Another day, another commitment. Today's addition comes from Irving MacArthur athlete Justin Chavez. Chavez lead district 6-5A in rushing last season, scrambling for 837 yards and 12 touchdowns as a quarterback. Chavez, who played as a varsity slot receiver his sophomore year while also seeing time at running back, has great versatility with a 4.4 40 yard dash time. With a 5'10", 185 lb. frame, it is unlikely Chavez will see serious consideration as a signal caller for UTSA. Justin is quite strong for his size, boasting 310 lb. bench press and a 545 squat max.
In all likelihood, Chavez will be moved to defense at UTSA. I haven't found any footage on Chavez, but his size and speed projects well at the "Rover" spot. If his feet are light and he develops good instincts, Justin could very well be a great corner back. His quarterbacking experience will help him read routes and think a step ahead of other corners.
Semi-related, but I'm starting to freak myself out with my commitment predictions. Let's go ahead and guess the next guy to commit will be someone we haven't heard of yet.
This has been an incredible recruiting week for UTSA. The staff has landed yet another commitment from an extremely underrated defensive stand out. According to his Twitter Instagram account (big, big shout out to loyal readers Javi and Miguel for the tip) Scotlandville HS (Baton Rouge, LA) safety Dondre Dobbins has committed to UTSA. With only one other offer from Southern, Dondre decided to end his recruiting before fall camp kicks off in Louisiana next week.
Mike Coppage of Scout had it best when he said that Dobbins "looks like a linebacker but runs like a defensive back". It's hard to argue with Mike, as Dondre measures in at 6'1", 200 lbs. Dobbins can lay the wood in the secondary while still maintaining agility and ball skills. Dondre was listed as one of Louisiana's best sleepers on defense and also drew a lot of love from 247 Sports, where he received a three star and 82 composite rating, good for Louisiana's 61st best prospect. While Dobbins only had two offers, he did draw a ton of interest from southeastern schools and attended Junior day at Texas A&M.
Through two seasons of varsity ball, Dobbins has amassed 145 tackles, seven interceptions, 21 pass break ups, and five fumble recoveries. He also forced six fumbles in his junior campaign.
Perhaps most intriguing, is Dobbin's relationship with teammate Tanzel Smart. A huge, agile defensive tackle, Smart holds offers from several schools including UTSA, Memphis, Tulane, and UNT. A combo signing of teammates Dobbins and Smarts would be a strong coup for the Roadrunners.
EDIT: I can confirm that Dobbins and Smart visited UTSA together for elite camp in July.
Check out Dondre's impressive highlight reel in which he show cases a variety of skills over seven minutes. I really love his jam coverage abilities and play recognition.
Looking for trans-positional talent to bolster Neathery's 4-2-5 defense, UTSA recently sent out an offer to a talented linebacker out of Stony Point High School in Round Rock. Marcos Curry (not to be confused with Bobcat Marcus Curry) is flying under the recruiting radar. Curry is a two-time all-state performer for the Tigers, helping to lead power-house Stony Point to the 5A semifinals two years ago at middle linebacker. The loss of one of the state's strongest senior classes was too much to bare, as the Tigers would drop to a 4-6 record in 2011 as Curry moved to outside linebacker. Despite 114 tackles and another all-state coronation for Curry in 2011, he still managed to evade division I offers. With only one known offer thus far, I'm sure Curry will use his lack of respect for motivation as he enters his senior campaign.
Dave Campbell has picked Marcos as 16-5A's district preseason MVP on defense, just as the magazine did last year when he racked up 136 tackles. This also marks Curry's second year finding himself on the Austin-American Statesman's preseason All-CenTex team.
Finding consistent measurables on Curry is tough. Rivals has him at 5'10", 190 lbs. Dave Campbell has him at 5'11", 208 lbs. with a 4.7 second 40. Scout has him at 5'10", 195 lbs. running a 4.6. And 247 tallys at 5'11", 215 lbs with a 4.52. That's how such things go. Wherever Curry falls in those constraints, it's nearly a perfect match with guys UTSA has recruited for its "Rover" position. Marcos is a hard hitter that does a phenomenal job of reading his gaps at the line of scrimmage. Curry has the prototypical nose for the ball, if couldn't tell from his obscene tackle totals, and is an able pass rusher that knows how to use his hands to shed blocks.
After facing Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Marcos Curry and the Stony Point Tigers will be in San Antonio to take on Converse Wagner on Sept. 2nd.
Wild day for UTSA Football. Inside Roadrunner Sports broke the day's first commitment around 10 am. Nkeal Bailey is a promising athlete that should be a reliable corner back for Neal Neathery. At 6'1", 160 lbs, he has a good frame for the position. With an insane 4.38 second 40 yard dash and a 10.81 second 100 meter sprint, Bailey definitely has more than enough speed. His 35" vertical leap isn't shabby either. Nkeal is just starting to blossom as a defender-- once he gets his instincts and movements down he should be a gem. On top of his promise on defense, Bailey is also one of Princeton's top receivers.
