To some players, it was the most important decision of their careers. To others, it was a no brainier.
The TJC Apaches had 10 players who have signed to four-years colleges looking to have the same career as they did when they was here at TJC, but at a higher level.
Players who signed to four-year colleges were Drew Chasney (Mississippi College), Jake King (Alabama State), Broderick Marshall (Texas Tech), George Pierson (Kansas State), Jason Teague (Texas Christian University), Chris Koehler and Josh Zamora both signed at Henderson State, Kyle Roget, Ryan Roget, and Daniel Seahorn have all signed to University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“The players that we have leaving are very valuable to the team. All the players that signed to four-year colleges are really important to us, and it is our job to recruit to fill in for the players that move on,” said Associate Head Coach Ryan Mahon.
And that is exactly what the Apaches did, signing over 40 players from all over the nation.
“I feel that we sign really well. We sign a whole bunch of District MVPs and Defensive MVPs, and all that good stuff. The position that we focus on the most, is what we really did well on signing,” said Mahon.
The position that the TJC Apaches focused on was the Offensive Line where they recruited nine players and Defensive Line where they recruited 10.
“For the most part, I think that we did a good job of just finding the parts I think that we needed to take care of. We really did an excellent job of attacking that and executing really what we needed to get done.”
The Apaches signed players like Man Allison (Carthage High School), Don Brown (West Monroe), Gregory Dixon (Chavez High School), Zack Hare (Lewisville High School), Bart Henderson (Whitehouse High School), Jamaal Johnson (Chavez High School), Eric King (Kilgore High School), Ross Stevens (Gilmer High School), Rick Thomas (Kilgore High School), Roger Trammell (Lewisville High School), Phillip Blake (Toronto, Canada), Aaron Mohammad (Arlington Heights High School), Teric Williams (Paul Pewitt High School), and the two biggest name on the list is Brian Eurysthee (Chavez High School), and Chris Lenoir (Clements High School).
In his junior year, Chris Lenoir had 256 carries for 1,601 yards with 17 touchdowns and his senior year he had 273 carries for 1,883 yards and 28 touchdowns. Brian Eurysthee is a speedy running back that had 140 carries for 703 yards with eight touchdowns his junior year and 143 carries for 857 yards with nine touchdowns his senior. They both were District MVPs.
The TJC Apaches were 5-4 last season and look to get the program back where it needs to be. And hopefully with all the talent that they got coming in, they should be able to accomplish that goal.
“It is just a building process. You know Coach Palmer was new last year. This is his first year so hopefully we can add on to what we did last year and make it better this coming up season,” said Mahon.
