Don’t forget about San Antonio LB

Year after year, good quality players in San Antonio football get overlooked and underapprecaited. Converse (Texas) Judson outside linebacker/defensive end Travis Houston hopes to go a long way toward changing that perception. After just missing the Rivals100 Texas Top 100, the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder has quietly become one of the top players in the Lone Star State.

"When I was a freshman, I was just this tall and skinny kid," Houston said. "My coach at the time, coach Giddings, told me that if I worked hard that I would be able to play college football some day. He really kept on me, and kept working hard.

"Then when I came up to the senior campus, I was moved to defensive end, and I didn't know what I was doing. I was just this skinny freshman kid that ran around and got his head knocked in by the bigger seniors."

Then he finally started to get it.

To become the elite player that his coach thought he could become, Houston had to work harder than everybody else, add weight, add muscle and improve his quickness. He's done all of that and has now become one of the top propsects in San Antonio with scholarship offers on the table from Baylor, Tulane and UTEP.

"I knew I had to work harder than the other guys out there," he said. "I think the hard work is paid off. I'm very wide open now with the recruiting process. I've camped at Texas A&M and at the UTEP camp in San Antonio. They were both good learning experinces. I was running around at outside linebacker, and I learned a lot."

Outside linebaker is where Houston will likely end up at in college, despite playing end for Judson.

"I'm pretty sure I'll be an outside linebacker," he said.

"At Judson they need me to play end, so I do it. I would love a shot to go out there and be a linebacker in college. I love going out there and killing the quarterback."