Summer Walk-Ons

In today's latest reminder that college football has no off season, UTSA has recently released an updated roster for us nerds to devour. I've been preaching the team's advancements in the realm of strength and conditioning for months, and now we have hard evidence that I'm not crazy. Also that I'm really good at judging guys' bodies ;)  

'murica. happy early fourth o' july.

David Morgan is up to 240, Josh Walker down to an athletic but under-sized 260, Cody Harris is suddenly up to 300, and Kurfehs is down to 215 to point out a few of the most notable changes. Walker will get his weight back up-- he needed to slim down in order to get his footwork quicker and shift his body type to a more athletic stature. Look for him to play at 280 this season then max out around 290 in the future. Harris is now a picturesque FBS offensive lineman with his long arms at 6'5". The 300 pounds behind those long arms will pack a punch at the line of scrimmage. I'm hoping Kurfehs's drop in size will keep him healthy and mobile. He probably put on too much weight coming out of O'Connor where he was a scrawny corner back just a few years back.

The updated roster is available here if you'd like to really get a sense of how much bigger this team is. From a physical stand point, there's not much difference in size from this roster to other low-tier FBS programs. Don't forget the guys still have another whole month to bulk up before they report to camp. Give Coach Dudley a damn raise and buy more MET-Rx..

While there were a couple of unfortunate defections from the team in Malcolm Scott, Marlon Smith, and possibly Mason Russell, UTSA was able to land some pretty good talent in this class of walk-ons. The first to catch my eye was Christian Wood. After losing one converted basketball player in Marlon Smith, I guess UTSA felt they needed another. Wood transfers from Southwestern Assembiles of God where he had signed an NLI for their basketball squad. Side note: Why doesn't this school roll with the SWAGU acronym? Grammatically incorrect, but c'mon man!

An athletic 6'3" linebacker, Wood garnered every reward a 3A basketball player can get, including Mr. Basketball in Texas. While we'll have to wait a few months to see if Wood's hardcourt skills can bring value to the gridiron, Wood received high praise from Refugio head coach Jason Herring whom I consider one of the best small-school coaches in Texas. After playing Halletsville in 2010, Herring told the Victoria Advocate "The best thing I like about [Woods] is the kind of kid he is. He's one of the best we've ever tried to defend. We tried about five different kids on him. He kept making plays. He was also all over the field at linebacker. We've played him for three years and he's very hard to block. He's very active. He shows up and he plays hard".

Next up is Brent Swanson, a 6'0", 280 pound lineman from Corpus Christi Carroll. Brent played guard his senior year but also trained at center. Swanson has impressive size and power, but is much too slow for FBS play. He's a project that could pay dividends with hard work in the weight lifting and nutrition department.

UTSA has done a pretty good job of scoping out talent from up I-35 in New Braunfels, with four NB kids on the roster. The latest to suit up is Gage Hadlock, a 5'11", 190 lbs safety that also took reps at wide receiver at Canyon last year. After giving his tape a brief look, I haven't decided if I like him more as a free or strong safety, but he definitely fits the hard-hitting safety precedent that the program has set with Triston Wade, Nic Johnston, and Cody Berry.

While some of the other walk-ons have already been written about, Codie Brooks is the crown jewel of the latest batch of walk-ons that fans haven't already been made aware of. At 6'1", 240 lbs., Codie Brooks has the strength and modest agility to become an FBS strong side defensive end. Brooks was a menace at Seguin the past two years. From watching some tape on him, I think Brooks has a really, really high ceiling after DI weight lifting and technique coaching enter the picture. A lesser version of recent signee Brendon Brinkmann, if you will. My biggest take-away from checking out all of these new walk-ons is that they're all hard workers and high characters kids. The silent killer asset for any good football program.

Goodbye Trey Mohair

TexasHoops.com first reported that Trey Mohair will not be taking the football scholarship UTSA offered him. Hat tip to Mac78251 who alerted me to this after the spring game. I saw this tweet earlier in the day and chalked it up to relationship type stuff or something. It seemed pretty innocuous:

So I straight up asked Trey if the report was true via DM on twitter.  He said yes, that he and his father came to the decision after deciding his heart wasn’t in the sport anymore.

