UTSA announces 2015 football signing class

Larry Coker, UTSA head football coach

(Feb. 5, 2015) -- UTSA head football coach Larry Coker announced Wednesday, Feb. 4 that 37 highly-decorated student-athletes have signed on to join his program for the upcoming 2015 season, which will be the Roadrunners' third in Conference USA. The class, which is the largest in program history, is made up of 28 high schoolers (including five 2014 greyshirts & two early enrollees), eight junior college transfers and a Football Bowl Subdivision transfer.

New National Letters of Intent (NLI) signees included:

• Jess Anders(Aledo, Texas/Aledo HS)
• Baylen Baker (Abilene, Texas/Wylie HS)
• Shane Block (Yukon, Okla./Yukon HS)
• JaColbie Butler (Pearland, Texas/Pearland HS)
• Gabe Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake HS/Southwestern [Calif.] JC)
• Derrick Dick (College Station, Texas/A&M Consolidated HS)
• Darryl Godfrey (San Antonio, Texas/O'Connor HS)
• Matthew Guidry (League City, Texas/Clear Springs HS)
• Peyton Hall (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis HS)
• Manny Harris (Copperas Cove, Texas/Copperas Cove HS)
• DeQuarius Henry (Houston, Texas/Sharpstown HS)
• Avery Jackson (Austin, Texas/Johnson HS)
• JaCorie Jones (Port Arthur, Texas/Memorial HS)
• T.J. King (Irving, Texas/MacArthur HS)
• C.J. Levine (Port Arthur, Texas/Memorial HS)
• Andy Martel (Richmond, Texas/Foster HS)
• King Newton (Southlake, Texas/Carroll HS)
• Zach Pare (Georgetown, Texas/East View HS)
• Alex Snow (League City, Texas/Clear Lake HS)
• Halen Steward (St. Augustine, Fla./Menendez HS)
• Josiah Tauaefa (Corinth, Texas/Lake Dallas HS)
• JaBryce Taylor (Lufkin, Texas/Lufkin HS/SMU/Navarro [Texas] JC)
• Kelvin "Shaq" Williams (Madison, Miss./Central HS/Southwest Mississippi JC)
• Brett Winnegan (Pearland, Texas/Dawson HS)

Meanwhile, 13 student-athletes already are attending classes at UTSA this spring. The following students originally signed NLIs last February, but they elected to take a greyshirt during the 2014 season.

• Carl Austin III (Austin, Texas/St. Stephen's Episcopal HS)
• Joseph Brooks (San Angelo, Texas/Central HS)
• Blaze Moorhead (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints HS)
• Isaiah Santos (Spring, Texas/Klein Collins HS)
• Kelby Wickline (Stillwater, Okla./Stillwater HS)

Jaylon Henderson (Kingwood, Texas/Park HS) and Clayton Woods (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS) graduated high school early in order to join the program this spring.

The following are junior college transfers, and Dannon Cavil (San Antonio, Texas/Madison HS/Oklahoma) is a transfer from Oklahoma:

• La'Kel Bass(St. Louis, Mo./Christian Brothers HS/N.M. Military Institute/Hutchinson [Kan.] CC)
• Ben Kane (West Covina, Calif./South Hills HS/Citrus [Calif.] JC)
• Vontrell King-Williams (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel HS/Illinois/Butler [Kan.] CC)
• Jonathan Tuiolosega (Seaside, Calif./Seaside HS/Monterey [Calif.] Peninsula JC)
• Corbin White (Nettleton, Miss./Nettleton HS/Northeast Mississippi JC)

The group is highlighted by nine all-state honorees and the other 28 either earned all-area, all-district or all-conference accolades during their prep careers.

"The coaching staff did a very good job with this year's signing class," Coker said. "There is a tremendous amount of interest in UTSA Football and we once again were pleased with the reception we received every time we went out on the road. This class addresses needs on both sides of the ball and some of these players should be able to contribute right away this fall. Thirteen players enrolled for the spring semester and will participate in spring drills and I'm looking forward to having the rest of them on campus later this summer."

The class has the usual Texas flavor with 27 student-athletes hailing from the Lone Star State, including eight signees from the Greater Houston area, six from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, five from Central Texas, three from San Antonio, two from the Golden Triangle, a pair from West Texas and one from East Texas. Coker and his staff also reached out to a total of 10 out-of-state players that call California (three), Mississippi (two), Oklahoma (two), Florida (one), Illinois (one) and Missouri (one) home.

There is a near-even split between offense (19) and defense (18). The Roadrunners inked six receivers, six offensive linemen (four tackles/two centers), four running backs, two quarterbacks and a tight end. Meanwhile, the other side of the ball features nine linemen (five tackles/four ends), eight defensive backs (five safeties/three cornerbacks) and one linebacker.

Twenty-eight of the signees will be freshmen this fall, while eight will be juniors and one will be a sophomore.

"It has really been a pleasure to recruit these players because we have met some outstanding young men and wonderful families," Coker said. "The reception from the high school coaches we have met has been unbelievable and we cannot thank them enough for being so friendly and helpful during this important process."

The Roadrunners will kick off spring drills on Wednesday, March 18, and the fifth annual UTSA Football Fiesta Spring Game is scheduled to be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, at the Alamodome. UTSA will open its fifth year of play on Thursday, Sept. 3, at Arizona.

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This article was republished with permission from UTSA Athletics. View the original story at www.GoUTSA.com.

Click here to view a replay of the press conference.

Click here to view detailed information on the 2015 UTSA Roadrunners signing class.

Click here for a transcript from the Feb. 4 press conference.

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