Dawson back at Cass Tech

After a semester playing football at Cypress Ridge High in Houston, junior offensive lineman David Dawson has returned to where it all begin for him - Detroit Cass Technical School.

"I appreciate getting to play my last year of high school football with the kids I have been playing with since freshman year. I just feel good now that I am back home.

That is not to say Dawson did not appreciate his time spent at Cypress Ridge, playing against Texas high school competition. He earned all-conference accolades playing left tackle for the Rams and feels is better for having that experience on his résumé.

"I learned a lot from the coaches down there," Dawson said. "They were a nice coaching staff and they still call and check on me, so it was a win-win situation."

Playing a season in Texas also exposed Dawson to southern schools, and several of his early scholarship offers have come from teams in the southern portion of the country.

"Returning to Texas is definitely something I have thought about because I did like it when I was down there, but my options are still open right now," Dawson said.

The seven schools that have already offered Dawson include Eastern Michigan, Florida State, Syracuse, Indiana, Arizona State, Missouri and Baylor. He also feels Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Texas Tech could be close to joining that list.

"I think Texas Tech is right there," Dawson said. "I talked to them last week and they said they were close, then their offensive line coach ended up going to the NFL to coach the Dolphins. They got a new [offensive line coach] yesterday and sent him my film, so I should be close."

Of the schools that have offered, Dawson said he has gotten off to a good relationship with each coaching staff and talked about several of those schools.

"All the coaches I've been talking to are real cool, so I can't wait to go down to the campuses for visits and see how the campuses look," Dawson said. "Coach [Brandon] Shelby, Coach [Greg] Frey and Coach [Seth] Littrell at Indiana are all three cool guys. Coach K [Craig Kiligowski] at Missouri is real cool too.

"I talked with Florida State a couple weeks ago and Baylor was telling me about the kids they've been putting in the League the last couple years at the offensive line position. Talking with Coach [Tyrone] Wheatley, he's from the city of Detroit and a cool guy. We have a lot in common and I clicked with him a lot."

With the move from Houston back to Detroit, Dawson has done plenty of traveling in recent weeks and is not planning any junior days in the near future, but does expect to start setting up campus visits before too long.

"I'll talk with [Cass Tech] Coach [Thomas] Wilcher and see who is inviting me," Dawson said. "I probably won't make an junior days, but during spring ball is when I will probably make visits for the spring practices."