Boyette to visit AM, Texas
Humble (Texas) defensive tackle Paul Boyette Jr. is seeing his stock rise after colleges have gotten a hold of his highlight film from this past season. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound junior posted 61 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and five sacks for a very good Wildcat team.
Boyette has held offers from Alabama, Nebraska and Oklahoma for some time but he is now beginning to receive interest from the two teams that played in the national championship game.
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"I'm starting to hear from both Oregon and Auburn," Boyette said. "Oregon was saying how they were playing in the national championship and everything. They were asking me about my interest in them and everything."
While programs from all over the country have been inquiring about the athletic interior defender, it is three schools much closer to his Houston-area home that Boyette plans to visit soon.
"I'm going to the (Texas) A&M junior day on Jan. 29," he said. "I was supposed to go on the 22nd but I have to take my SAT that day. I'm going to Texas' junior day on Feb. 13.
"I was supposed to go to OU's junior day before but, the weather, it was snowing up there so my dad didn't want to have to drive through that. Coach (James) Patton said he was going to send some information to my coach about their next one."
The big lineman has ties to the Sooner program as his father, Paul Sr., played for Oklahoma. However, the younger Boyette is feeling no pressure to follow in the same footsteps.
"My dad played at OU," he said. "He walked on. He was there in 1979, I think. I sort of grew up an OU fan because he always liked OU, obviously. He doesn't try to push me anywhere though."
Boyette had previously listed Alabama as a heavy favorite. While he still likes the Crimson Tide, a recent development involving both their program and an in-state school has changed things a bit.
"I still like Alabama but I didn't know about (defensive line coach) Bo Davis leaving there to go to Texas," he said. "I saw him when he came by my school last Friday. I saw him in Longhorn gear and I was like, 'What?'
"He was the one who was recruiting me for Alabama. He was the one who offered me. He didn't tell me he was going to Texas and Texas was my No. 2 before that."
With Boyette having a junior day visit planned to Texas in a month, he says an early commitment is not out of the question should an offer be extended.
"It's a possibility for sure," he said of possibly committing to the Longhorns. "I've always been high on them and, with coach Davis, they are a school I really like right now. I could see myself committing. I wouldn't say it was 100-percent but I could see myself doing it if they offered me."