Wednesday, February 1, 1995

2011 Signing Day School News Releases

West Texas A&M Football Announces 2011 High School Recruiting Class

West Texas A&M head football coach Don Carthel and his staff today announced its 2011 high school recruiting class. Today’s list of signees consists of 39 student-athletes who will join the program in the fall and help to continue the Buffs’ gridiron success.

“This was overall, a really good group of signees,” said coach Carthel. “We feel good about the academics and overall athleticism with this group. They should be a fun group to coach and a very fun team for our students and fans to watch over the next four-to-five years. There are two or three of these recruits that are mature and athletic enough to give us immediate help. The big majority will redshirt and get ready to contribute in the fall of 2012.”

“Offensively, we were able to sign the top quarterback on our recruiting lists. We were also fortunate to get two very explosive and powerful running backs. At receiver, we loaded up with tons of talent at the inside receiver positions. Our group of offensive linemen are very talented and athletic. This should compliment an outstanding group that redshirted this last season.

Carthel is also enthused about the defensive prospects signed by the Buffaloes.

“On the defensive side, this class is led by a tremendous group of linebackers, both inside and outside,” Carthel said. “This is as talented a group as we have ever been fortunate to sign. In the ‘3-4’ defense, we need versatility in order to have athletes for all four LB positions and we feel we definitely met these needs. The defensive line is not as deep, but the quality of several of these could definitely develop into all conference material with more than one of these signees. The secondary group is also very talented and we expect at least one of these freshmen to make the travel roster next season. There is a lot of size and excellent speed within this group.

“We look to add a couple of kickers and punters to this freshman class in the next couple of weeks to ensure we have signed another complete class that will give us depth at every position in the future.”

The Buffaloes will open Spring Drills on Tuesday, February 15 in prepration for the upcoming 2011 season. The Buffs will kick off the 2011 season Thursday, Sept. 1, when they host Colorado State-Pueblo at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium.
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National Signing Day - TAMK
Bo Atterberry and the Texas A&M-Kingsville football program signed 21 high school seniors to National Letter’s of Intent on Wednesday and also announced seven transfers as part of their 2011 recruiting class.

Atterberry once again stuck to his philosophy of recruiting a majority of high school student-athletes with a sprinkling of impact transfers. The breakdown of the high school signees is six offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, three wide receivers, three quarterbacks, two defensive backs and one linebacker, running back and athlete. The Javelinas brought in three defensive backs, two running backs, an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman from the transfer ranks.

“We like to have guys that are here for four and five years to learn our system and sprinkle in a few transfers that can help out right away,” said Atteberry. “I except four or five more high school players to sign with us over the next few days.”

The Javelinas signed a trio of local stars including quarterback Aaron Bueno from Ben Bolt High School, offensive tackle Andrew Shows from Calallen High School and quarterback Tanner Sparks from Calallen High School. Bueno was named the Texas 1A Offensive Player of the Year in 2010. Shows was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in the district. Sparks gained over 1,000 yards rushing and nearly 2,000 yards passing while accounting for 39 touchdowns this year.
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Texan football releases 2011 recruiting list
Tarleton head football coach Cary Fowler has released the 2011 Texan Football Signing Class, and the head coach is very pleased with his initial signing class of 37 student-athletes, including 26 high school recruits and 11 transfers.

Fowler believes the Texan coaching staff has done a great job adding depth to the football program.

“We have signed what we considered to be a complete team,” Fowler said. “We have a lot of versatile athletes, and we felt like if we could recruit about 30 high school kids that would be a complete team, we would add depth to our program for years to come.”

Fowler also added the transfers, some of which are already on campus for the spring semester.

“We had five sophomores on this last year’s team, so we had to upgrade that class heading into 2011,” Fowler said. “There are some very talented and experienced players that will give us an immediate impact.”

Fowler knows several other student-athletes are expected to sign once the winter weather clears, but the head coach feels comfortable those players will sign once they get a chance to do so.

“Due to the snow and ice, we are still waiting on a few players to return their paperwork, but we believe they will once they are able to do so,” Fowler said.

This was the first full-year of recruiting for Fowler and his staff.

