DCTF National Signing Day Special: Southlake Carroll's RJ Maryland & Highland Park's Jack Curtis

Intro [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello and welcome in to the dave campbell's texas football national signing day special 2022. my name is greg tepper uh alongside ishmael johnson david text football hey you got anything going on today say you're here for some reason yeah i was going to say yeah and over on my left is the recruiting analyst for dave campbell's texas football and next level athlete it is greg powers greg happy national signing day buddy the christmas of recruiting how are you feeling today i feel great man i just want to remind everybody today is a day of celebration for all the kids out there signing and making their commitments today life-changing moments a day and this is one of the best days of the year for me personally a lot of the hard work goes into national signing day and i'm pumped and we've got a lot to get to including two live commitments here in studio can we flash over to the other side it's not to ruin things here but uh rj maryland of south lake carroll is getting ready to commit live here on texas football today uh coming up here in just a moment so let's talk a little bit about uh how this is going to work rj maryland is going to commit we'll talk a little bit about that and then we're going to bring in jack curtis highland park defense event he will be making his commitment here as well we're so excited to have both of these big time prospects here committing live on texasfootball.com so let's talk a little bit about rj maryland and this young man uh ish uh when you take a look at what r.j maryland brings to the table uh what really stands out to you athleticism size somebody who was ready to play the tight end position at the next level we played wide receiver of course at south lake carroll i think he any time you watch the tape on him he's somebody who is a mismatch and i think physically he's ready to contribute wherever he decides to go at the tight end position so i'm really excited to see where he ends up you know one thing i'm really interested in is is this a guy who's a winner obviously you know he's one at south like carroll one there whoever whoever gets his commitment is going to be uh getting a winner for sure and powers you've seen a lot of big playmakers rj maryland good bloodlines as well but uh but a guy who's gonna make a make an impact wherever he lands i'll second everything that ishmael said about um his talents but one thing that really jumped out to me this year is when they needed a senior leader to step up especially after you know quinn ewers left the team early it was rj maryland who they went to and he uh not only succeeded in that role he stepped up and was the guy in that offense and he his game transcended his senior year and that's what you want to see from a top recruit you want to see them have their best year on the field as a senior and r.j miller maryland certainly did that enough of us let's go over to the real star of the show rj maryland who's standing by with our mallory hartley RJ Maryland i'm standing here by south lake tide and rj maryland and family just seconds away from announcing his big commitment but first rj i've got to ask you man how are you feeling today i know you're a little bit nervous but but how you feeling oh yeah i'm feeling great uh ready to get this thing over with and yeah it's been really great that's a perfect answer well man the floor is yours where are you headed uh i would like to thank dave campbell for having me like to thank my family for helping me through the process and stay with my coaches they really helped me with all this with that being said i will be signing with southern methodist university man that is that's really awesome rj i'm gonna ask you a couple questions now all right you're standing here next to your dad russell marilyn you know he played football for the university of miami which is the other hat right about there so tell me what were the factors that went into your decision between you choosing smu over miami oh yeah it's just the it's the better school for me my situation um yeah just starting my own legacy absolutely and wrestle over to you you know you've watched your son grow up and fall in love with the sport that he is now playing at the next level what does it mean to you to be standing here right next to your son on this special day it means everything i mean i've seen him from when he was born he had the little the carol dragon helmet on and you know and uh i remember the times we were outside throwing the ball back and forth and uh you know his flag coach is here his high school coaches are here and just you know it's just it's really a great great feeling i appreciate all you guys for hosting this i'm very proud of him and uh now it's time for him to uh to do his thing and uh and create as he said his own legacy so it's a great day absolutely well congratulations rj and we wish you all the best of luck in your next endeavors supper back to you RJ Maryland Recruiting all right how about that rj maryland heading to smu uh i don't think there's any two ways about it uh a coup for rhett lashley and company oh 100 you look at some of the tight ends that have come through that program you know grant calcutta last year and then under red lashley kyle and grandson before that that's a guy who that's a program that's pumped out tight ends obviously with the new head coach now but i mentioned colin grants on somebody who's in the nfl now who's going to be a breakout player that's some but that's a program and that's an offense that can pump out quality tight ends and they know prospects when they see him you know national signing day obviously is rolling on there's going to be other players signing across the course of the day but powers right now i don't know about you i look at r.j maryland as the top prospect in this 2022 smu class yeah he's definitely right up there i mean it's a really good signing class you know they had a roll with some punches of course having a huge coaching change when sonny dykes went basically across town to tcu and rhett lashley and co have really not missed a beat in my opinion and what i really love about rj marilyn's commitment to smu is