 21 yards in a 26-14 loss to Spring Dekaney.

This week: Saturday, September 23 at 7:00, vs. Katy Seven Lakes (at Houston’s Crump Stadium)

Notes: Based on the MaxPreps box score from last week’s Taylor-Dekaney game, the teams played like two squads who were in their season-opener, which they were, the first two games on their schedules having been wiped out by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath. The MaxPreps and Houston Chronicle box scores conflict a bit on which players scored TDs, but the two teams produced just 480 combined offensive yards, while turning the ball over eight times, and the game’s QBs were sacked a combined 16 times. Not the prettiest start to the season, for sure.

Dekaney scored the game’s first 26 points (all in the first half), while Taylor was kept off the scoreboard until they scored two TDs in the game’s last ten minutes.

This Saturday, Taylor will host a 6A Katy Seven Lakes team that opened its season last week with a narrow 16-10 loss to Richmond Foster, the 5th-ranked team in Class 5A. Taylor beat Seven Lakes 44-3 when the teams played a year ago. Seven Lakes’s most notable player from a recruiting standpoint is probably junior tight end David Ugwoegbu, who reportedly already holds six P5 offers. This is the last non-district game on Taylor’s schedule, but with so many Houston area schools losing two games to Harvey, some schools are scheduling games for their bye weeks, so there’s a chance that Taylor will fill their mid-October bye four weeks from now with an additional non-district game.

WR Rondale Moore (Trinity - Louisville, Kentucky)

Last week: Caught 18 passes for 242 yards and 3 TDs in a 28-7 win over Hialeah (Florida) Champagnat Catholic.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, at Louisville Jeffersontown

Notes: Moore had another monster game in last week’s victory over south Florida private school Champagnat Catholic, which made the flight to Louisville just a few days after parts of Florida were hit hard by Hurricane Irma. Moore’s first two TDs gave Trinity a 14-0 lead, but Champagnat cut the deficit to 14-7 with a TD in the final seconds of the 3rd quarter. That remained the score until Moore and a teammate both caught TD passes with less than four minutes left in regulation to put the game away.

This could be Moore’s last time to be featured in these posts, as many analysts have him on flip watch. The last ten 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions for Moore (all of which have been made since September 9) have him signing with Purdue. He is scheduled to visit Purdue (which is roughly 185 miles from Louisville, Kentucky) this weekend when the 2-1 Boilermakers host 8th-ranked Michigan.

WR Al’Vonte Woodard (Houston Lamar)

Last week: Caught 2 passes for 15 yards in a 23-14 loss to Klein Collins

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, vs. Alief Elsik

Notes: Lamar didn’t have a pretty start to its season, as the Texans compiled just 160 total yards and committed two turnovers in their season-opening loss to Klein Collins. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ranked Collins 10th and Lamar 13th among Class 6A teams going into last week’s action. This week Collins moved up to 8th and Lamar fell to 18th.

On Friday, Lamar will look to get their first win of 2017 when they face an Alief Elsik team that won its opening game last week 10-0 over Aldine Eisenhower. Lamar beat Elsik 31-6 when the teams played in 2016.

TE Malcolm Epps (Spring Dekaney)

Last week: Caught two passes for 45 yards and one TD (maybe), and was credited with five total tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in a 26-13 win over Alief Taylor.

This week: Thursday, September 21 at 5:00, vs. Klein Oak

Notes: Tonight’s Dekaney-Klein Oak game wasn’t on either team’s original schedule but was added to help make up for both teams losing their first two games due to Hurricane Harvey. Both teams would have otherwise had a bye this week. Klein Oak lost their season-opener last week 24-12 to Humble Atascocita, who was Dekaney’s originally scheduled Week Two foe.

Epps showed off some heretofore unseen play-making ability at defensive end in last week’s win over Alief Taylor. After not being credited with a single tackle as a junior or sophomore (according to Dekaney’s MaxPreps stats), Epps was credited with three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the first game of his senior year.

The MaxPreps box score from the game also credited him with a receiving touchdown, though the Houston Chronicle box score credited Dekaney receiver Cedric Montgomery with the team’s only receiving TD. Either way, Epps had quite a game.

TE Dominick Wood-Anderson (Arizona Western College - Yuma, Arizona)

Last week: Bye

This week: Saturday, September 23 at 7:00, vs. Eastern Arizona

Notes: Arizona Western will play Eastern Arizona for the second time in four weeks this Saturday. While their first game - a 21-14 win for Arizona Western on September 2 - was non-conference, this Saturday’s game will be a conference game. Wood-Anderson had one catch for eight yards in the teams’ first tilt. He did not record a catch against Eastern Arizona in the one game the teams played in 2016, a 38-3 win for Arizona Western.

