Spavital, Bobcats pleased with 2019 recruiting class

Texas State head coach Jake Spavital couldn’t be happier with how his staff put together the 2019 recruiting class. 

The Bobcats added four more signees on Wednesday’s National Signing Day — wide receiver Kenny Frazier (Opelousas HS/ Opelousas, La.), wide receiver Micah Hilts (Vista Ridge HS/ Colorado Springs, Colo.), 2-star safety/wide receiver DeJordan Mask (Arkansas HS/Texarkana, Ark.) and 2-star defensive lineman Jordan Revels (North Shore HS/Houston). 

“I couldn’t be more pleased with how (the coaching staff has) been in terms of putting together this recruiting class on a short term,” Spavital said. “So, (the coaches have) been here for two months, some of them have been here for three weeks, and we put something together that we’re comfortable with right now. I’m very pleased with how this staff has handled that.” 

Texas State has a total of 14 signees in the class, including the 10 that  signed during the early period in December: 3-star defensive back Kevin Anderson (Lewisville HS/ Lewisville), 3-star wide receiver Dylan Jantz (Gunter HS/ Gunter), 3-star offensive lineman Dalton Cooper (Prague HS/ Prague, Okla.), 3-star running back Calvin Hill (Sterling HS/ Baytown), 2-star quarterback Gresch Jensen (Fullerton College/ Fullerton, Calif.), 2-star defensive lineman Devin Henderson (La Porte HS/ La Porte), 2-star quarterback Cedric Case (Lincoln HS/ Lincoln, Neb.), 2-star offensive lineman Eddie Rivas (Glendale CC/ Glendale, Ariz.), 2-star defensive lineman Devin Martinez (Belton HS/ Belton) and 2-star offensive lineman Ronald Copney (Smithson Valley HS/ Spring Branch). 

“I thought the staff has done a remarkable job in just looking where we’re at,” Spavital said. “Don’t take a kid just to take kid. All of these kids that we have signed, we had previous relationships with where these guys on our current staff had these relationships at the previous universities they were at with these kids. That’s what we wanted to talk about as a staff, when I finally got them in, was don’t rush into anything. Let’s get some guys that are going to come in right away, they’re going to help and just understand what kind of type of kid they are and if they can fit the culture that we’re trying to create here at Texas State.”

While Spavital is happy with this recruiting cycle, he said it was difficult to put together a class in short amount of time. 

“That first signing period was a lot of just honoring some previous commitments and just kind of figuring out what we got,” Spavital said. “That’s the most difficult part. It is kind of a blessing in disguise to be here, November 28th is when I took the job, you have about 15 days to kind of look through it all, which gave you time. Most coaches just come in after the first signing period and they just kind of base it off of that. But I did have a little bit of time to look through it all, get the staff in, have some great discussion in between the first and second signing period to put this together.” 

Spavital said the Bobcats are sitting at 83 scholarship players. He plans to evaluate and see if Texas State needs to add any more to the team. He hopes this class can make an immediate impact. 

“You want these kids to come in and contribute immediately but at times you’re going to have to redshirt them,” Spavital said. “You’re going to have to build a program and that’s kind of up to where we’re at. And that’s why I hold a few scholarships just to make sure that if we need somebody come and play right away, we’ve got the availability to go find somebody.”

Notes: Spavital announced Texas State will begin spring practice on Sunday, March 3. He’ll hold six practices before spring break and nine afterward. 

Texas State’s annual Maroon & Gold game will be held on Saturday, April 13 inside Bobcat Stadium.