University of Houston Athletics
Briles' First Haul Has Distinct Texas Flair
2/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 5, 2003
Class of 2003 in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
University of Houston head football coach Art Briles today announced the Cougars have signed 24 high school seniors to National Letters of Intent with the group reporting this fall as the first signing class of Briles' tenure. More impressively, 23 of the 2003 signees hail from the State of Texas, with 12 soon-to-be Cougars arriving from the Greater Houston Area.
Even though his recruiting time was cut short because he and his staff were not on board at UH until mid-to-late December, Briles is quite impressed with the Class of 2003.
"I think if we would have had a full year (to recruit), I don't think we could've done much better," said the first-year head coach. "Our coaching staff really got out there and did a good job. All of our connections across the state really helped us.
"We really have a great class. We're really proud of it. We think it fits some needs that we were looking for. We're ready to get them on the field to see what they can do for the Cougars."
Headlining the haul from the Bayou City are two members of the Houston Chronicle's Top 100 list, linebacker/defensive end Da Vell Lauder from Smiley High School and Madison High School wide receiver Bennie Swain. Briles and his staff also hammered the Dallas Metroplex, signing running back Anthony Alridge from Denton High School, Fort Worth Crowley defensive lineman Marquay Love and the Stephenville High School tandem of defensive lineman John Harrell and quarterback Kevin Kolb.
The only non-Texan is Roderick Schwartz, a former quarterback at Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, Fla.
With his strong Texas ties, Briles feels it is a no-brainer to reap the benefits of the wealth of high school talent in the Lone Star State.
"Last time I checked, Houston was in Texas," laughed Briles. "It is natural process for us. Plus, we think some of the best high school football in the nation is played in Texas, So, we know these players. We know their coaches. We know what their abilities are, and they are guys that can win championships.
"That is what we're all about, trying to win championships. We're getting people that will help us get to the top, and we think we've got some good ones on board."
Typical in college recruiting, Briles and his staff concentrated on signing plenty of offensive and defensive linemen, bringing five on the offensive side and four on defense. The Cougars also will have four new linebackers next season, an area Briles wanted to hit heavily with Houston changing from a 4-2-5 defense to a standard 4-3.
The new offensive line additions include Jeff Akeroyd from Monterey High School in Lubbock, Port Arthur Memorial's Byron Alfred, Dustin Dickinson of Springtown High School, Westside High School's Beau Tuft and Jason Wagner of Keller High School. On the defensive side of the ball, the list includes the aforementioned Harrell, Lauder and Love, as well as Eddie McCray of Baytown Lee High School.
As for linebackers, Trent Allen of Spring Hill High School in Longview, Huffman-Hargrave's Austin Griffith (younger brother of current Cougar linebacker, Travis), Midland's Wade Koehl and Jason Price of Sanger High School in Denton join the pack this fall.
The Cougars also have added four wide receivers (Donnie Avery from Hastings High School, Jeff Fillmore from Brenham High School, Perry McDaniel of Frenship High School in Lubbock and Swain), three defensive backs (Gerard Price from Clear Creek High School, Marcus Ross of Sterling High School and Ricky Wilson from Port Arthur Lincoln High School) and two running backs (Alridge and Harold Taylor of Smiley High School).
"With our scheme here in the past, they've only used two linebackers," added Briles. "We're going to a 4-3 scheme, where we need three. They were a little light in that area in our standpoint on a personnel basis, not the players but the numbers. So, we tried to pick up a few numbers there.
"We're always going to recruit heavily in the offense and defensive lines, because that is going always going to be one of our main target areas every year. We did a good job of getting some great players in there."
Houston is scheduled to begin spring practice on Tuesday, March 11, with the annual spring rite-of-passage culminating in the Red and White Game on Saturday, April 5, at John O'Quinn Field at Robertson Stadium. The Cougars-who return 53 lettermen and 17 starters from last season's 5-7 squad-will kick off the 2003 campaign by playing host to crosstown rival Rice on Saturday, August 30, in the annual Administaff Bayou Bucket battle.
University of Houston Class of 2003
Name, Cl., Ht. , Wt., Pos., Hometown, Previous School
Jeff Akeroyd, Fr., 6-3, 270, OL, Lubbock, Texas Monterey HS
Byron Alfred, Fr., 6-3, 275, OL, Port Arthur, Texas Memorial HS
Trent Allen, Fr., 6-2, 210, LB, Longview, Texas Spring Hill HS
Anthony Alridge, Fr., 5-10, 165, RB, Denton, Texas Denton HS
Donnie Avery, Fr., 6-0, 180, WR, Houston, Texas Hastings HS
Dustin Dickinson, Fr., 6-4, 270, OL, Springtown, Texas Springtown HS
Jeff Fillmore, Fr. 6-1, 170, WR, Brenham, Texas Brenham HS
Austin Griffith, Fr., 6-1, 190, LB, Huffman, Texas Hargrave HS
John Harrell, Fr., 6-2, 285, DL, Stephenville, Texas Stephenville HS
Wade Koehl Fr., 6-2, 210, LB, Midland, Texas Midland HS
Kevin Kolb, Fr., 6-3, 230, QB, Stephenville, Texas Stephenville HS
Da Vell Lauder ,Fr., 6-3, 225, DL, Houston, Texas Smiley HS
Marquay Love, Fr. ,6-2, 295, DL, Fort Worth, Texas Crowley HS
Eddie McCray, Fr. 6-3, 225, DE, Baytown, Texas Lee HS
Perry McDaniel, Fr., 5-8 ,170, WR, Lubbock, Texas Frenship HS
Gerard Price, Fr. 5-10, 175, DB, Webster, Texas Clear Creek HS
Jason Price, Fr. 6-3, 195, LB, Denton, Texas Sanger HS
Marcus Ross, Fr., 5-11, 170, DB, Houston, Texas Sterling HS
Roderick Schwartz, Fr., 5-11, 180, ATH, Bradenton, Fla. Lakewood Ranch HS
Bennie Swain, Fr., 6-2, 175, WR, Houston, Texas Madison HS
Harold Taylor, Fr., 5-11, 185, RB, Houston, Texas Smiley HS
Beau Tuft, Fr., 6-6, 285, OL, Houston, Texas Westside HS
Jason Wagner, Fr., 6-6, 290, OL, Keller, Texas Keller HS
Ricky Wilson, Fr., 5-10, 180, DB, Port Arthur, Texas Lincoln HS