OL Rafiti Ghirmai (Frisco Wakeland)

Last week: Team defeated Richardson Pearce 41-6

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, vs. Dallas Woodrow Wilson (at Frisco ISD Memorial Stadium)

Notes: Wakeland gained 436 yards with a balanced offensive attack (230 passing yards on 25 attempts, 206 rushing yards on 26 attempts) and never trailed in a rout of Class 6A program Richardson Pearce. Wakeland led 28-3 at halftime, and Pearce’s only scores came on a pair of field goals.

Wakeland’s next opponent, Dallas Woodrow Wilson, is 3-0 and has outscored its first three opponents 132-33. Last week they beat Frisco High (who will be Wakeland’s opponent in the final week of the regular season) 17-14. Wilson is led by senior QB Cade Fennegan, a three-year starter who passed for 45 TDs as a junior, and has so far received three FBS offers (North Texas, New Mexico State, and Southern Miss). Woodrow Wilson is also the answer to the trivia question: “What is the only public high school in the country to have two alums win the Heisman Trophy?” Those two alums are Davey O’Brien (1938 Heisman winner) and Tim Brown (1987).

Wakeland and Woodrow Wilson did not face each other in 2016. During this week of the 2016 season, Wakeland played and defeated Class 4A program Dallas Wilmer-Hutchins 52-6.

OL Reese Moore (Seminole)

Last week: Team defeated Snyder 40-0.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:30, vs. Amarillo River Road

Notes: Seminole limited Snyder to just 58 total yards and two first downs in last week’s win. The Indians led 26-0 at halftime, and on their first scoring play, a 71-yard pass from senior RB/LB Cade Barnard to junior receiver James Hurston just over four minutes into the 1st quarter, they gained more yards than Snyder’s offense did in the entire game. Barnard, a multi-talented athlete who committed to Army earlier this week, also rushed for a TD in the final minute of the first half.

Seminole, which is classified in 4A Division II, will conclude its non-district schedule this Friday against 3A Division I program Amarillo River Road. When the teams played a year ago Seminole won 29-12. River Road finished the 2016 season 7-5 overall and advanced to the area round of the playoffs.

DT Keondre Coburn (Spring Westfield)

Last week: Team defeated Galena Park North Shore 37-20.

This Week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, vs. League City Clear Springs

Notes: Westfield beat state-ranked North Shore behind a great defensive effort in its belated season-opener. The Mustangs of Westfield held the Mustangs of North Shore to just 38 rushing yards, forced five turnovers, and opened and closed the game’s scoring with defensive points. Westfield recorded a safety on the second play of the game and led 2-0 with less than a minute off the clock. The teams traded points for the rest of the 1st quarter and North Shore took a 13-9 lead into the 2nd, then Westfield went ahead 30-13 after scoring three TDs within a five-minute span in the 2nd quarter. North Shore cut the deficit to 30-20 after a 47-yard TD pass with 12 seconds left in the first half, but they did not score again. A 30-yard fumble return TD by Westfield early in the 3rd quarter closed out the game’s scoring.

With the win, Westfield moved into this week’s AP rankings for Class 6A at #10. This was originally going to be Westfield’s bye week, but with two games lost to Hurricane Harvey and district play set to begin next week, they instead scheduled a game for Friday with League City Clear Springs, who also would have otherwise had a bye this week and only one game under their belt heading into district play. Clear Springs beat La Porte 24-3 last week to begin their season. Clear Springs went 9-2 overall in 2016 and ran the table on its opponents in District 24-6A. Their top returning offensive weapon is arguably speedy junior running back Todd Hudson II, who rushed for over 1,200 yards and 16 TDs and earned first team all-district honors as a sophomore. Among the Clear Springs offensive lineman who will attempt to contain Keondre Coburn and his Westfield teammates is Garrett Nickelson, a Nevada commit and brother of Texas Longhorns offensive tackle Tristan Nickelson.

LB Ayodele Adeoye (IMG Academy - Bradenton, Florida)

Last week: Game cancelled due to the effects of Hurricane Irma

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, vs. Miami Central

Notes: Hurricane Irma and its aftermath led to cancellations of IMG Academy’s last two games. They last played on September 2, a 40-20 win over Corona (California) Centennial. The Ascenders have yet to play a game at home or even in their own time zone, as their first two games were played in Chandler, Arizona and San Diego, California.