that he is a true mismatch nightmare he's a guy who you can't just pin him down to one position calling him a tight end isn't fair you know he's a wide receiver who can play tight end flex him out wide and let him get uh some space and he is going to be a terror to linebackers uh in the aac i mean i think this is a like you said it's a huge it's a huge commitment for them yeah you know when i take a look at what rj maryland does in a lot of ways he is kind of that uh he's the new breed of tight end right you know you think about what's playing in in the college level and at the nfl right you know you bring up guys like travis kelsey right who those are basically big big big receivers you know what i mean in a lot of ways that hybrid type is becoming a lot of what uh this uh a lot of what's going on in in in the recruiting world and for smu to be able to grab him and it does feel like in the rhett lashley offense it feels like he's a really good fit for what they're going to be able to do yeah i agree 100 and you saw his highlights roll right here he makes tremendous one-handed catches and what he brings to the table i think that you really have to uh put into context is that he's a red zone weapon right he's a guy that you can rely on to make a big play when they need a touchdown when they're in a scoring opportunity this is a guy who can get the job done and those are the guys that you need i mean red zone efficiency is probably one of the most integral uh components to college football and i think rj maryland will give that mustangs offense a key component there you know one other thing is that that stands out to me about rj maryland's game and i go back to something that i said before he committed was you talk about pedigree and you could talk about a winner obviously uh being the the son of a college football hall of famer and a number one overall draft pick and russell maryland helps but i think it also you go back to what he was able to do at south like carroll and playing at a program that has played at the state championship stage that he's played big games um you know he's gonna i think that for a lot of a lot of players they're gonna go into college and it's going to be maybe overwhelming certainly it's a big leap up but maybe because of the places that he's places that he's played in the games he's played in he can be more ready to be a be you know be a big time factor early on i like that powers mentioned the fact that it was a lot of pressure coming into the year on him that he embraced it um coming from a state finalist team losing of course uh we mentioned quinn ewers but also brady boyd was a big receiver for them last year he stepped up into that wide receiving core and you know anytime you lose two division one fbs talents and you have to step up that's that's a lot of pressure on you and he did it with flying colors and like power said had a breakout year so all right uh let me ask you powers about because mallory kind of asked the question over there um the other option was miami you know in miami obviously there's there's bloodlines there uh with with russell maryland uh is this a surprise to you is this you know coming coming in now um now that we know that russell uh rj maryland is heading to smu did that come as a surprise to you well you know he was a one-time boston college committee too you know take that into account when you're kind of dissecting uh the course of his recruitment he's a guy who picked up a ton of offers throughout the process and i think miami was a legitimate option of course his father played there but i'm not surprised anymore whenever a big time recruit stays in the dallas area and ops to go to smu this is this is a new era for smu and they've done a really good job especially recruiting local kids uh how important do you think because obviously there's been a lot of turnover there with um with the coaching change with sonny dykes going across to tcu rhett lashley coming in SMU Recruiting how important is a commit like this to signaling to other prospects that the winnings not going to change here and that that you can be a star here how important is a commitment like this to the future of the smu program well i think it's pretty important from this standpoint too is that smu's become a premier destination for transfer talent right and the fact that they've also kept their eyes focused on getting top-tier high school prospects from the state of texas uh is a good sign not only for the recruits around here it's a good sign for the texas high school football coaching community who wants their kids to go to a program like an smu they haven't abandoned high school recruiting and i think that's key for smu as it moves forward because they're able to get good talents and mix them in with key components in the transfer portal and i think that's going to put a successful product on the field and that's why that they're going to continue to rack up w's on saturdays uh let me ask you ish uh is this a guy you know powers mentioned that smu has gone into the transfer portal uh a lot especially you know you mentioned calcutta guy that came in through the transfer portal at the tight end position uh you you are the host of republican football college football podcast here at dave campbell's texas football is r.j maryland the type of guy you think could see the field early for these mustangs i don't think why not because typically when you when you use tight ends you like tied in depth as well and so even if he doesn't see the field as a starter um i do think he'll be able to see the field and he's athletic enough we mentioned to once he gets in a college program in a college system in a college workout regiment he's gonna he's gonna fit right in so absolutely i think that it's uh it's a big get for rhett lashley and company rj maryland uh the south lake carroll tight end heading to the hilltop well speaking of university park uh we've got some visitors in from highland park for our next live commitment and by the way uh this is something that we've started doing here dave campbell's texas football if you are a prospect who's interested in committing live on our air be sure to go to texasfootball.com and contact us we are certainly open to having you come in and give you the floor uh to