Zowie, GT recruit rushes for 1200 yds & 13 TDs

GT Ace

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& he's playing QB? Yep, Al Pena RAN for 1200 yds in his Sr season & scored 13 TDs running. Hard to believe, ain't it? At least we know that if Ball & Carter are all they're built up to be then Pena can find a place @ Tech as a RB.
Pena also passed for 1600 yds with 11 TD passes. That is one HECK of a Sr season. He set Leander HS's total offense record. Gotta believe he will be 3rd in line, at worst, during '03, behind Bilbo & Suggs. This Spring will give him a leg up on Ball & Carter for '03, but not thereafter.
Here's a neat article contributed by AlaGTech. Talks about the 'outstanding' camp Pena had @ Texas Tech. U have to scroll down a ways.

Pena has outstanding Tex Tech camp
 

GTTerrific

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Great find again in that article GTAce.

When I first heard of this total senior stats on signing day I was.....


There are a few on this board that can tell us about the HS football in that area south of Austin TX and north of San Antonio TX where Al played at Leander. Techsamillion and oldfoggy have good insight to the area. I have a good friend that lives in Lockheart TX, just east of there. I'm excited about this recruit. Him putting up that kind of numbers is impressive, especially the balance running and throwing. In tape of him his footwork and ball movement looked sharp. When I heard about the hard work he put in to graduate early to enroll at GT in Jan, it just put icing on the cake. Excited to see what he can do.

Go Jackets!
 

oldfoggy

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Well actually Leander is west of Austin unless they moved it since last Wed. Football in that area (Austin) is almost like a god given right. We should have looked at Round Rock a few years back they were state champs and had some big guys to Texas, Ok, and a few others. In San Antonio you could stock a pretty good Div 1 team right here from schools like Judson, John Jay, John Marshall, Smithson Valley and a bunch more so you'll come and tell CG to recruit this area as Tech has a fine reputation here.
 

GTTerrific

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oldfoggy, I stand corrected. Looked it up on map, and Leander is indeed north west of Austin just outside the city limits. Thought it was south just west of I-35 heading to San Antonio.
 

CrackerJacket

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Pena doubled up on his course load and took a few
community college classes in order to graduate early
and get to Tech this semester. He definitely took a
tough route and didn't shy away from the work.

This kid WANTS to be here in the worst way.

Gotta love that!
 

oldfoggy

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It's ok GTT I really should have said north west of Austin in fact it's almost due west of Georgetown. But the point is there are bunch of good to great players here in Texas and Tech is well thought of here so we should really hit this area hard. I try to talk up Tech as much as I can but I'm only one person and have only been back to TX for a few months now and I figure I don't make much of an impact with the players.
 

cropdusterengineer

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I saw a great article yesterday that said (and forgive my butchering of the exact numbers) that there were 300 something kids from Texas who signed with Div I schools this year, and there are 400 something class 4A and 5A high schools in Texas. Its a pretty good assumption that the BEST football player on each team is a pretty damn good ball player.

Div I schools simply CAN'T GET ALL THE TALENT! There are LOTS of very talented kids who never even get looked at. Theres plenty of talent to go around!

Go Jackets!
 

oldfoggy

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CDE, you got it a 2/3 star here is probably equivalent to a 4 star in a lot of states. Example my birth state of Ga. When you have 400 to 500 a year a one star here is pretty darn good. Could probably play Div 1 any where. I saw in the SA paper here that all area top 50 received scholarships for football.
 

GT Ace

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Cropduster, the past coupla yrs Texas has had 320+ sign Div1A scholarships & many, many more sign div1aa 'ships. 2nd most recruited state in the Union, behind Cal. There are a lot of div1a teams in Tex (10), but the majority of the Big12 is made up of Texans, as well.
The real 'bonanza' of Texas is the no pass-no play rule. Almost every signed Tex player is qualified. There are very few who don't grad after signing 1A. Great state to recruit as they take FOOTBALL & EDUCATION seriously.
The 'big boys' always get top recruits from Tex (Notre Dame, UCLA, Stanford, Miami, et al). Dozens of recruiting budgets are made up with many trips to Tex included, but not everyone can recruit there. GT was shut out for many yrs & it seems that the ones who don't recruit there regularly just can't get a foothold. Strange.
Beg to differ slightly on your last paragraph. When recruiting's over, there are very few, if any, Div1A recruits left unsigned. Texas is so heavily recruited, with so many very good football players there, that there is not a rock unturned in this state. If they can play 1A they get signed.
 
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