IMG is ranked 2nd in USA Today’s Super 25 national rankings, and this week they will host 5th-ranked Miami Central. Central had their game last week cancelled due to Irma, and when they last played on September 8 they defeated nationally-ranked Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 24-20. Due to Irma the team had to stay in Las Vegas an extra few days following their game before they were able to fly home.

Miami Central’s football program has arguably been Florida’s most successful public school program in recent memory. The Central Rockets won Florida Class 6A state championships in 2010 and every year from 2012 to 2015. They also reached the state championship game in 2011, losing 40-31 to Seffner Armwood, but both teams were later forced to vacate all wins from that season due to their respective use of ineligible players, so the 2011 6A championship actually resulted in a double-forfeit. (USC fans will read that last sentence and say, “See, a championship game loss can be vacated!”)

LB Byron Hobbs (Fort Worth Eastern Hills)

Last week: Did not play in a 34-8 win over Dallas Hillcrest

This week: Bye

Notes: Hobbs suffered an injury about mid-way through Eastern Hills’s Week Two win, which a week later was determined to be a dislocated clavicle, per his mother’s tweet from a week ago.

He’ll have an extra week to heal and recover, as Eastern Hills has a bye this week before starting their district schedule on September 29 vs. Richland. In Hobbs’s absence last week, Eastern Hills’s defense forced three turnovers and limited Dallas Hillcrest to 134 yards of offense. Hillcrest advanced beyond the Eastern Hills 40-yard line only twice, scoring an early 3rd quarter TD run that gave them their only points of the game, and reaching the 29-yard line on their next possession before turning the ball over on downs.

DB B.J. Foster (Angleton)

Last week: Had 4 carries for 84 yards and 2 TDs and caught 1 pass for 25 yards in a 66-0 win over Houston Chavez.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, vs. Houston Westside

Notes: The Houston Chronicle’s box score for last week’s Angleton-Chavez game may be incomplete, but the 66-0 final score indicates a pretty thorough dismantling on Angleton’s part. Angleton was ahead 24-0 after the 1st quarter and 45-0 at the half. B.J. Foster scored TDs on a 21-yard run in the 1st quarter and on a 39-yard run less than a minute into the 2nd quarter. According to the box score, Angleton never punted or turned the ball over, while its defense forced three turnovers and limited Chavez to 7 first downs and just 81 total yards.

Angleton has outscored its first two opponents 97-0 and is the 10th-ranked team in this week’s AP Poll for Class 5A. Their next opponent is 6A’s Houston Westside, a team the Wildcats beat 28-0 a year ago. Westside lost their season opener last week 41-21 to Fort Bend Bush.

DB Jalen Green (Houston Heights)

Last week: Completed 6 of 6 passes for 105 yards and a TD, rushed 7 times for 55 yards and 2 TDs, and scored 3 two-point conversions with runs and passed for another in a 56-21 win over League City Clear Creek.

This week: Thursday, September 21 at 7:00, vs. Katy Tompkins (at Delmar Stadium)

Notes: The Houston Chronicle and Maxpreps box scores from last week’s Heights-Clear Creek game differ dramatically in some areas, but they agree on Jalen Green completing at least four passes for at least one TD, rushing for two TDs, and having a hand in 4 successful two-point conversions. Green also punted the ball once. Heights apparently has no kicking game, as the Bulldogs were unsuccessful on four PAT attempts and attempted two-point conversions following their other four TDs. The teams were fairly even in terms of total yardage and first downs, but Clear Creek committed four turnovers and allowed a kickoff return TD.

Jalen Green had a hand in Heights’ first three TDs, scoring on runs from 14 and 22 yards out, and connecting with senior receiver Jacoby Hopkins for an 11-yard TD pass. Heights led 22-14 at the half, and 28-14 going into the 4th quarter. Clear Creek cut the deficit to 28-21 with a TD run on the first play of the 4th quarter, but Heights responded with an 88-yard kickoff return TD by Jacoby Hopkins, and they went on to score the game’s last 28 points, all within a seven-and-a-half-minute stretch of the final frame.

Heights, which began the 2016 season 0-4, will attempt to push their 2017 record to 2-0 tonight against a Katy Tompkins team that fell 24-17 to New Caney Porter a week ago. Heights will be looking to avenge a 41-7 loss that Tompkins handed them last season.

