Yesterday Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle had a running recruiting post on the paper's Mean Green Blog, full of updates on various UNT targets. I read through it because it had an update on UNT commit Eli Howard (San Angelo Central), who I've mentioned here several times, and some other players of note. At the bottom of the report Vito mentioned 2015 LB William LeMasters (Dallas Parish Episcopal), who was a visitor in Denton over the weekend and has a lot of interest from UNT, but at this point only has a preferred walk-on offer from them with their numbers being tight. The note on LeMasters also mentioned that he'd received interest from UTSA.
I managed to get in touch with LeMasters on Sunday evening and ask him about how serious UTSA's interest was. Here's some of what he had to say:
"They [UTSA] were showing a lot of interest right after the end of my football season, which ended rather recently since we won state." [Note: Parish Episcopal won the TAPPS Division II state title this past season, and has enough studs in its lower classes that it will likely be favored to repeat in 2015.]
"Coach Neathery and Coach Roark both visited me at school multiple times and told me they thought I was the best linebacker in Dallas. The last time I talked to them was around two weeks ago or possibly more, and they said that they had all their offers out and they were unable to give me one at the time, so they offered me a preferred walk-on and said that if an offer came available they would give it to me."
At this point, (FCS) Marist College is his only D1 offer, and barring any more offers, his decision will likely come down to that school and UNT, but he said that "if UTSA came back into my recruitment I would consider them as a very high choice."
With LB target Austin Corbett committing to SMU over the weekend, that's one less outstanding LB offer for UTSA, though it remains to be seen if they will now offer LeMasters or any other LB on their board, and time is running out for them to do so with signing day a mere nine days hence.
As it happens, I saw LeMasters in person last fall, as the very first high school game I watched in the 2014 season was Parish Episcopal taking on public school Carrollton Ranchview. Going into the game, LeMasters wasn't on my list of players to watch, but it was hard to not notice him, as the PA man seemed to call his name on about every third defensive play, and he ended the game with 18 or 19 total tackles.
LeMasters probably won't wow anyone athletically, and at 6'1" 215 (his self-reported measurements) he has more than decent but not great size for the LB position. What he does, though, is pursue and get to the ball and make tackles, and he's what coaches would simply call, "a football player". He made TAPPS All-State at both linebacker and tight end. In 2014 he was credited with 134 tackles, 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a blocked punt, and also caught 27 passes for 397 yards and 7 TDs. A college tight end, he's not, but if LB didn't work out he has the size, hands, and physicality to possibly play at H-back or fullback. For UTSA's purposes I think he's a Hawk LB.
Take a look at his highlights and see what you think. If you're on the UTSA staff and have 3-4 spots you can fill in the class, is he a guy you'd offer and try to get onto campus for a visit this weekend?
This post was edited on 1/26 7:37 AM by Jonathan Wells
William LeMasters' senior highlights
I managed to get in touch with LeMasters on Sunday evening and ask him about how serious UTSA's interest was. Here's some of what he had to say:
"They [UTSA] were showing a lot of interest right after the end of my football season, which ended rather recently since we won state." [Note: Parish Episcopal won the TAPPS Division II state title this past season, and has enough studs in its lower classes that it will likely be favored to repeat in 2015.]
"Coach Neathery and Coach Roark both visited me at school multiple times and told me they thought I was the best linebacker in Dallas. The last time I talked to them was around two weeks ago or possibly more, and they said that they had all their offers out and they were unable to give me one at the time, so they offered me a preferred walk-on and said that if an offer came available they would give it to me."
At this point, (FCS) Marist College is his only D1 offer, and barring any more offers, his decision will likely come down to that school and UNT, but he said that "if UTSA came back into my recruitment I would consider them as a very high choice."
With LB target Austin Corbett committing to SMU over the weekend, that's one less outstanding LB offer for UTSA, though it remains to be seen if they will now offer LeMasters or any other LB on their board, and time is running out for them to do so with signing day a mere nine days hence.
As it happens, I saw LeMasters in person last fall, as the very first high school game I watched in the 2014 season was Parish Episcopal taking on public school Carrollton Ranchview. Going into the game, LeMasters wasn't on my list of players to watch, but it was hard to not notice him, as the PA man seemed to call his name on about every third defensive play, and he ended the game with 18 or 19 total tackles.
LeMasters probably won't wow anyone athletically, and at 6'1" 215 (his self-reported measurements) he has more than decent but not great size for the LB position. What he does, though, is pursue and get to the ball and make tackles, and he's what coaches would simply call, "a football player". He made TAPPS All-State at both linebacker and tight end. In 2014 he was credited with 134 tackles, 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a blocked punt, and also caught 27 passes for 397 yards and 7 TDs. A college tight end, he's not, but if LB didn't work out he has the size, hands, and physicality to possibly play at H-back or fullback. For UTSA's purposes I think he's a Hawk LB.
Take a look at his highlights and see what you think. If you're on the UTSA staff and have 3-4 spots you can fill in the class, is he a guy you'd offer and try to get onto campus for a visit this weekend?
This post was edited on 1/26 7:37 AM by Jonathan Wells
William LeMasters' senior highlights