Just an hour or so later, we were the first to report on the morning's second commitment in Grand Prairie linebacker Kenneth O'Neal. With offers from Tulsa and Indiana, it's impressive that UTSA was able to land a commitment from the highly recruited athlete. O'Neal stands at 6'2", 212 lbs and runs a 4.5 40 yard dash. With 97 tackles under his belt last season, look for O'Neal to improve on that number in the coming season following a summer growth spurt and an increase in speed. Perhaps O'Neal's commitment will help lure teammate Breyun Owens, a strong and large offensive guard (6'3", 315, 5.2) that currently holds offers from UTSA, Northwestern St., and SFA.
EDIT: Confirmed that Logan will be playing baseball, not football at UTSA. He will join fellow Roadrunner commit Ty Parker.
Trying to get some more legitimateconfirmation, but I have to leave for work related activities in just a few minutes. Rouse HS (Leander) ATH Logan Kinder has supposedly committed to UTSA. Kinder is a 5'10", 185 lb. wide receiver/running back that was awarded second team all-district honors last year for his offensive contributions and first team all-district for punt/kick return. His coach has described him as "fast and explosive" with a 4.5 second 40 yard dash. Kinder doesn't have a recruiting profile on any major recruiting services so I'm kind of in the cold for now. Logan is an all-around athlete-- state qualifier in triple jump and plays on a select baseball team. Take it as a grain of salt for now, hell Kinder could have committed for baseball or track for all I know at this point.
Well, call me a mystic. Warren HS wide receiver Aron Taylor (6'2", 195, 4.4) has committed to UTSA as the first known commit for the 2013 recruiting cycle. I wrote a paragraph about him earlier this week before the coaches offered. Aron has all the tools needed to be a starting Division I wide receiver. He will join former teammates Mauricio Sanchez, Dalton Miller, and Parker Cundiff at UTSA. Taylor chose UTSA over offers from Harvard, Kent State, Dartmouth, and Brown. Pretty impressive that he's #13 in his class of 600. Excellent grab by the coaching staff. Hat tip to an anonymous tipster for the link to his other offers.
Sure, San Antonio has started to receive a lot more respect when it comes to recruiting. But it's still not enough. After several schools made the move up to 5A and made noise in the playoffs, the notion that SA athletes can't compare to Metroplex and Houston kids started to diminish. While more colleges are in San Antonio recruiting the cream of the crop, there are still a ton of kids that will fall through the cracks. This is my attempt to point out some under-the-radar athletes that currently lack Division I offers.
Aron is actually my inspiration for starting this series. He tweeted that he would be attending UTSA's combine/camp this Friday which led me to look him up a little bit. I was stunned that this kid doesn't even have a Rivals profile. He's big and strong, has terrific hands, runs sharp routes and seems like a high character type. Oh yeah, and he runs a 4.4 40 yard dash with a 32" vertical leap. Aron was 1st team all-district and 2nd team all-area as a junior. As Burnt Orange Nation contributor Jonathan Wells, who described Aron as "a poor man's Jake Oliver", points out"[Taylor] had 45 rec. for 792 yards (18 ypc) and 13 rec TDs. Lead his team in yards and TDs. Taylor should pile up the stats in '12. Plays in pass-heavy system; 8 teammates caught at least one pass in 2011, but 7 have graduated." I'm hoping UTSA will extend an offer after camp on Friday.
One of San Antonio's best prospects from the class of 2014, Watanbe should end up signing with a top Division I program. For what it's worth, his older brother Ethan signed with Hawaii last year. Watanbe leads an exciting young defense that also features preseason district defensive MVP Derick Roberson, a defensive end with a Texas A&M offer. Watanbee is very quick and reactive and should be a solid outside linebacker in college. His anticipation and ball skills set him above the pack. Watanbe has the genetics for football-- Tony Moeaki is his uncle.
A three year starter at defensive end for the Matadors, P.J. Hall played across current UTSA walk-on Codie Brooks. An all-district defensive MVP, Hall is an extremely strong end with an impressive wing span. Those long arms didn't hold Hall back from becoming a state qualifier in power lifting. P.J. moves extremely well for 250 pounds (4.8 40 yard dash) and even carries the ball on offense from time to time. Hell, P.J. had 90 yards and two rushing TDs in Seguin's playoff loss to Wagner last year. With 121 tackles under his belt last season, Hall should definitely be attracting more attention from recruiters. P.J. also carries a 3.5 GPA, volunteers at his church and even plays drums in the Matador band.
Yeah, that 375 isn't a typo. Neuman is a gargantuan force on the line of scrimmage-- an impact blocker in the truest sense. While Neuman will probably have to lose weight and move to the interior at the next level, he has sheer brute force and a mean streak that you can't teach kids. His coach describes him as "intelligent with good feet for a big man".
Bobby is one of those kids that had his development stunted a little bit by moving around to so many different positions throughout the years. A varsity contributor since his sophomore year, Garza has seen significant time at free safety, wide receiver, and running back. In his junior season, Garza found his calling as the Cowboys' feature back. He amassed 1,135 yards on 137 carries with 17 touchdowns and 321 yards on just 19 receptions for three TDs. Garza has a solid build and runs a 4.5 second 40 yard dash. A nice combination of size and speeds, Garza does a great job of shrugging off would-be tacklers. Outside of his escapades at running back, Bobby also pulled in four interceptions in the secondary. While he doesn't have any offers yet, he does report interest from UTSA on his Rivals page.
