Desoto Football Deserves All The Respect In The World
As Oklahoma State fans, many of you are tuned into the Texas High School football scene and the hype that surrounds it.
Going to high school in north dallas and having this job covering recruiting on a daily basis, I can personally tell you the hype is real. If you have never watched a true Texas high school football game, I recommend you do in the near future.
If you are looking for a program or team to follow to get the full experience, look no further than Desoto High School.
Many of you are familiar with the name due to AJ Green, Chris Lacy, LD Brown, Jabbar Muhammad, and Dee Anderson all once calling Desoto home.
They are what you would call a pipeline for Oklahoma State with offers being sent to prospects at the school yearly and often cashing in.
Over the past decade, Desoto is 110-23 with several state championship appearances and one state title. Today, I was able to see close up what makes Desoto so good year in and year out.
It starts with the coaching staff and their unbelievable eye for talent and ability to develop young talent. Most high schools see their freshman for the first time when they step on campus at the age of 14.
4 up and coming underclassmen DB's - Left to right: Jamarion Ravenell, Devyn Bobby, Jaden Milliner-Jones, Caidon Mathis
Desoto knows the 7th and 8th graders that will be coming in and begins to work with them to develop physically and mentally. The coaches know what their future is going to be based on 2-3 years ahead of time.
By doing this they are also enabling college coaches and recruiters to get looks at incoming freshmen and underclassmen which is why you always see numerous Desoto freshmen with big time college offers.
This year however, it is slightly different. There are not just a couple of freshman and sophomores with offers… there is an abundance of them.
2023 standout athlete Johntay Cook - Holds Oklahoma State offer
At just about every position on the field for the Eagles and in nearly every grade, there are players with D1 offers. They are at the point where backups are being recruited by power 5 programs and they barely get time on the field at a young age.
But Desoto knows what they have and so do colleges.
Some of the upperclassmen Desoto has this year are:
Samari Collier - QB (Illinois Commit)
Shemar Turner - DE (39 offers - Uncommitted)
Byron Murphy - DT (19 offers - Uncommitted)
Lathan Adams - CB (Colorado State Commit)
Yakiri Walker - OG (UCONN Commit)
Some of the underclassmen Desoto has this year are:
Johntay Cook - WR - 2023 (8 offers including Oklahoma State)
DeMichael Porter - DB - 2023 (Kansas offer)
Xavier Lejeune - DB - 2023 (Kansas offer)
Jaden Milliner-Jones - DB - 2023 (Illinois State and SMU offers)
Devyn Bobby - DB - 2022 (Illinois State offer)
Dahlyn Jones - ATH - 2023 (Arkansas and Kansas offers)
Chris Henley - RB - 2022 (Illinois State offer)
Caidon Mathis - DB - 2023 (Kansas offer)
These are just a few of the names that will be featured in Desotos bright future, trust me there are more. Many of them are only 14 or 15 years old so they will be gaining offers for the next 3 years.
Claude Mathis, the head coach of the Eagles runs his program as if it were a college program. He has hired very qualified coaches and expects the most from them as well as his players. Even the way they run their practices and workouts is very similar to a college style practice.
Head Coach Claude Mathis with Colorado State commit Lathan Adams
He prepares kids for not only what they will see on Friday nights but Saturday nights as well.
Desoto also does a fantastic job of keeping their players' names relevant by having them introduce themselves to nearly every coach or media member that comes to watch them. The recruiting coordinator for the Eagles, Kerry Sweeny is very good at helping his kids grow their name and brand.
If you were to come from anywhere outside of Texas and look at a public school program with dozens of D1 recruits, you would say they were cheating, but no… this is just Texas 6A football.
It is where you will find the best players in the country year in and year out and it is a perfect reason why Oklahoma State recruits it so heavily.
There is a reason you look out there and see dozens of power 5 recruits on one team. They know what they are doing and their past has been excellent but their future may be even better.