These Fort Worth-area football programs produce the most college talent
Lists abound when National Signing Day finally arrives.
Media publications, recruiting websites, conferences and every college posts a rundown of who’s going where.
Since 2007, Fort Worth-area high school football players have signed 1,388 scholarships on Signing Day, with 443 going to Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
“I think high school football in Dallas-Fort Worth, as a whole, is the best in the country,” Arlington ISD athletic director Kevin Ozee said.
Arlington Martin leads the area with 41 FBS signees on the last 10 Signing Days, followed by Southlake Carroll (38), Arlington Bowie (36), Euless Trinity (34) and Mansfield Timberview (20).
Tarrant area's high school football factories
A look at the number of football players from area high schools who signed Letters of Intent on National Signing Day.
Martin coach Bob Wager “does an amazing job promoting his players,” Ozee said.
Among area school districts, Arlington ISD is No. 1 with 122 FBS signees. Mansfield ISD is second with 70, followed by Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD at 44.
High school football players can sign with a college for up to two months after Signing Day, but the numbers compiled by the Star-Telegram are a one-day snapshot. Wednesday is the next National Signing Day.
The Arlington ISD has a long history of finding opportunities for all students to attend college, said Ozee, whose father Ken Ozee coached at Sam Houston from 1989-99 and helped about 140 players get scholarships.
“We have tremendous support from campus and central office administration as well as our school board,” Ozee said. “Everyone understands that our job is to advance education, and if we can help any AISD student to get college funded via a scholarship, then we are living our mission.”
With 100 football scholarships at all levels, Euless Trinity tops the overall list.
Steve Lineweaver, who retired as Trinity’s head coach after the 2014 season, credited the Trojans staff for the school’s success.
“That was their off-season assignment,” Lineweaver said. “Any school — big, small, junior college, NAIA, whatever.
“It might come down to a college choosing one player or the other, so good, quality interaction makes the difference.”
Staff writers Kevin Casas, Brian Gosset, Matthew Martinez and Shawn Smajstrla contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 5:53 PM with the headline "These Fort Worth-area football programs produce the most college talent."