It seemed pretty straight forward until you read the rest of the tweets that Rowdy Report posted.

Those don’t seem like the tweets of someone making a hard decision but rather those of someone who is having a decision made for him, yanno?

Trey was one of the better guys in this class so it sucks to lose someone of his caliber. If we didn’t “lose” him and instead pulled the offer … that is even more interesting. I hate to speculate so I won’t. Check back for more later, ya’ll.

Demetrius Campbell (JUCO DT)

Looking back at the past recruiting class, one of the few areas that UTSA dropped the ball on was landing a key piece to clog up the middle on defense. It looks like Coach Roark is looking to right the ship this cycle with a large young man from the JUCO ranks. Demetrius Campbell is a 6'5, 300 pound defensive tackle from Kathleen, Florida. Campbell spent his 2011 season at College of the Canyons where, for whatever reason, he failed to see the field. Typically, one would be wary of recruiting athletes that missed an entire year of play, but it seems the Brian King Experiement™ has been working well for UTSA thus far. While a risky maneuver, it's also a good way to catch on to some elite talent that otherwise would land outside of the grasp of a mid-major. Since his year at College of the Canyons,  Campbell has transferred to East Los Angeles College, where the Huskies will seek to defend a conference championship following an 8-3 season. Aside from UTSA, Campbell reports interest from Oregon State and Portland State on his Rivals profile. Since I wasn't able to find any film on Campbell, I really can't evaluate him much besides saying that he appears quite interested in UTSA and seems to have his heart in the right place. With Franky Anaya graduating this year, it would only be fitting to replace him with another overlooked talent from a California JUCO, no?

Edit: Coach Roark will be flying out to visit EALC in October

Remembering Chris Johnson

Picture via Eric Christian Smith (SA Express News)   

As the sun starts to creep out from behind the gray clouds of winter and the San Antonio "grass" starts to almost look green, the promise of spring football and the clean slate of a new season instills optimism and wide-eyedness.  While I'm still amped for spring football to start at 7 am tomorrow morning, I'm still taking my time to come to terms with the dismissal of freshman running back Chris Johnson.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't see it coming. While Chris has endless talent, he has always struggled to maintain a clean rap sheet and academic eligibility. Just as major programs started to move in and attempt to steal Johnson from Coker following a monster senior year for the East Central running back (1,587 yards and 16 touchdowns in just nine games), he was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and dismissed from the team.The Hornets went on to fail to score against Brandeis in the following week, leading to an early playoff exit for his squad.

Suitors backed off, and Johnson was essentially stuck with UTSA. Despite the young star's fall from grace, Coach Coker stuck with the explosive tailback, even after Johnson initially failed to qualify at UTSA. During his Miami days, Coker was often criticized for his overabundance of faith in his players. Never one to shy from giving a second chance, Coker watched many of his former Hurricanes fail to clean up their act, leaving a stain on the program.

Maybe that's what happened with Chris. I don't want to let speculation run wild, but I know Johnson was close to a couple of other athletes that left the team this year. A negative influence? It's tough to say without being in the locker room (and I hate when writers do this) but it's certain that his suspension at the end of the past season set a poor example for his peers.

Chris was a kid that I really wanted to see succeed-- how great of a story would that have been? Big time recruit takes chance on small-time hometown program, falls from grace, coach sticks with him, works hard in community college to gain eligibility, works his way in to the starting 11 and leads his hometown team to victory.

Unfortunately for every storybook ending in college football, there are a dozen more kids that slip through the cracks and suffer ill fates, or simply fail to realize an iota of their potential. Johnson was hands-down the most overpowering high school athlete I ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. With a stout frame and shifty, explosive footwork, Johnson regularly made 5A competition look like JV defenders.

At his best, Johnson was a threat to score every single time he touched the ball. He could do it by plowing over a middle linebacker on a dive or by twirling around cornerbacks and safeties on the outside. Johnson really was the complete package physically and athletically, but time and time again we are reminded that it takes mental preparedness and ethical make-up to play Division I football.

