Katy has more prospects after Dean
After running back Aundre Dean made his commitment to UCLA within the last few weeks, Katy (Texas) High School coach Gary Joseph has plenty of other prospects that coaches are coming down to check out this spring.
The list starts with the second commitment from Katy in offensive lineman Eric Ball. The 6-foot-3, 270-pounder picked up an early offer from Rice and decided to go ahead and make his decision before the summer.
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"Eric is an offensive center and he's got good flexibility but also, he's just a real intelligent kid," Joseph said. "He's one of our better football players on the offensive line. There were a lot of people interested; in fact Purdue is just in here today.
"But, with Rice, I think the biggest thing for him was the academics and it was close to home."
Ball was a first-team all-district pick last year. He spent some time at the quick tackle position and will be playing center for Katy this fall.
Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and safety Trent Hunter are also getting their fair share of attention.
"Bo is a drop-back quarterback," Joseph said. "We had (Andy) Dalton who went to TCU and Bo has about as strong of an arm as Dalton did. He's not as big as Andy, but the arm strength is very comparable.
"Trent is an aggressive kid, played some running back and also in the secondary for us. He's a three-year guy, so he's experienced and has played a lot of games for us. He's also a real smart, intelligent kid. He could probably go either way (cornerback/safety)."