Offensive tackle Zachary Fondal was one of the many Navarro athletes UTSA coaches were eyeballing on their trip up to Corsicana earlier this week. Evidently the coaching staff liked what they saw since Fondal is reporting an offer from UTSA on Twitter just one day after being visited. At 6'5", 290 lbs., Fondal has all of the key components of a successful Division I tackle: height, footwork, and a relentless motor on the field. With his long wingspan, Fondal is able to reach out and latch on to defenders while using his brute lower body strength to drive his opponent off the line of scrimmage-- definitely the kind of player that can bring energy to a ground attack. One thing that I love about Fondal's game is that he properly engages defensive linemen by attacking with his hands and face mask then driving through defenders while maintaining a power squat. I get pretty sick of seeing these huge offensive linemen lazily try to bench press their assigned defender out of the gap while standing straight up.
Besides his offer from UTSA, Fondal has also reported offers from USF, West Virginia, and Texas Tech. Zach will be visiting Baylor this weekend where I anticipate he will be offered. Listed as a December 2012 expected graduate, Fondal will be able to participate in spring drills wherever he ends up signing with. While UTSA is not as big of a name as the other programs interested in Fondal, there is a chance that UTSA offers scholarships to a multitude of his teammates which could possibly entice several of them to sign. Hey, it worked with Blinn last year! Speaking of Blinn, Fondal is childhood friends with UTSA signee Maurice Pollard, for whatever it's worth.
Freshman highlights from Fondal can be found on his Hudl profile
Aside: Major Applewhite took a trip down to Crosby to check out Austin and Aston Walter. If Texas does offer either one of the twins, I think it will be late in the recruiting cycle and both would be offered as wide receivers. Texas isn't too fond of 5'7" running backs and certainly not 5'7" signal callers.