“We went into the year ready to change our recruiting philosophy in a few ways,” Fowler said. “We went hard after Division I kids, and we are signing five or six kids that were Division I recruits that happened to not go to that level, and now they are going to be Tarleton Texans. That is exciting. We had two kids that turned down Navy and Air Force to come play at Tarleton. It would be a great honor to play for one of the Academies, but their interest was to come here and focus on life after football as well. That is a big lift for us, too.”

Fowler also said they types of players which the staff recruited will somewhat change the face of the Texan roster.

“We wanted long, athletic guys that can play football, Fowler said. “We don’t want to have to trim then down. I feel we upgraded every position on the field, and I especially am excited about the quarterback position for the future.

“The academics were a big thing we wanted to look at, and we have a lot of high-character kids on this list,” Fowler continued. “We did an extensive background check of these kids, and I am excited about this class. There are team captains, leaders and hard-working students as well. I am excited about the future of our program.”
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Mustangs announce 2011 signing class
Midwestern State coach Bill Maskill just couldn't stick to the plan Wednesday on National Signing Day.

"We had planned to sign 15 on each side of the ball," said Maskill, who will enter his 10th season at the helm of the MSU program next season. "But there were so many quality players still on the board who wanted to come."

In the end, the Mustangs signed 37 prep standouts to National Letters of Intent with several more poised to join the class in the coming days.

"This is a good, promising class," Maskill said. "We have a lot of quality football players with five or six guys who will contribute right away."

The class is comprised of 15 offensive and 21 defensive players and all-around athlete Brandon Gordon who can help on either side of the ball out of George Bush High School in Houston.

The Mustangs announced the signing of six offensive linemen, five wide receivers and a pair of tight ends to go along with a running back and a quarterback.

MSU bolstered the defense with nine defensive backs, seven defensive linemen and four linebackers.
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UIW FOOTBALL SIGNING CLASS
From Dalhart to Brownsville. From Beaumont to Australia? Incarnate Word’s football signing class of 2011 numbers 29 and they come from all over the state, and yes, one player is from Melbourne, Australia.

Coach Mike Santiago announced the class at a media function on Wednesday, the first official day high school players could sign letters-of-intent with colleges. This is the fourth class for Incarnate Word and it is the largest in terms of numbers.

“One more class,” Coach Santiago said, “and we will have a full roster. You don’t get a full roster until the fifth year. Our staff did a great job of canvassing the state and then going outside the box. I am proud of this staff. This is a lot of hard work.”

Also, in terms of size, 10 of the 29 new Cardinals go 250 pounds or more in physical size. And the Aussie is the largest of them all. Rory Dew played at St. Kevins High School in Melbourne. He is an offensive lineman and he goes 6-8, 315. “This guy is all Coach (offensive line coach Tony) Marciano,” Santiago said. “Rory was in a football camp in Florida for the past month when we heard about him. We are now looking at international players.”

For local Cardinals fans, the San Antonio area is highly represented. Eight signees are from Alamo City schools. “We are seeing more recruiters than ever before in San Antonio,” Santiago said. “But our recruiting always begins at home.”

Another aspect of what Santiago calls a “UIW guy” is how each player does in the classroom and how each is projected to perform in UIW classrooms. “The average grade point average of this group,” Santiago said, “is 3.71. And their average SAT score is 1,040. And we think when a player does well in the classroom there is a high probability of him bringing good character to us.”

UIW’s coaches covered thousands of miles just inside Texas in assembling this class. From Beaumont’s Ozen High School and running back Melvin Adderton to up north and Dalhart tight end Harper Scofield then back to the Gulf Coast and Corpus Christi area’s Kyle Fishbeck and Nick Ginn. The list even includes a quarterback from Tucson, Ariz., Jordan Scelfo.

Santiago talked about what the fourth year was like. “After four years the high school coaches know our staff when they come through the door. We get places quicker because we don’t have to explain who we are.”

Incarnate Word has now played two full seasons of Division II football, the second of which, 2010, as a member of the Lone Star Conference. The original class of 2008, in most part, will be juniors this coming season.
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Ribaudo Adds Talented Recruiting Class for 2011 Football Season
After a season which saw the Eastern New Mexico University football team receive five All-American, seven All-District and 20 All-Lone Star Conference selections, head coach Mark Ribaudo has added another talented recruiting class to help the Greyhounds take the next step in the Lone Star Conference. Facing a schedule that includes four postseason participants, it is likely that the newcomers will be called on to make an impact in the upcoming season.

