The Cougars reloaded for the 2009 season by signing 25 recruits, 23 of whom have Texas ties, on Wednesday’s National Signing Day.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin began his second season at UH by bolstering his offensive and defensive lines. He was able to grab a lot of this talent from the Houston area, which yielded 15 recruits.
‘We’re going to win with local guys and Texas guys,’ Sumlin said. ‘We feel like all of these guys are going to come in and have an impact in their careers and some of them will have an impact next year.’
Among the Cougars’ biggest signings are junior offensive lineman Roy Watts (Navarro Junior College) and wide receiver A.J. Dugat (Dayton High School).
Watts, who was rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, is expected to make an immediate impact for an offensive line that lost three of its starters. The 6-6, 300-pound tackle was named a junior college All-American after helping lead Navarro to a 10-1 record in 2008.
Dugat, who is listed as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, was named a Parade All-American after propelling Dayton to the Class 4A Division II state championship game, where it lost to Sulphur Springs. He recorded 1,755 receiving yards, 642 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior, winning his second District 19-4A Most Valuable Player award and third all-district first-team honor. The 6-0, 188-pound Dugat runs a 4.5-second 40-yard dash.
‘A.J. is a very, very exciting player with the ball in his hands,’ Sumlin said. ‘He is a guy I would call a ‘wire-to-wire’ player, a threat to score anytime he can get the ball into his hands.’
Junior quarterback Case Keenum is safely entrenched as the Cougars’ starter, but Sumlin scooped up two more Texas quarterbacks Wednesday. Drew Hollingshead (Rockwall-Heath HS) and Broderick Thomas Jr. (Houston Madison HS) will enter UH in the fall, though it’s likely that Thomas will move to wide receiver, where he’ll be joined by Madison teammate Jeffery Lewis and James Cleveland (Trinity Valley Community College).
The Cougars’ other three-star recruits include linebacker George Bamfo (Rockwall Heath HS), defensive backs Jacky Candy (Coffeyville CC) and Devin Mays (San Francisco CC), offensivelinemen Ty Cloud (Flower Mound Marcus HS) and Jarve Dean (Coffeyville CC), running back Charles Sims (Houston Westbury HS), tight end Tyler Chambers’ (San Antonio Mac Arthur HS), defensive lineman Radermon Scypion (Port Arthur Memorial HS) and DeAnthony Sims (Houston Westbury HS).
‘For coaches, this is like Christmas,’ Sumlin said. ‘I think this group of young men that we have are extremely athletic and a good group of players, and we’re excited about them.’
Welcome aboard
The following players are just a few out of several high school seniors who will wear Scarlet and Albino White next fall
Radermon Scypion ‘- defensive end ‘- Port Arthur Memorial HS
Zeke Riser ‘- defensive end ‘- LaVernia High School
Tyrone Campbell ‘- defensive tackle ‘- Channelview HS
DeAnthony Sims ‘- defensive tackle ‘- Houston Westbury HS
Kelvin King III ‘- linebacker ‘- Aleif Taylor HS
Phillip Steward ‘- linebacker ‘- Fort Bend Hightower HS
George Bamfo ‘- linebacker ‘- Rockwall Heath HS
Steven Robertson ‘- linebacker ‘- Cleveland HS
Thomas Bates ‘- defensive back ‘- Baytown Lee HS
Ty Cloud ‘- offensive lineman ‘- Flower Mound Marcus HS
Keenan Flax ‘- offensive lineman ‘- Cypress Ridge HS
Kevin Forsch ‘- offensive lineman ‘- Klein Oak HS
Ralph Oragwu ‘- offensive lineman ‘- Fort Bend Marshall HS
Chrles Sims ‘- running back ‘- Houston Westbury HS
Tyler Chambers ‘- tight end ‘- San Antonio MacArthur HS
A.J. Dugat ‘- wide receiver ‘- Dayton HS
Drew Hollingshead ‘- quarterback ‘- Rockwall Heath HS
Broderick Thomas, Jr. ‘- quarterback ‘- Houston Madison HS