Posted June 30th, 2007 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Recruiting
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.
reply to #1
Karman
June 30th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I know he has won 3 state Championships, but i am glad he decommitted. That is one extra scholarship we can give out to a 4 or 5 star and we dont need an extra QB anyways. Hopefully Mack Brown will give that scholarship to Lynn Katoa.Plus he was kind of an the small side,but i do respect him for being so good for his size and having a winning reputation. Hook’Em Horns
reply to #2
Brian
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
I’m a bigger fan of Riley’s than you then and I’m more worried about QB depth as well. In my opinion, you should sign a quarterback in every class no matter who you have on campus.
I think there’s scholarships for Katoa and Aghayere anyways, Dodge’s decommit doesn’t affect that. I’m hoping they use the extra ship to go after another offensive lineman.
reply to #3
Ben
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I would have love to have seen Riley Dodge play as a Longhorn, but this is probably best for both UT and him. We already have Colt, John Chiles, Sherrod Harris, and G.J. Kinne all competing (3 of those are in the incoming 2007 recruiting class). Chiles would probably make a better back or split end, but that still leaves us LOADED at the QB position. We don’t want another Snead situation on our hands (The K State game and him leaving). We will be fine. We may even lose one of those recruits mentioned .We can share the wealth! Good Luck to you, Riley! I’ll be cheering for you (unless you come to Austin to play us).
reply to #4
Bill
July 5th, 2007 at 2:37 am
I thought that it was bizarre that he committed to Texas in the first place. My brother and I couldn’t understand why he’d go somewhere other than North Texas. Face it, his dad is the coach, but more than that, they have the same type of chance that Art Briles and Kevin Kolb had down at Houston, but probably with a more talented group overall. I’m Orange through and through, but I’m as happy as I can be for Riley and the rest of the Mean Green. I really wouldn’t be that surprised to see Tre Newton do the same.