I hope that Chris elects to stay in school and finish his degree, whether it be at UTSA or elsewhere. As he said last winter, "God showed me that as quick as He can give me the world, He can take it away. I think I needed to see that before I took the next step. I really have learned from my mistakes".

Tidbits:

Picture via Thao Nguyen (Dallas News)

Found a new potential walk-on today via Twitter. Kemon Wright will be joining the UTSA track team in the fall and walking on for football. Wright was an all-district cornerback at Dekaney High School in Houston. He reminds me of current Roadrunner Xaviar Archangel who pursued a similar route. Check out Kemon's highlights on Hudl.

The Charlie Reeve hire is official, per goutsa.com. Charlie's sons are named Bear and Ryder, y'all.

As all of our astute readers are aware, the Roadrunners will meet South Alabama in their first game of the 2012 season. The two teams were equally matched in 2011, sparring their way through two overtimes.

One of my favorite college football writers, Bill Connelly of Football Outsiders and SB Nation, chose South Alabama as his first team to preview for the 2012 season.

The Jaguars have actually seen a lot of change this offseason, as they will be moving to a spread offense following the firing of former offensive coordinator Greg Gregory. Picking up the flag is Robert Matthews, a guy that I'm quite frankly scared of. He's young (34), innovative, and served under Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Larry Fedora at Southern Miss, two fantastic offenses. Matthews is going to depend heavily on incumbent quarterback C.J. Bennett as the Jaguars aim to develop their passing game in the spread formation. I wasn't quite impressed with Bennett last season, but he was playing as a true freshman. He certainly has a high ceiling, so if Matthews can coach him up then we could be facing a gunslinger in Mobile on August 30th.

Most intriguing to me is that South Alabama seems to be abandoning their power game, led by stud running backs Demetre Baker and Kendall Houston. Considering the Jaguar offensive line will return only two starters from last year,  perhaps it is a smart move.

The key for the Roadrunner defense will be to apply pressure on the inexperienced offensive line and entice Bennett to throw up some ducks as he did frequently in the Alamodome last year.

Be sure to follow the link to Connelly's preview above. It is quite extensive. Actually, check out Football Outsiders for more of Connelly's work. Don't be shocked when you realize you just spent two hours reading articles though.

Weekend Updates: Rileigh Davis, Charlie Reeve, Chibuzor Ugwu

Got a couple of small stories to report on this weekend-- funny how much more media coverage UTSA is getting in the off season this year with the move to FBS.

Patrick Dove/Standard-Times 

We learned about a new preferred walk-on that I'm honestly kind of excited about: Rileigh Davis is a slender 5'9 slot receiver from 5A San Angelo Central (Davis reports himself at 5'11, 150 on his Hudl profile, alongside a 4.5 40 yard dash and a 31" vertical FWIW).

In true UTSA fashion, his father is a former head coach and athletic director. Davis won Offensive Skilled Position Player of the year on his district-champion high school team thanks to his 50 catches for over 550 yards and five touchdowns. The scrawny receiver also rushed for 120 yards and found paydirt once more while rushing.

Most impressively, Davis will be moving to San Antonio just four days after his high school graduation in order to join the team for summer workouts. While he is a project that is highly unlikely to pay off immediately, he definitely looks to have the work ethic to become an offensive threat a couple of years down the line. I was quite impressed with his tape and definitely think he would be worth a scholarship to a lot of schools so it's great that UTSA was able to land him with zero risk. Davis has some terrific ball skills and shows good field vision after the catch. The dude definitely does the small things right.

Footballscoop is reporting that former Texas State Running Back/Recruiting Director Charlie Reeve has been offered the Tight End coaching position by Larry Coker. Reeve is a guy that Bobcat fans love, and was instrumental in helping Coach Franchione land a great recruiting class last year with only a mere month to work with before NSD.


Of course as you all know, Texas State led the WAC in recruiting this year, according to Rivals. Coach Reeve also did a stand-up job of incorporating freshman running back Terrance Franks into the offense. Reeve is a great coach and a terrific recruiter, so I'm hoping Coach Coker made him an offer that he can't resist.

Edit: Forgot Reeve was fired last year. He coaches Wide Receivers at Odessa Permian. Further research shows that Dan McCarney had this sniffed out a month ago.