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UCO Signs 20 In Football
Central Oklahoma picked up the signature of 20 high school standouts to national letters of intent Wednesday, with 15 state products and five Texas prep stars joining the Bronchos.

Fourth-year head coach Tracy Holland and his staff added six defensive linemen, four offense linemen, three wide receivers, three defensive backs, one linebacker and one quarterback to the fold along with two “athletes” capable of playing either side of the ball.

“This is an outstanding class for us and we're really excited about what they can do for Broncho football in the coming years,” said Holland, who expects to sign 10 more players in the coming days. “We addressed a lot of the needs we had and all of these players fit what we're looking for in a student-athlete, both on and off the field.”

The Bronchos gained four Oklahoma Coaches Association All-Staters in linebacker Marcus Bruner of Porter, defensive lineman Marty Northern of Lawton Eisenhower, defensive back Richard Stanley of Tulsa Union and defensive lineman Deontay Wilson of Coweta.
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Angelo State Football Inks 16 on Signing Day
The Angelo State football coaching staff announced the signing of 16 players to National Letters of Intent Wednesday to continue their academic and athletic career at Angelo State University starting next fall. The class is the first under head coach Will Wagner, who was hired as the Rams new leader in late December.
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Thomsen signs 'special' class
Over the last three seasons, one thing about ACU's matchups with Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association teams that has stood out for Wildcat head coach Chris Thomsen is the physicality of each of those teams.

Since 2008, Northwest Missouri (2008 and 2009) and Central Missouri (2010) have eliminated the Wildcats from the NCAA Division II playoffs, and last year's season-opening matchup at Washburn (Kan.) was a physical contest for all 60 minutes.

It's that style that Thomsen and his coaching staff remembered and made a priority on the recruiting trail, and it resulted in what Thomsen calls a "very special group" who signed national letters-of-intent Wednesday, the first day of high school football players can sign binding letters with universities across the country.

The Wildcats signed 24 high school players to binding letters of national intent and announced the addition of two transfers, one a junior college transfer and one four-year college transfer.

"This class could really be very special," said Thomsen, who has led ACU to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons. "The depth is the real strength of this class. We got so many big bodies, and that will help us in the long run.

"There's usually not this many big bodies available, but we were able to get on a lot of them pretty quickly and they stuck with us," Thomsen said. "If most of these kids stick for four or five years then we've solidified ourselves for a while with some of these big bodies."

The "big body" theory is one that Thomsen picked up not only from coaching against MIAA teams, but from one of the coaches he most often quotes and admires: former NFL head coach Bill Parcells.

"Bill Parcells always had those guys with big bodies because he knew it was a big man's game," Thomsen said. "He used to always say that little guys would get worn down over time by big guys, and you saw that year after year with his teams. We've lost to those MIAA teams the last three seasons because those big bodies have worn us down. This is the first time we've really stockpiled some of these big bodies, and it's an encouraging sign for the future."

The Wildcats' signing class is big all over, but especially at the receiver spot where the seven signees average 6-1, 190 pounds. The offensive line is big as well at 6-3, 265 pounds, and the defensive line is solid at 6-2, 260 pounds.

The jewels of the high school class could be tight end Jonathan Parker (Carson City, Nev.), defensive back Vicente Cantu-Harkless (Austin), and defensive tackle George Woods (Houston), offensive lineman Connor Keeton (Corpus Christi), and running back Travis Tarver (McKinney).

At 6-6-4, 235 pounds, Parker turned down Nevada, UNLV and Arizona to sign with the Wildcats. He was a first team all-region defensive end and honorable mention running back as a senior at Carson City High School, leadihg his team to a 10-2 record. He caught 11 passes for 108 yards and carried the ball 24 times for 274 yards and recorded 80 tackles and five sacks defensively. He's already penciled in as the Wildcats' backup tight end behind returning all-Lone Star Conference performer Ben Gibbs.

