Texas Longhorn football commits in action, Sept. 2-4
Last week was a very successful one for the the Texas Longhorn football commits who had games. Only one of the 15 commits who saw the field last week saw their team lose in what was, for much of the class, the opening week of the 2021 season.
The Longhorns have gained a pair of commits since last week’s post: highly-rated defensive linemen Jaray Bledsoe (Marlin) and J’Mond Tapp (Ascension Catholic — Donaldsonville, Louisiana). Unfortunately, Bledsoe will not be able to play this season, and neither will another defensive commit, though for different reasons. The team now has 20 total commits in the 2022 class and 15 of them will be playing this weekend, with three out-of-state commits scheduled to play their first game.
Below I’ll have this week’s current schedule for each Longhorn commit, though anyone with interest in attending one of the listed games would be strongly advised to check local news or the social media accounts of the schools involved in case there’s a Covid-related cancelation at the last minute. The game times listed for each game will be according to Central Time.
2022 QB Maalik Murphy — Gardena (California) Junipero Serra
Saturday, September 4 at 2:00, vs American Fork, Utah (at San Diego, CA)
Note: Murphy accounted for 377 total yards and 4 touchdowns (3 passing, 1 rushing) in a 28-27 win over Long Beach Poly last week.
Junipero Serra will face Utah’s 4th-ranked Class 6A team American Fork on Saturday at one of four Honor Bowl games that are scheduled for this weekend at San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic High School. American Fork is 2-0, and had its game last week canceled due to Covid issues on its opponent’s roster.
2022 RB Jamarion Miller — Tyler Legacy
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, at Tyler High
Note: Miller accounted for 186 yards from scrimmage and one TD on 17 offensive touches (14 carries, 3 receptions) in last week’s 35-17 win over Lufkin. Miller’s backfield mate Bryson Donnell, a Texas Tech commit, finished with 205 total yards (91 rushing, 114 receiving) and 3 TDs on 26 total touches.
Legacy will face cross-town rival Tyler High on Friday night.
2022 WR Armani Winfield — Lewisville
Thursday, September 2 at 7:00, at Keller Timber Creek
Note: Winfield did not record any stats in Lewisville’s 50-7 pounding of Arlington Bowie in week one.
2022 OL Cole Hutson — Frisco
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, vs. Frisco Reedy (at the Ford Center at The Star)
Note: Frisco played Sulphur Springs last week after its previously scheduled game with Garland Naaman Forest was canceled due to Covid issues at the latter school. Frisco rushed for 376 yards in a 54-24 win.
This week Frisco plays a non-district game with fellow Frisco ISD school Reedy. Frisco is 3-2 all-time in the series between the two programs and won last year’s matchup 31-0.
2022 OL Connor Robertson — Austin Westlake
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, vs. Euless Trinity
Note: Westlake opened its season with a 54-13 win over Temple last week. Westlake retains the top spot in the Class 6A rankings after week one and will host #6 Euless Trinity on Friday. Trinity began its season with a 45-27 win over Arlington Lamar.
2022 DL Aaron Bryant — Southaven (Mississippi)
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, at Columbus (Mississippi)
Note: Southaven began its 2021 season with a 30-0 shutout win in an inter-state matchup with Jonesboro (Arkansas) Valley View). Southaven’s defense held Valley View to 71 total yards in the win.
2022 DL Kristopher Ross — Galena Park North Shore
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, at Klein Collins
Note: North Shore got a convincing 33-10 win over Alvin Shadow Creek in week one. The North Shore defense limited Shadow Creek to 3 rushing yards and 97 total yards. North Shore is ranked #4 in Class 6A. This week the Mustangs face Klein Collins, a team that was blown out 48-7 by #5 Humble Atascocita last week.
2022 DL Zac Swanson — Phoenix (Arizona) Brophy Prep
Friday, September 3 at 8:00, vs. Phoenix St. Mary’s
Note: This is Brophy Prep’s first game of 2021. Brophy Prep competes in Arizona’s largest conference, 6A, and with over 2,600 students it would be comfortably in Class 6A in Texas as well. Its week one opponent, St. Mary’s, has the numbers of a 3A school with less than 500 students, but on appeal it was allowed to compete in Conference 4A instead.
The Longhorns have had a very nice hit rate on the recruits they’ve signed from Arizona. Seven Arizona high school products have earned football letters at Texas, and of that group three played in the NFL (Gib Dawson, Mossy Cade, and Lyle Sendlein), three are in college now (Bijan Robinson and Brayden Liebrock at UT, and Jake Smith now at USC), and the other one (Austin Sendlein) played in 23 career games and recorded 47 total tackles.
2022 DE J’Mond Tapp — Donaldsonville (Louisiana) Ascension Catholic
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, vs. New Orleans (Louisiana) Sci Academy
Note: Tapp committed to Texas on Monday. His team beat Baton Rouge Episcopal 14-0 in their first game last week.
2022 DE/LB Derrick Brown — Texarkana Texas
No game
Note: The Texas Tigers limited the Tyler Lions to 128 yards of offense in a 24-10 win last week. Texarkana Texas High was originally scheduled to face cross-town inter-state rival Texarkana Arkansas High on Friday night, but due to a high amount of Covid cases in the community the game was canceled last week.
