Part 2 of 3

Horns Rack Up Four More Commitments, Now Have 11

The Longhorns added four more recruit commitments since my June newsletter,
including two who have made one or more national top 100 lists, a third who
is one of the nation's top track stars and a fourth one who is big and fast.
Headlining the commitments are two players who are on one or more national
top 100s this year and who were being recruited by top schools across the
country.
The two who are top national recruits are TE David Thomas, 6-3, 210, 4.6, of
Wolfforth Frenship, and OL Neal Tweedie, 6-5, 255, 4.9, of Allen.
The top track man is MLB Brian Robison, 6-3, 243, 4.6, of Splendora, one of
the nation's top shot and discus throwers, and the one with the extra gear is
LB Marcus Myers, 6-3, 220, 4.5, of Pflugerville Connally.
Thomas, who caught 57 passes from UT recruit Kendal Briles for 1,104 yards
and 14 TDs last year, chose the Horns over Oklahoma and Texas Tech. He also
had offers from Texas A&M, LSU, Purdue, Oklahoma State and Baylor. He had
attended camps at his big three - Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech - before
picking the Longhorns.
When I asked him what factors led him to choose Texas, he said, "It has been
a dream of mine since I was a little boy to play football for the University
of Texas. This is a dream come true for me."
He also is an outstanding linebacker and had 141 tackles last year.He is on
Dave Campbell's Texas Football Super Team as a linebacker.
But Texas and most of the other schools after him see him as a tight end. He
will make the tough catch across the middle and then do something with it. He
also is very sure handed and is a devastating blocker.
He's also a fine student, with a 4.0 GPA on a 4-point scale and a  27 ACT
score.
College coaches love to talk about offensive line prospects who have quick
feet.
Tweedie's feet are so quick that he is one of the best pass blockers I have
seen in recent years, and they also are so quick that he had 22 scholarship
offers when he committed to Texas in June.
Tweedie said he was planning  "to look around a lot before I did anything,
but Texas just kind of blew me away and I committed to coach Hardee McCrary
and coach (Mack) Brown."
"I didn't go to any camps," he said, "but I went to Notre Dame and Texas A&M
and Texas to look around. I had planned to go to Oklahoma, too, to take a
look, but Texas just really impressed me and I decided to go ahead and commit
to Texas and get it all behind me."
Tweedie also is a  very good student, with a 3.7 GPA on a 4.0 scale and a
1080 SAT score.
Robison is one of the rare high school track per-formers who has thrown the
shot more than 60 feet and hurled the discus more than 200 feet.
There are some 60-foot shot putters every year and a few 200-foot guys in the
discus, but there have only been a handful of guys  in the last decade who
have done both.
He broke the AAU national age group record with  a 200-04 3/4 discus throw in
June at an AAU track meet  in San Antonio and also has a 62-7 shot put and a
172-10  javelin throw. He has qualified for the national AAU Junior Olympic
finals in Virginia later this week in all three events.
Robison said he plans to compete in both sports at Texas. He said he met
Brown and several other UT coaches and players after competing in the State
Track Meet in May.
Asked what caused him to pick Texas, he said, "Coach Brown was just totally
honest with me and answered all my questions without hesitation. The players
at Texas all told me he's a straight shooter."
Robison, who plays middle linebacker at Splendora, said the Texas coaches
recruited him as a middle backer. He had 116 tackles, 6 sacks, 6 passes
broken up, 2 fumble recoveries and a pass interception last season.
He also had offers from LSU and Houston, and said coaches from Arkansas, Penn
State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M had told him they would offer if he would visit
their schools.
Robison is a strong student, with a 3.9 GPA on a 4.0 scale and a  qualifying
SAT score.
Myers committed to the Longhorns  after getting an offer following a summer
camp at Texas.
His parents are both Texas Tech graduates and his father, Rufus, was a
running back for the Red Raiders in the late 1970s.
Myers said he had offers from Iowa State, TCU and Oklahoma State, and he said
Nebraska and Oklahoma coaches had told him he would get an offer if he came
to their summer camps, but he said he just wanted to play for Texas.
Connally coach Matt Monzingo said Myers is one of his fastest players,
despite his big frame.
But Monzingo also said Myers' future is at linebacker because "he's got a
great nose for the ball. He's really good at sniffing out where the play is