announce your intentions uh at the next level speaking of the next level uh we've got another gentleman let's flash over the other side we've got another guy getting set up here jack curtis the big time uh defensive end from highland park getting ready to make his call and uh a guy who's considering uh a trio of places army princeton and air force uh and ish we've been watching film on jack hurst we've been watching him for the scots for a while uh the word for me on jack curtis is motor oh i was literally thinking about something don't you hate when he does that i'm gonna throw it to you but i'm gonna take your best right anytime you watch the film on him anytime you watch him play once he chooses a direction it's like i don't see anybody getting in his way whether it's a blocker whether it's a running back attempting to try and slow him down um but no it's motor there was one highlight on his film that's one of my favorites he's on the ground and he realizes the quarterback's like right near him and he just like reaches around and just like doesn't stop and just pulls him down with his with by the thigh basically with his arm it's great um he's a very fun player to watch and we've talked about somebody who's used to winning with rj maryland i mean coming from a program like highland park there's no reason not to assume that jack curtis is pretty used to that too same thing to him you know powers you and i were talking a little bit before uh before the show about about jack curtis and what he brings to the table and and you had some really high praise for this young man yeah i i love him um i think that he's a tremendous defensive talent i think he's one of not only the state's top you know you hate to say the word sleeper but he is a guy who could play for any program in the country in my opinion that's just how i seen it and one thing that i love about curtis's game is that we've kind of seen him grow up before our eyes you know each year over year he's continued to get better and his senior season he was you know really hitting his peak of performance and added some nice pounds to his frame as well and that really showed through on tape to me his motor runs hot as you guys uh mentioned every snap he's a guy who takes no plays off and when i talk to college coaches you know there are a lot of guys out there who have a three-minute highlight reel that's pretty good pop in the game tape of jack curtis his game tape is tremendous and that's what college coaches uh get paid to evaluate and this is a guy who takes no plays off all right enough of us that's enough of us talking let's send it over to jack curtis to make his commitment he is standing by with our mallory hartley Jack Curtis Signing i'm now standing here right next to jack curtis highland park defensive end and his family just seconds away from hearing where he's going to spend the next couple of years of his life now jack i have to ask you man how you feeling in this moment yeah i know it's definitely definitely an exciting time uh you know the recruiting process can be you know stressful at times but definitely excited like rj said i don't know if getting over it is the right word but you know just picking a school and you know putting my heart and soul into a college football program you know fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing college football absolutely it's a very surreal moment and now without further ado floor is yours where are you headed all right first i'd like to thank my parents here my family for supporting me every step of the way and uh to my coaches at highland park you know none of this could be possible without y'all y'all made me a better person football player and man and uh to my friends back home as well hopefully watching this you all through every step of the way too every fan teammate you are all awesome but that being said for the next four years i'll be committing united states air force academy that's awesome man now i know you had princeton on your list as well so and you chose air force so what made you want to choose an air force a naval academy over princeton yeah i think the big part was you know they've been invested in me ever since my recruiting process began you know one of the one of the first schools to offer me a full scholarship but they they did not stop you know they they let me feel like i was at home and every time i went up there it felt like home to me the coach is there you know i bonded with them extremely well and i just you know feel like i can become the best football player i can be at the air force academy and over to you mr curtis it's been such a long process you know your son's been playing football for so long and now you're finally sitting here with him on his special day what does that feel like it's incredible um i think you know we've been a part of this journey for the last two plus years when he really made up his mind he was going to play college football and we were you know convinced he had the talent and the was going to get the attention to to be able to have that opportunity my goal was just to make sure he was happy and satisfied with his decision um i can't say enough about the staffs at army uh and princeton they were they were incredible i know jack bonded with those guys as well but uh you know air force just felt like home and uh we're certainly excited to watch him for the next four years absolutely well jack congratulations and we wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors thank you supper back over to you there it is jack curtis heading to air force uh boy that's uh i mean we've just spent the last 10 minutes gushing about this kid and i'll tell ya what a get for air force and powers i'll start with you uh this is this is a game wrecker that is heading uh to the air force academy hey guess what highland park uh has a history of having guys at the next level be successful yeah especially on the defensive side of the football as well you know there's been some great quarterbacks come through there i think this is you know we talked about rj maryland and how he ranked within the hierarchy of the smu class i'm going to say this is the best air force commitment on on the commitment list for 2022. this dude is um i can't say it enough i mean he's been a