After the 5A Division II state football championship game on Friday night between Aledo and Corpus Christi-Calallen was over, it seemed only fitting that the biggest player on the field was sporting the biggest smile.

Rivals250 offensive tackle Chuck Filiaga, who transferred to Aledo from California before the start of the season, found his way onto the right team, as Aledo won 24-16 en route to the program’s seventh state title.

“(Winning a state championship) is major over here – it’s really important,” he said. “I love the competition and Texas football definitely had a lot of competition for me throughout the year.”

Filiaga chose to postpone the release of the final three schools he’s considering committing to while his team has been focused on the state championship. Now that the game is over, his top-three will be revealed in next week’s episode of the web series, TitleTown, Texas.

The episode will drop on Wednesday morning.

“The three schools I’ll release, I am focused on them,” he said. “They have great academic support systems behind their back and great football programs to help me get to the NFL.”

Filiaga opted not take an opportunity to make a final official visit so that he can commit on January 7 during the Army All-American Bowl. He’s taken his other four to Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oregon.

On Texas, where he had an unofficial visit on 12/3

“They’re still there and everyone will find out where they’re placed at next week,” he said. “I’m still keeping in touch with Coach (Derek) Warehime and Coach (Tom) Herman. They’re a great staff and I think they have a great setup for a new Longhorns.”

On his official visit to Nebraska

“That was a great visit, I enjoyed them welcoming me into their home with open arms,” he said. “They have a great support system there as well.”

“Their coaching staff are all great guys,” he said. “They’re all lighting up guys, but if you do the work, they’ll be your friends. If you don’t, they’re not, but it’s just indescribable over there.”

Filiaga has had a lot of positive things to say about Nebraska, and Michigan’s follow-up in-home visit figures to put them in a good position as well. Whether or not Texas did enough to put itself in the final-three mix with a couple hours’ worth of meetings remains to be seen, as the new staff has had to work quickly to make up ground with many top targets in the post-Charlie Strong era. Oklahoma would likely be the third team in the mix if Texas doesn’t make the cut.