Scouting the Alamo City Part 1

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 Taylor (WR, Warren HS)
6'2" 195 lbs.

Picture courtesy of MySA.com

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.

Grant Watanabe (LB, Brennan HS)
5'11" 200 lbs.

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.

P.J. Hall (DE, Seguin HS)
6'1" 250 lbs.

Picture courtesy of the Seguin Gazette

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.


Garrett Neuman (OT/OG, Medina Valley HS)
6'4" 375 lbs.

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 Garza (ATH, McCollum)
6'0" 180 lbs.

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.

UTSA Recruiting Round Up 4/17/2012

Ton of recruiting news to catch up on so settle in nicely:

#7 Aston Walter -- Picture via Houston Chronicle

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.

JUCO Defensive Tackle Demetrius Campbell was visited by Lousiana Tech today but still has UTSA as his top choice.

I've got a couple more leads on recruits so sit tight.

2014 offer-- Chibuzor Ugwu

To the best of my knowledge, here we have UTSA's first offer for the 2014 class. Chibuzor Ugwu is a hyper-athletic defensive end that helped Oregon signee Bralon Addison and Fort Bend Hightower to a 5A Division I State Runner Up. Ugwu could still gain in size in the next two years, but he's currently 6'1, 225 lbs. Chibuzor finished his sophomore campaign with 87 tackles and four sacks. Ugwu does a great job of tearing past blockers with his combination of quick feet and strength beyond his years. It's great that UTSA is getting in touch with Ugwu early because as he matures he could easily develop into a national target, especially coming from a high-profile program in Fort Bend Hightower. FWIW, Ugwu expressed desire to play for Texas Tech on Twitter.

Chibuzor Ugwu highlights on Hudl