40 Acres Sports

Quarterback/athlete recruit [tag]Riley Dodge[/tag] has decommited from Texas and will follow his dad to Denton to play for the North Texas Mean Green. Riley, who is rated as a 3-star athlete, committed to the Longhorns back in February but this week reconsidered his decision.

This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, the chance to continue together at the next level has to be exciting for both Dodges. Also, despite an impressive career at Southlake Carrol, there was a good chance Riley would never get a chance to be a QB for the Longhorns. At [tag]North Texas[/tag] he’ll be able to come in and compete early on. Depending on how Riley progresses and how long Todd sticks around as coach, UNT could be set to dominate the Sun Belt Conference again.

He doesn’t have as much talent as some higher rated guys, but Dodge was still one of my favorite recruits in this class. I think he has the smarts, guts, and other intangibles to become a very good college quarterback. He should do very well for North Texas.

His change of heart puts Texas back down to 19 commits for the 2008 class, leaving open the possibility of taking three or four more to finish off the class. The Horns are still trying to land a stud linebacker (Lynn Katoa) and defensive end (Chancey Aghayere) plus a couple of wildcards. The recruiting season may be starting earlier and earlier, but it still finds a way to stay interesting all year long.

Apparently new Texas QB commit [tag]Riley Dodge[/tag] doesn’t just rely on his athleticism or arm strength to win football games, he’s got a secret weapon. And since it helped him out in the state title game, Riley figured he’d use it in his everyday life:

Watch the video on this post if you don’t know the back story. (via)

Texas picked up commitments number thirteen and fourteen for 2008 on Saturday as running back [tag]Tre Newton[/tag] and quarterback/athlete Riley Dodge told Mack Brown they’d be Longhorns. Both players of course have pretty good football bloodlines, Riley is the son of former Longhorn QB and current North Texas coach Todd Dodge and Tre is the son of former Dallas Cowboy Nate Newton. Neither player has ever lost a high school football game.

Newton is a big time running back who has great speed and size, lots of natural ability and big upside as well. Dodge is an athletic QB but might be more likely to end up as either a wide receiver or defensive back as a Longhorn. Both players are on schedule to graduate in December and be on campus in the spring. Video of each is posted below.

Tre Newton’s incredible 74-yard touchdown against Austin Westlake:

Riley Dodge leaves it all on the field in the same game: