Football: Permian sends 12 players to college ranks

In regaining a level of success on the field, the Permian football program also has drawn attention from college recruiters.

The Panthers had 12 seniors make their college commitments Wednesday, with three players bound for NCAA Division I programs.

Defensive ends Ross Forrest (TCU) and Austin Shaffer (Texas-El Paso) and wide receiver Melvis Pride (Sam Houston State) headed a large group that signed national letters of intent at the PHS library. Four more players are bound for Division II schools in the Lone Star Conference — linebacker Alex Lujan and offensive lineman Landon Sissel to Angelo State, offensive lineman Ira Wallace to Eastern New Mexico and wide receiver Joseph Knighten to West Texas A&M.

The other five players — defensive lineman Cori Branscum, quarterback Taylor Byrd, tight end Tyler Daughenbaugh, offensive lineman Rocky Garcia and running back Esai Sotelo — all are headed to NCAA Division III power Hardin-Simmons.

The group played key roles as the Panthers went 12-1 in 2007, winning their first outright district championship since 1994 and advancing to the third round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs. Permian head coach Darren Allman said a lot of work went into helping players get a chance to continue their careers.

“Our whole coaching staff feels strongly that that’s a part of our responsibility,” he said. “Not all of our football players are going to play in college, but those who are going we want to pull them along and hopefully pull along with them some guys that maybe weren’t going to have an opportunity without athletics. That’s what’s so exciting about this, seeing guys have an opportunity go some place that they’re wanted. They can make an impact for a team and we know that they’re going to good places where coaching staffs are going to take care of them.”

Forrest led Permian in sacks (10) and tackles for loss (16) in earning second-team all-state and first-team all-district honors.

He finished with 34 solo tackles, a fumble recovery that he returned for a touchdown and an interception in addition to batting down seven passes.

“I wanted to go to a school that competes with the best in the nation,” Forrest said of choosing the Horned Frogs. “They have great facilities, a great campus and I have family there. All that really helped me make my decision.”

Forrest played outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme as a junior before moving to end in a 4-3 set for his senior season.

“More than likely I’ll play defensive end,” he said. “It just depends on how my body develops. I’d like to play defensive end.”

Shaffer shared District 3-5A defensive MVP honors after recording 23 solo tackles with six sacks and 10 tackles for loss. He recovered three fumbles and intercepted a pass in addition to batting down seven passes.

The Miners targeted Shaffer early in the recruiting process, offering him a scholarship before the season.

“It’s a big relief to get it over with,” he said. “I’m glad I’m going to UTEP. I believe that’s the place for me to go.

“One of the deciding factors was that UTEP offered me early. That showed me that they saw what I could do and had interest in me. The bigger programs that came in later in the season, I think that was because they had somebody that had dropped and they had a backup plan. I didn’t want to be a backup plan and UTEP gave me a shot.”

Pride caught 38 passes for 687 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns despite missing almost four games with a foot injury. He also rushed for two touchdowns on the way to earning first-team all-district honors. He recorded Permian’s longest play of the year with an 80-yard touchdown catch against El Paso Montwood in the area round of the playoffs.

Like Shaffer, Pride went with a program that showed interest in him early on.

“When I was little, I always dreamed of playing D-I ball,” he said. “Sam Houston is a D-I team and they’re not a bad team, either. They’ve got a good quarterback (former Oklahoma starter Rhett Bomar) and some other good players.

“They’ve been interested in me since I went to their football camp last year. That meant a lot.”

A three-year starter, Lujan had 78 solo tackles to lead the Panthers for the second year in a row. He had four sacks and 11 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and an interception. Lujan was a first-team all-district pick and received honorable mention on the all-state team.

Knighten, a transfer from Coppell, matched Pride with 38 receptions, gaining 538 yards and scoring five touchdowns. He had six catches for 104 yards and a TD against Amarillo Tascosa.

Garcia, Wallace and Sissel were part of a line that helped the Panthers average 427.5 yards and 42.8 points per game despite the lack of any skill-position players with outstanding numbers. Permian did not have a 1,000-yard back or receiver, but had seven players gain more than 400 yards from scrimmage.

Byrd, the District 3-5A offensive MVP, set Permian season records for pass completions (163), attempts (278), yards (2,449) and regular-season yards (1,854) as well as rushing yards by a quarterback (820). He became the first Permian quarterback with at least 20 touchdowns rushing (22) and passing (21), and had two games with at least 100 yards rushing and passing. He set Permian single-game records for passing yards (328 vs. Amarillo High), completions (22 vs. Odessa High) and completions in a playoff game (20 vs. Mansfield High).

Branscum anchored the middle of the defensive line, recording 44 solo tackles with a sack and five tackles for loss. He had two fumble recoveries and also ran for a first down on a fake punt against Abilene Cooper.

Sotelo rushed for 587 yards and three touchdowns as a senior. In three varsity seasons, he had 623 yards and four TDs on 103 carries and caught three passes for 30 yards.

Daughenbaugh emerged as a receiving threat late in the season, finishing with nine catches for 128 yards. He caught four passes for 60 yards in Permian’s bi-district victory against Mansfield.

“I’ve tried to explain to these guys that if they want to go play college football, there’s a place for any of them that are good players coming out of high school,” Allman said. “It’s very difficult to get a Division I scholarship and we had a few of those, but there’s a place in Division II or Division III that these guys can go play, get a good education and make impacts.

“I think it says a lot about our assistant coaches who coach these guys in their positions. Coach (Matt) Anastasio works as a recruiting coordinator and takes care of those duties year-round because we know how important it is to these guys and their families. Hopefully, we’ve done right by them and done all that we could do to get them to the best place we could.”