The first week of August finds the staff and players beginning drills shortly before their departure to Camp Socorro. Despite the start of drills, there is still news on the recruiting front.

Always looking for speed and athleticism, the Miners have extended an offer to Baltimore’s Dunbar HS defensive back, Terrance Williams. Nicknamed “Blaze”,  Williams is a sensational player with top end speed, body control and great leaping ability as the FinestPreps.com highlights clearly show. At 5-feet 10-inches and 170 pounds, he needs to strengthen and work on his fundamentals. At the high school level, Williams played wide receiver, some running back and is the starting free safety for his team.. Currently, Williams has offers from UTEP, Toledo and Youngstown State. Other schools showing interest include West Virginia, Marshall and Temple.

Another defensive back who has received an offer is Leander’s Martel Summers. Standing at 6-feet 1-inch and 186 pounds with 4.5 forty time, Summers has the attributes one looks for in a defensive back. Summers’ stock has been steadily on the rise as he attended several summer camps and received rave reviews from the coaches. He recently was offered by Northwestern and visited Texas State. With his size, range and speed, Summers would be a nice addition for Coach Patterson’s defense. Summers holds offers from New Mexico, Northwestern, Texas State and the Miners. Other schools showing interest are Tulsa, Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor.

Ridge Jones (5-feet 10-inches, 165 pounds), a wide receiver from Desoto, Texas, recently received a Miner offer. He reminds me of another Desoto wide receiver, Donovan Kemp.  Very similar to Kemp in that he is under the radar primarily, Jones has a 4.4 speed, needs work on receiving fundamentals and is an excellent student with a 3.6 GPA. Jones currently has offers from Louisiana-Monroe, Colorado State, North Texas and the Miners.

Currently, the Miners list three senior running backs at the top of the depth chart and are looking for help at this position. On their look lies is an intriguing, but troubled running back prospect out of Cuero, Texas. Trent Jackson (5-feet 10-inches,  195 pounds) has been on the varsity team since the 8th grade and has started since his freshman year. Last year, prior to suffering a season ending ACL knee injury, Jackson rushed for 829 yards, averaging 12.2 per carry with ten touchdowns. As a sophomore, Jackson rushed for 2,526 and 34 touchdowns, coming off a freshman campaign of 1,582 yards and 25 touchdowns. Since his freshman year, the honors have been piling up: 2009 Dave Campbell Top 20 Sophomore, 2010 Dave Campbell Top 100 Junior, 2011 Dave Campbell Top 20 Running Back and Division 3-A Player of the Year. After last year’s ACL injury, schools backed off to see how his knee would hold up. Jackson made a verbal commitment to A &M as a sophomore and was rumored to have a silent commitment with Alabama. Unfortunately, this year Jackson’s knee injury was overshadowed by two off field arrests. His legal issues will be determined late this summer as will his status with Cuero High School. No doubt Jackson has baggage, but if he has his act together, he could be a big time steal. Jackson is a fast, solidly built running back that excels inside and outside. He’s strong, maintains good balance and shows excellent ability to break tackles. Currently, BCS schools showing interest include Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Stanford, LSU, Texas Tech and LSU.  Three schools who are showing the most interest include UTSA, UTEP and Texas State. This could definitely be a high risk/high reward prospect.

UTEP66 can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com.