Cantu-Harkless – the brother of ACU receiver Darrell Cantu-Harkless – was a two-time first team all-district performer at Austin Crockett High School where he was the district Defensive MVP in 2010. Last year he finished the season with four interceptions, four forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and two interception returns for touchdowns from the safety spot. He is, Thomsen said, "one of the most violent high school players I've ever seen on film."

Woods was a member of the Houston Hot 100 recruiting list, and was a second team District 17-5A selection at defensive tackle. Keeton, who was named first-team All-South Texas this fall, was a three-year starter at tackle for Corpus Christi Carroll High School.

Tarver led McKinney High School in rushing with 900 yards and eight touchdowns on just 105 carries. In his best performance of the season, he ran for 320 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in a 42-35 in over Rockwall. He also caught 17 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns on the season, and he also scored on an 88-yard kickoff return.

"We were able to sign a lot of really talented players, and that's a tribute to our coaching staff," Thomsen said. "They all did a fantastic job of identifying great talent and getting them to visit the campus. We are really excited about the opportunity to mesh this group with the team that's already here."

Friday, January 20, 1995

Texas A&M-Commerce - 2011 Recruiting Class

A&M COMMERCE FOOTBALL SIGNS 25 RECRUITS AND ADDS 5 MIDYEAR TRANSFERS

First NameLast NameHome TownJunior College/High SchoolPositionHeightWeight
KaylonAlexanderDenton, TexasBilly Ryan High SchoolRB6'0"215
TobyBensonMesquite, TexasMesquite High SchoolWR6'0"175
TaureanBundageRichardson, TexasRichardson High SchoolOLB6'2"215
JamesDriskellMcKinney, TexasMcKinney Boyd High SchoolWR5'10155
Austin FisherFt. Worth, TexasKeller Fossil Ridge High SchoolDS5'11175
NicholasFosterFrisco, TexasCentennial High SchoolQB6'1"195
BreynonHendersonLongview, TexasPine Tree High SchoolLB6'0218
RossKooncePasadena, TexasDeer Park High SchoolLS6'0"265
HaydenMarshLongview, TexasPine Tree High SchoolWR6'2"195
MalcolmMinikonFt. Worth, TexasLD Bell High SchoolOLB/DE6'3"210
ToryMinorSherman, TexasSherman High SchoolWR6'2"185
KirwynMoncriffeGarland, TexasLakeview Centennial High SchoolDE/OLB6'3"245
JacobO'NeillPasadena, TexasDeer Park High SchoolK6'2"180
PrestonPaulsonTerrell, TexasTerrell High SchoolOLB/S5'11"193
DavidSchrimpSt. George, UtahSnow Junior College/Dixie High SchoolOL6'5300
SamuelShearinDallas, TexasWoodrow Wilson High SchoolTE/DE6'5"230
QuincySimsWaco, TexasWaco High SchoolDT6'2"288
KevinThomasMcGregor, TexasMidway High SchoolWR6'2"200
StevenThompsonFt. Worth, TexasKeller Fossil Ridge High SchoolOL6'3245
ChaseThrasherGarland, TexasRowlett High SchoolK 6'0"210
AnthonyWhiteDallas, TexasHillcrest High SchoolCB6'1"170
StevenWilliamsDallas, TexasHillcrest High SchoolDT6'2"285
JosephWindsorMidlothian, TexasMidlothian High SchoolFS6'1"190
KristoddleWoodsRowlett, TexasLakeview Centennial High SchoolILB6'0"238
StewartWynegarSeabrook, TexasClear Lake High SchoolDT6'3"280
Bryn Roy*Dalemead, Alberta CanadaSnow Junior CollegeLB6'1225
JordanBetz*Draper, UtahSnow Junior CollegeOL6'3290
TylerRawlings*Montrose, ColoradoSnow Junior CollegeWR6'1185
ChaseGallegos*Irvin, TexasTexas Christian UniversityQB6'1200
LoganSligar*Marietta, GeorgiaTexas Christian UniversityLB5'11225

Lone Star Conference

Angelo State University

Cameron University

Eastern New Mexico University

MSUMustangs.com

Texas A&M-Commerce

Tarleton State University

Texas A&M-Kingsville

Texas Woman's College

University of Texas of the Permian Basin

West Texas A&M University

Western New Mexico