2022 LB Eoghan Kerry — Santa Ana (California) Mater Dei
No game
Note: A highly-anticipated matchup between Mater Dei and Texas powerhouse Duncanville ended up being a laugher, as Mater Dei won easily by a 45-3 score. Eoghan Kerry was credited with two tackles in the win. Mater Dei has no game this week but on September 10 Kerry will get to meet future Longhorn teammate Anthony Jones as Mater Dei takes on Henderson (Nevada) Liberty.
2022 DB Bryan Allen — Aledo
Thursday, September 2 at 7:00, at Frisco Lone Star
Note: Aledo, which competes in Class 5A Division II, easily beat Class 6A program Weatherford 47-7 in its first game. Aledo remains the top-ranked team in its classification and tonight will face Frisco Lone Star, the sixth-ranked team in 5A Division I.
2022 DB Austin Jordan — Denton Ryan
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, vs. Denton Guyer
Note: Denton Ryan, the defending state champion of Class 5A Division I, opened the season as that class’s top-ranked team and stomped fifth-ranked Longview 40-7 to kick off its title defense. This week, Ryan plays cross-town rival Denton Guyer, the 11th-ranked team in Class 6A.
2022 DB Ronald Lewis — New Orleans (Louisiana) Warren Easton
Friday, September 3 at 7:30, at Navarre (Florida)
Note: Warren Easton’s season opener last Friday against New Orleans Landry-Walker was not played, presumably due to Hurricane Ida. This week the Easton Eagles travel to Navarre, Florida, which is a short distance southeast of Pensacola.
In last week’s post I mentioned that UT has had one previous football letterman who came from Warren Easton High School, but I forgot that current true freshman receiver Casey Cain also went there, so by the time Ronald Lewis sees the field in Austin he may be the third alum of that school to earn a football letter at Texas.
2022 ATH Anthony Jones — Henderson (Nevada) Liberty
Friday, September 3 at 9:00, at Henderson (Nevada) Foothill
Note: Liberty had a second straight lopsided win last week when it blanked Canyon Springs High of North Las Vegas 40-0. Anthony Jones was credited with three total tackles and also had three receptions for 39 yards and a TD.
This week, the Liberty Patriots travel 14 miles east to fellow Henderson school Foothill. This will not only be Foothill’s first game of the 2021 season, it will be the school’s first game since November 15, 2019 when Liberty eliminated Foothill from the playoffs en route to winning that season’s 4A state championship. Nevada was one of the few states that did not play high school football at all in the 2020-21 school year.
2022 K Will Stone — Austin Regents School
Friday, September 3 at 7:00, at Pflugerville Connally
Note: Regents, the defending TAPPS Division II state champion, beat Tyler Grace Community 45-8 in its season opener last week. This week the Knights will face 5A Division II school Pflugerville Connally, who fell 23-21 in their first game against Austin High. The last time Regents faced a public school opponent was in 2019, when it came away with a 38-14 win over eventual 4A Division II state runner-up Wimberley. Considering that Regents’s last public school foe before Wimberley was Class 2A program Florence back in 2011, I’ll venture a guess that this will be Regents’s first time to play a 5A opponent.
2022 LS Lance St. Louis — Gilbert (Arizona) Williams Field
Friday, September 3 at 8:00, vs. Gilbert (Arizona) Higley
Note: Friday’s game against Higley will be Williams Field’s first game of 2021. The Black Hawks have beaten Higley in at least their last 11 straight matchups, but the two most recent ones were decided by a combined five points, including last year’s meeting, which Williams Field won 28-27.
Commits not playing this season
2022 RB Jaydon Blue (Klein Cain)
In May, Cain opted out of playing in the 2021 season. Unless there is a change with his status I will not be posting Klein Cain’s weekly schedule.
2022 DL Jaray Bledsoe (Marlin)
After previously attending Class 2A Division II school Bremond High School, Bledsoe transferred in the summer of 2021 to Marlin High School, which is 17 miles away and is currently in Class 2A Division I. He was later ruled ineligible for the 2021 football season, which likely means either Bremond or one of the schools in Marlin’s district protested that Bledsoe had made the move strictly for athletics. The U.I.L. denied his eligibility appeal in late August.
Bremond went 8-4 in 2020, Bledsoe’s junior season, while Marlin has a record of 10-30 over its past four seasons. To put it another way, Marlin has had the same number of losses in its last four seasons as Bremond has had in its last eleven! But sure, when a star athlete transfers from a school with recent state titles to one with a decidedly mediocre football program, it must be for athletic reasons.
Unless there’s an unexpected development and Bledsoe becomes eligible, I won’t be posting updates on Marlin’s season.
2022 LB Trevell Johnson (Arlington Martin)
After dealing with a hip issue for several months, Johnson announced on Monday that he would have surgery and will miss the rest of his senior season. Martin began the season ranked #9 in Class 6A, but after a 40-28 loss to Lake Travis in week one (which Johnson barely played in) the Warriors dropped to #14. With Johnson sidelined the rest of the 2021 season I will not be giving weekly updates on Martin’s season unless five-star 2023 cornerback Javien Toviano commits to Texas this fall.
