Hughes Signs Debut Class

West+Texas+A%26M+head+football+coach+Hunter+Hughes+discusses+the+recruiting+class+on+Feb.+1+in+the+Buffalo+Room+at+the+First+United+Bank+Center.

Nick Alvarado

West Texas A&M head football coach Hunter Hughes discusses the recruiting class on Feb. 1 in the Buffalo Room at the First United Bank Center.

Austin Heinen, Former Associate Editor

Head coach Hunter Hughes has brought in his first signing class at West Texas A&M. This year’s class boasts 31 signees all but two are from Texas, providing any further late signees come.

Having been hired about two months ago, Hughes worded that he and his staff were working “behind the 8 ball”. Nonetheless, Hughes and his staff gladly accepted the challenge and were pleased with what they have and spoke about how they got the results.

“You just go to work,” Hughes said. “You find guys, and get people out there to talk to them. The guys we have on staff are not afraid to work. We’ve had some long nights, some early mornings. We wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t our goal to find the right guys who are going to come in for us and make us successful.”

From day one, Hughes discussed how he would look for athletes who not only performed well on the field, but off the field as well. The incoming class averages at a 3.19 GPA. With a stat like that, Hughes has made it clear on how import class room success is to the program as well.

“As I’ve said if you’re good off the field it means you’re going to be good on the field,” Hughes said. “I think you got to find character guys that know school is important, because they are here to graduate. I think that our players we have now are understanding that. With the academic game plan we have set for them we’ve stressed that to the guys coming in. There are going to be some at risk players coming in but we understand that but we think we have a program for those guys to be successful when they come in here.”

All but two signees are from here in Texas, which perhaps is expected. A great thing to see is also the number of incoming players who are from local areas in the panhandle. Hughes spoke about how big of a goal this was to him.

“My goal is to keep all of the local guys here,” Hughes said. “I know that’s not always going to happen because sometimes people want to get away from home. We wanted to keep guys close, thought it was important to keep them close and I want to keep doing that. We have to make sure we have a strong impression and strong recruiting push. We’re going to try to lock this place down.”

Hughes spoke very highly of many recruits for many reasons. Does that mean we may see some of them making an immediate impact? Maybe.

“It depends on if they are physically and mentally ready to play,” Hughes said. “If they’re one of the best 11 or 22 guys we have on offense or defense, then they’ll play. I’m not going to put a guy out there who isn’t ready to play because I don’t want them to be disappointed in the game. When I say ready I don’t just mean on the field, they have to be able to handle the workload in the class room and the field in order to be successful in all phases of life.

Most of the class is expected to start working out on campus this summer. Spring football is scheduled to begin in late March. A full list of the incoming recruits can be seen below.

WT Football 2017 Signees

 

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown High School
Armani Crosby RB 5-10 200 Sugar Land, Texas Fort Bend Christian HS
Seth Greer OL 6-3 280 Clarendon, Texas Clarendon HS
Brandon Blair RB 5-9 175 Spring, Texas Klein Oak HS
Daven Manning RB 5-10 195 San Angelo, Texas San Angelo Central HS
Derek Ditto LB 6-3 215 Dumas, Texas Dumas HS
Khayman Johnson OL 6-0 280 Houston, Texas North Shore HS
Luis Torres K 6-0 155 Perryton, Texas Perryton HS
Cody Gary FB 6-0 245 Jacksboro, Texas Jacksboro HS
Harold Watson DB 5-11 170 Converse, Texas Converse Judson HS
Adam Cook TE 6-3 235 Rio Rancho, NM Cleveland HS
Reagan Hill QB 6-4 190 Amarillo, Texas Amarillo HS
Renick Hill WR 6-3 200 Amarillo, Texas Amarillo HS
Tyler Gray RB 5-9 170 Brock, Texas Brock HS
Joseph Barron LB 6-0 220 Midland, Texas Midland HS
Lord Tripp DL 6-2 230 San Antonio, Texas Jay HS
Ayrton Payne DB 5-10 175 Houston, Texas St. Pius X HS
Parker Hanna OL 6-6 250 Stratford, Texas Stratford HS
Tyler Robertson DB 5-11 170 Forney, Texas Dallas Christian HS
Cody Gattis WR 6-2 165 Amarillo, Texas Randall HS
Bryce Wade TE 6-6 240 Albuquerque, N.M. Eldorado HS
Dalton Gumina DL 6-3 250 Spring, Texas Klein Oak HS
Justin Mayo OL 6-5 280 Fort Worth, Texas Brewer HS
Wrangler Haresnape LB 6-2 205 Plainview, Texas Plainview HS
Eric Douglas DL 6-2 225 Mansfield, Texas Mansfield HS
Octavius Brown WR 6-4 190 Dallas, Texas Spruce HS
Eric Collins LB 6-4 195 Dallas, Texas Bishop Dunne HS
Kobe Morrow RB 5-10 195 Rowlett, Texas Rowlett HS
Xavier Rivera DL 6-3 305 Abernathy, Texas Abernathy HS
Kadrian Seaton DB 6-2 180 Rowlett, Texas Rowlett HS
Kailan Noseff WR 6-3 185 Lubbock, Texas Monterrey HS
Kyndan Lott TE 6-3 235 Lefors, Texas Lefors HS
Daniel Hammons OL 6-4 240 Joshua, Texas Godley HS