DB DeMarvion Overshown (Arp)

Last week: Had a punt return TD and a rushing TD in a 28-21 win over Alto.

This week: No game

Notes: The 3A Division II Arp Tigers trailed the 2A Division I Alto Yellowjackets 21-14 early in the 4th quarter, but rallied for two TDs to earn their first win of 2017. Overshown scored on a 76-yard punt return in the 2nd quarter to tie the game at 14. With the game tied at 21 late in the 4th quarter, Overshown ran into the end zone from 23 yards out with 2:23 left on the clock to provide Arp’s winning margin.

Overshown has been responsible for five of the seven TDs Arp has scored this season, with two coming on runs, one on a reception, one a fumble return, and one punt return TD. Arp has a open date this week before starting district play next week against Waskom. Their actual bye week is at the end of the regular season; this week’s open date is due to last year’s Week Four opponent, Class 2A Division I Shelbyville, replacing Arp on their schedule with a game later in the season against Tyler All Saints Episcopal. Arp’s schedule has stated that they were looking for an opponent to play this week, but that apparently didn’t work out, so the Tigers will have just nine regular season games.

DB Caden Sterns (Cibolo Steele)

Last week: Caught 2 passes for 30 yards and made 9 tackles and one tackle for loss in a 42-30 loss to San Antonio O’Connor.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:30, vs. Smithson Valley

Notes: A week after losing to state-ranked Lake Travis on a last-second field goal, Steele was upset by O’Connor, a program not commonly mentioned among San Antonio’s powerhouses, but a very solid one that has finished with eight or more wins in five consecutive seasons. Steele led 16-7 after a 99-yard pick-six by Oklahoma State commit JayVeon Cardwell with 6:26 left in the first half, but O’Connor safety Millard Bradford (who holds seven D1 offers himself) returned the ensuing kickoff 76 yards for a score, and O’Connor would outscore Steele 28-14 the rest of the way.

Steele got the score as close as 35-30 after a long TD pass with 8:21 left in the 4th quarter, but they were kept off the scoreboard the rest of the way, and O’Connor’s senior QB Roel Sanchez - who was picked off three times but also accounted for five TDs - iced the game with a 22-yard TD run with 1:13 left in regulation.

The loss dropped Steele to 1-2 for the first time in the program’s 12-year history. After going 4-6 in their inaugural 2006 season, the Knights have lost three games in a season only twice, and they’ve failed to reach a double-digit win total just once (in 2009, when they finished 9-3). They’ll get no sympathy on Friday from an always-salty Smithson Valley Rangers squad that has started the 2017 season at 3-0 and will be gunning for its first-ever win over Steele. Steele won 24-17 when the teams played last season, and the Knights are 3-0 in the all-time series. Smithson Valley is currently on a seven-year streak of reaching the playoffs, and they’ve missed the postseason just twice in 23 seasons.

K Cameron Dicker (Lake Travis)

Last week: Made a field goal and converted 6 of 6 PAT attempts in a 64-45 win over Dallas Jesuit.

This week: Friday, September 22 at 7:00, at Pflugerville Hendrickson

Notes: Dicker scored his team’s first points for the second time in as many weeks. His 31-yard field goal made the score 7-3 in favor of Jesuit. Lake Travis would eventually take a 16-10 lead going into the 2nd quarter, and never trailed again. The Cavaliers led 29-24 going into the 3rd quarter, and extended their lead by returning the 2nd half kickoff for a TD. Though the score never turned into a rout, Lake Travis’s lead was 12-19 points for virtually the entire second half.

Lake Travis will attempt to improve their record to 3-1 on Friday against a Pflugerville Hendrickson team that has won consecutive games after losing their season-opener to Smithson Valley by four points. Lake Travis made quick work of the Hawks when the teams played in 2016, winning 50-7.

2019 Texas Longhorn football commit

QB Roschon Johnson (Port Neches-Groves)

Last week: Bye

This week: Ran for three TDs and passed for two TDs in a 42-0 win over Lumberton.

Notes: Port Neches-Groves opened its district schedule with a very unusual Wednesday night game this week. I have not seen a full box score, but a Beaumont Enterprise recap states that Johnson rushed for three TDs in the first half, then had TD passes in the 3rd quarter covering 54 and 86 yards to make the game a laugher.

Johnson has now passed or run for 11 TDs in the first two games of his junior season. He and his Indians teammates now get more than a week to rest and prepare for their next game: a district contest on the road against Livingston on Friday, September 29.