going and he's very aggressive. With his size and speed, he's got the whole
package to be an outstanding linebacker."
Monzingo said Myers played inside linebacker in a four-backer set last year,
and will play middle linebacker in a three-linebacker set this season.
Myers also is a fine student. He has a 4.5 on a  5.0 scale, ranks in the top
10% of his class and scored a 1,080 on the SAT last October.
The Longhorns still have 11 commitments, including six guys who have been on
one or more national top 100 lists. They are  Tweedie, Thomas, OL Brett
Valdez of  Brownwood, and DTs Sonny Davis of Gulf Coast JC in Mississippi
(who was on all the top lists last year when he was a senior at Austin
Lanier), Earl Anderson of San Marcos and Lyle Sendlein of Scottsdale
Chaparral.
The other commited players are QB Billy Don Malone of Paris North Lamar,
RB-Athlete Clint Haney of Smithson Valley and WR Dustin Miksch of Round Rock
Westwood.
* * * *
Super Longhorn LB signee Derrick Johnson of Waco ran an intercepted screen
pass back 52 yards for the only Texas touchdown and it was enough to lead his
All-Star team to a 10-7 victory over the California All-Stars.
It was a sweet victory for the Texas All-Stars, who had lost the first six
games in the series.
California DT Kaelen Jakes, another Longhorn signee, had a sack for the
losers, and he told me Mike Garcia, the Galena Park offensive lineman who
also signed with UT, "is by far the best offensive lineman I've ever played
against, and I played against some guys in California who were supposed to be
among the best in the country."
OL Will Allen of Cypress Falls, another UT signee who played in the game,
told me he helped block Jakes "and he's every bit as good as Shaun Cody."
Cody, a heralded California DL who signed with USC, also played in the game.
The stout Texas defense held California to minus 13 yards rushing.
All of Texas' signees except LB Yamil LeBron of Killeen Ellison have
qualified. LeBron will attend a junior college.
* * * *
WR Marquis Johnson of Champaign, Illinois, made it to the state of  Texas
this weekend, but he never made it to Austin.
He says he visited a friend in the Dallas area and wanted to get to Austin,
but never made it.
He said he definitely will take an official visit to Texas and is still
strongly considering the Longhorns.
QB/Athlete Paul Thompson of Leander picked Oklahoma over Texas Sunday,
primarily because he wants to play quarterback and the Sooners were
recruiting him for that position, while the Horns were recruiting him to play
wide receiver.
FB-LB Brandon Hancock of Clovis, Cal., told me he really enjoyed his
unofficial visit to Texas, but is 90% sure he'll sign with a California
school.
Here's a quick look at the main players Texas is still recruiting:
QB -  Vincent Young, Houston Madison
RB - Albert Hardy, Galena Park
TE - Eric Winston, Midland Lee
WR - Marquis Johnson, Champaign, Ill.; Robert Timmons, Flower Mound Marcus;
Anthony Wright, Klein Forest; Damien Collins, Dallas Bryan Adams, and Biren
Ealy, Cypress Falls.
OL - Justin Blaylock, Plano East, and Tony Ugoh, Spring Westfield.
DE - Travis Leitko, The Woodlands; Larry Dibbles, Lancaster; Dontriel Coates,
Anahuac; Tully Janszen, Keller; Chase Pittman, Shreveport Evangel, and Bryan
Pickryl, Jenks, Okla.
DT - Roderique Wright, Alief Hastings; Marco Martin, Mesquite; Joseph
Edwards, Dayton, and Tauren Brown, Katy Cinco Ranch.
LB - Marvin Byrdsong, Longview; Garnett Smith, Arlington Lamar; Glenn
Jackson, Carrollton Turner; Aaron Harris of North Mesquite and Roman Taylor
of Diboll.
DB - Ricky Wilson, Port Arthur Lincoln; Donald Burgs, Houston Madison;
Vickiel Vaughn, Plano West; Brodney Pool, Houston Westbury, and Matthew
Melton, Tyler.
Ath - Edorian McCullough, North Garland, and DaBryan Blanton, Forney.
The Horns obviously can't take all those receivers, defensive linemen,
linebackers and defensive backs, but they are recruiting the ones mentioned
right now and hope to sign several of the top ones.

Stephens Makes National Team

UT sophomore Stacy Stephens was one of 12 top players aged 19-and-younger who
made the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team.
Stephens, a 6-1, center-forward, was one of the team's top rebounders and got
10 boards in the final game in the Junior World Championships in the Czech
Republic to help the USA team win the bronze medal with a 6-1 record.

Slugger Commits to UT

Brent Clevlen, 6-1, 185, 4.5, of Round Rock Westwood, one of the state's top
junior baseball hitters, has committed to play for Texas.
Clevlen, who also is a fine quarterback in football, hit  .455 and blasted 11
home runs last season after hitting .515 as a sophomore.
He also had offers from several other top baseball schools, including Baylor,
Rice, Texas A&M, Houston and Tulane.