Texas OT combines brains, brawn

Junior to Watch: Matt Owens

School: Lockhart, Texas

Position: Offensive Tackle

Size and speed: Owens is 6-foot-5, 300 pounds that ran a 5.2 hand held timed 40-yard dash on the high school track.

Statistics: In his junior season his school didn't keep track of pancakes for offensive linemen, though he estimated that the backs rushed for a total of 1,500 yards and the line allowed 15 quarterback sacks total, two of which he gave up personally. He played defensive tackle for the first five games, recording 15 tackles, 10 assists, two fumble recoveries and one caused fumble.

Honors: Owens made second team all-district and academic all-district.

Strong Points: "I would say my strongest point is my pass blocking, though I think I'm very aggressive as a run blocker and have good leadership skills." He described himself as an aggressive player, comparing his style of play to Tony Boscelli, now of Houston.

Favorite Schools: He is getting mail from from TCU, Iowa, Oklahoma and Missouri weekly. He is also getting occasional mail from SMU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Rice. He has also received letters from most of the Ivy league, Texas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Kansas. Coaches from TCU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Rice have visited Lockhart.

His only (unofficial) visit so far has been to TCU.

"If I had to decide today, it would be TCU that I'd go to," he said.

He'd like to make his five official visits to:

Iowa: "They've been recruiting longer than the rest, and they're recruiting really hard with two to three letters a week."

TCU: "I liked the campus and the coaches when I visited there, and they have also been recruiting me very hard."

Oklahoma: "They're the big name school on the list."

Missouri: "I sent them film, and the coach replied with a hand-written letter, plus they're a Big 12 school."

SMU: "Because I have a friend there, and he has nothing but good things to say about them."

Quotes and Comments: "Distance will not really be a factor, as I'm going to probably mainly just look at the size of the school, since I prefer a smaller one. Texas and Texas A&M are probably the largest schools I would consider."

He plans to attend camp at SMU, TCU and Texas A&M.

His dream school, if they were to offer, would be Texas.

He plans to major in secondary education, in order to be a high school football coach.

He has set his sports goal as not allowing a sack all season and making the playoffs.

He benches 260 pounds, squats 420 pounds and has a 20 inch vertical leap.

He has a cumulative GPA of 3.72 and an SAT score of 1,100.