To be continued shortly...
Aside: Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine says Sam Brown is going to UTSA. He was an all-district WR/RB at MacArthur (Houston) last year. Haven't been able to find any confirmation.
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.
Learned of a new preferred walk on-- Javonte Collins is a 6'0, 185 free safety that excels against the run. Collins lacks just a little bit of size and explosiveness that could have led to a Division One scholarship but he does have great instincts when the ball's on the ground and is an exceptional open field tackler. With some work in the weight room and an increase in ball skills I could see Collins closely resembling departing free safety Mark Waters in both body type and style of play. Alternatively, I could definitely see Collins making the move to the "dog" position in the 4-2-5 defense. Similar to incumbent "dog" starter Nic Johnston, Collins moves well in open space and maintains outside leverage on running backs to push them back in towards the interior eight. He'd probably need to gain a couple of inches in height to fill that role though. Collins' measurables on his Hudl profile are pretty good: 4.56 40 yd dash, 51" 400 M, 35" vertical leap, 280 bench press, 415 squat.
UTSA took a trip out to Crosby High School earlier in the week to visit several of the school's impressive talents. Crosby should be one of that state's top 4A programs this year as they return five first team All-District 19 performers with several more players coming off second team All-District distinctions. Most eye-popping are a pair of twins, Austin and Aston Walter, both of the 2014 class. Austin, the young team's running back, finished his sophomore campaign with 1,387 yards and 16 touchdowns. Austin is an elusive runner with impressive break-away speed, terrific field vision, and good hands. Twin #2 Aston was named district Newcomer of the Year after completing passes for over 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns, at a staggering 67% completion rate. In addition to his superb passing, Aston also racked up 854 yards and eight touchdowns with his feet. Aston excels as a spread option quarterback with his quick first step out of the read. In this blogger's most humble opinion, both of these twins are elite talents that should be offered immediately.
Continuing down the recruiting visit trail, UTSA coaches made a stop at Navarro Junior College today to take a look at the plethora of potential DI talent on the Bulldog's roster. At the peak of UTSA's interest is 6'5", 290 lb. offensive lineman Zach Fondal from Dobie High School. Zach recently took a trip out to Baylor and came away quite impressed. 6'2", 338 lb. defensive tackle Chris Cormier (Hasting HS) also drew interest, as well as 6'3", 230 lb. wide receiver Eddie Johnson (Midlothian HS). Needless to say, we'll be keeping an eye on Navarro this season.
Miscellaneous tidbits: John Tyler HS lost their coach Dereck Rush to Oak Ridge this evening. Oak Ridge must have made a gigantic offer since Rush will be moving from a contender for a state championship to a team that won just one game last year. UTSA is recruiting many players from John Tyler (Justice Liggins, Elliot Hart, De'Quate Woods, Darion Flowers) so it will be interesting to see what, if any, influence the coaching change will have on these players' recruiting process. Current Roadrunner Darrien Starling is a JTHS alum and maintains a good relationship with several of their current players.
A new offer went out today to a promising quarterback out of Bellaire.
Austin Robinson is a 3-star Rivals recruit at Episcopal High School. He has drawn interest from many high profile programs across the nation but UTSA was his first offer. He has a great DI frame at 6'4", 210 lbs and also boasts good mobility with a sub 4.7 second 40 yard dash.
Austin's most impressive characteristic is his arm strength and accuracy, as seen in his highlight video which I'll link to below. I really like the way this kid reads the field and finds receivers without over-relying on his ability to scramble out of the pocket. Robinson passed for 1,479 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior, while completing 54.4% of his passes, and rushing for over 500 yards and 12 touchdowns.
In my eyes, Austin Robinson has the tools to compete in both pro-style and spread offenses. Bobcat Report recruiting guru Brent Thibodeaux has Robinson as his #2 sleeper quarterback in Texas. Keep an eye on Robinson this fall as his name is certainly penciled in on many programs' recruiting boards.
UTSA fans should hope that the UTSA staff is able to establish a great relationship with Austin before future suitors come to woo him.
UTSA continues to speed up and intensify their recruiting efforts by extending another offer to an elite local prospect. Christ Armstrong is a 5'10, 155 lb. athlete that projects as either a running back or corner back. Armstrong is a monster in track competition boasting a 13.9 in 110 meter hurdles and a 38.94 in the 300 meter hurdle. Armstrong attended the U.S. Army National Combine hosted here and San Antonio and drew interest from several programs. Not sure if he ended up showing or not, but Armstrong was invited to UTSA's Junior Day per Rowdy Report. Armstrong currently lists offers from Tennessee and Texas Tech on his Rivals profile. The elusive junior helped lead the East Central Hornets to an 8-4 record while averaging 7.5 yard per carry (1,545 yard total) and amassing 16 touchdowns.
While Armstrong will likely end up being a tough get for UTSA as higher profile schools start to move in, it's an encouraging sign that the Roadrunners already have so many offers out to the city's top talents for 2013.