I've been informed by a source close to the situation that 2014 defensive lineman Chibuzor Ugwu is in fact very interested in becoming a Roadrunner and has UTSA at the top of his list after the coaching staff stepped out and offered the young prospect.

I wrote about Ugwu just a few days ago, so you can click here to read up on the promising pass rusher out of Hightower. Obviously it's still very early in Ugwu's recruiting cycle, but it would be a big sign of UTSA's recruiting progress if they could land a commitment from a guy that's still about 22 months away from his signing day. Ugwu recently tweeted this:

Stay tuned throughout the week for more news as we should be finding out whether or not Charlie Reeve accepts Coker's offer at UTSA. Larry has made it known that he would like to have his coaching staff complete before spring ball begins next Monday.

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

Episode 16: Signing Day Live Podcast Chat!

We did a LOT of talking. This podcast is a whopping hour and 40 minutes. It is full of good stuff, though -- no lies. We covered National Signing Day, made tons of predictions, recapped the basketball game and even made very risqué jokes. (aztecskin did)

Audio links:

or here.

Episode 15: Live Podcast

We'll be here. Live on Thursday, Jan 26th. Watch us record the CC/EC podcast and interact with us live.

Weirdos.

The audio portion of the podcast can be found here:

or here.

UTSA Lands Three New Commits

In a huge recruiting weekend at a crucial point in the offseason, UTSA has landed three commitments to solidify, and nearly wrap up, the '12 recruiting cycle.

Image via Paris News

H.B. Rosser - Clarksville HS

Rosser was a Kansas commit up until yesterday. We reported him as on campus for an official visit this weekend, and according to Kenny Harrison, Rosser has committed to the Roadrunners. Rivals seems to show that Tre (H.B.) had his scholarship offer from KU pulled. Kansas message boards seems to show that the Jayhawks have no idea what happened. (EDIT: Apparently Rosser had a mutual parting of the ways with Kansas after their coaching change. Good call Tre.)

We can assume that Harrison and Rosser are pretty close, since they grew up playing ball with each other just a few towns away and I'm sure Coker set up one of the East Texas boys as Rosser's host for the weekend as well. Tre is a very dynamic player who stands at 5'10 and 170 pounds with a 4.5 second forty yard dash. Not sure what position the Roadrunners recruited Rosser for. Just know he is capable of playing cornerback, quarterback, safety, and wide receiver.

Armando Alvarez - Blinn

Maurice Poullard - Blinn

Finally, UTSA gets the JUCO offensive line help that they have so desperately sought after. Alvarez stands at 6'4, 300 pounds and is expected to come in and start at the offensive guard slot. Poullard was a bit of a late bloomer that developed into a strong defender at Blinn. His commitment gives UTSA three experienced and dependable options at cornerback (Brown, Starling, Poullard).

Be sure to read Dan McCarney's latest for more information on the two Blinn product's recruitment

EDIT: And in case you weren't on Twitter yesterday evening, we learned from our friends at Bobcatreport.com that the UTSA/TXST football game in the 'Dome this year is tentatively scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. We're excited too, but keep your pants zipped up, please.

Official Visits 1/20

Official visitation season is upon us, and UTSA is hosting several athletes this weekend. I can confirm that, among others, Zach Conque, H.B. Rosser, Maurice Poullard, and Derrick Kindred are currently on campus.

H.B. Rosser has a verbal commitment to Kansas, along with offers from Arkansas and UTSA. He's a three star cornerback on Rivals but played many positions for Clarksville in high school, including an illustrious quarterbacking career. You can see some of his various talents on display in the video embedded above (Rosser is #2).

Maurice Poullard is a 5'10, 190 pound defensive back from Blinn via Dobie HS in Houston. Similarly, Derrick Kindred is a two star CB/OLB/RB from Wagner HS with offers from SMU, Iowa St., UNT, and Texas State. Kindred stands at 5'11, 190 pounds and shows great versatility.

Episode 12: Recruiting Updates

In this week's episode we talk a little bit about Sam Hurd, Stitcher Smart Radio, The New Recruits, talk mess about San Marcos College, and Jared weighs in with a comprehensive look at the recruiting board.

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