dctf uh top 300 guy wired wire he's appeared in all the magazines he's a guy who we've really been high on for a good a good long time now and you know they got a they got an absolute steal from texas high school football the fact that um colleges let this guy go out of state they are going to rue this day that's just my opinion yeah i i think that you're exactly right and you know this is this is the kind of the kind of guy that you know ish in a lot of ways a lot of a lot of programs in the state of texas have have kind of made hay with guys like like jack curtis they've been able to seal the borders and he's that kind of quintessential steel you know what i mean uh for him to go out of state and head to the air force academy there in colorado um just i mean just a fantastic and as he mentioned you talk about that was those relationships with those coaches yes he talked about that being the biggest decision in his factor in his decision uh i mean i think it goes without saying that that's that getting in on a kid early and sticking with them that's what does the job i was just going to say because he mentioned how air force was the first one to get on him they knew what they had potentially in this prospect and so they were committed early and it shows that shows to prospects right if you're wanted and you and you kind of see that commitment very early you're going to reciprocate that commitment also look at the programs that he that was were attracted we talked about his motor we talked about his tape but air force army princeton those are intangibles right they want like they want pedigree they want leadership and so i love the fact that they saw a prospect in him was like no this is a guy that fits right this is a guy that works for us because those programs are programs that don't just look at the tape obviously air force i believe went 10-3 this year like you know troy calhoun had one of his best years at air force um and so obviously they care about on the field product but they also care about how you represent yourself off the field which is just as huge when it comes to those schools committing and their recruitment process by the way i don't know if people know this but but you know we talked a lot about rj maryland and his bloodlines he's got russell maryland his father uh jack curtis's grandfather is a former dave campbell's texas football cover boy donnie anderson texas tech so he's got some bloodlines himself there and and in the end powers i take a look at a guy like jack curtis and if they can if they can find a way to utilize him in their scheme which it sure seems like they can i mean he's a guy who is going to wreck shop in the mountain west you know i want to point out before i just dive back into what curtis can do on the field and how about his brothers that are coming up you know they got some good size i love how they've been back here in a couple i of know i don't know if i love the idea of thinking like a classic 2029 kid that makes me very i love how they displayed the air force shirt underneath their shirts too that was a great commitment ceremony i really enjoyed it so i just wanted to like hit the rewind button on what we actually watched and how cool it was um you know you know i've covered a lot of top-tier college prospects in my day you know i've seen a lot of them and he's listed at six foot three 230 pounds but he comes off as bigger than that meet him in person he seems uh i guess a term to say he's larger than life when you shake his hands he has that naturally strong grip and it's just something that it's natural with some guys you know he was born to play this game and i think that that is something that you can look at and i love what ish said about the schools that were in his finalist you know he has an ivy league academic profile and you know just checks a lot of the boxes um for something that you're wanting not only um in a football player but a student athlete yeah yeah absolutely um we of course congratulate jack curtis uh for his commitment to air force and we congratulate rj millen for his commitment uh to smu uh big time duins here in the dave campbell's text football studio a reminder if you're a prospect and you are interested in committing live here on our air get in touch with us at texasfootball.com and let's make it happen uh all right powers i would be remiss if i didn't before we go off the air uh today is the biggest day in in recruiting even though it's lost a little bit of its luster because of the early signing period not as much as it used to be not as much as the the fire drill it used to be but uh what do you have your eye on for the rest of the day on national signing day well national signing day is trying to make a resurgence this nil stuff has really kind of changed it and i think fast forward in a year maybe it's a little bit of a different story heading into the you know the national the true national signing day in february uh maybe it's even a more a big deal next year you know but so far today we've had a top wide receiver come off the board stefan johnson signed with oklahoma state jaylen davis robinson signed with lsu from waxahachie that was a big commitment for the tigers houston picked up a commitment from trent magalhae one of the top tight ends in the state so there's there's a lot of moving parts going on right now but the two guys that you really want to keep an eye on this afternoon are harold perkins in the in between the one and two o'clock hour we'll be making his announcement between texas a m lsu and florida at cypress park high school and then around four o'clock three or four o'clock you'll have devon campbell arlington buoys the number one rated offensive guard in the state we'll be making a decision between texas and oklahoma those are the top two guys to watch um as we you know fast forward to the afternoon time of national signing day ish what you got your eye on here for the rest of the national signing day uh the transfers this is the big this is the big uh day where usually a lot of the big transfers come off the come off the the out of the transfer portal obviously they can commit usually any time but a lot of them like to get in before spring camp uh one that just came down that i got word of that was coming bj foster to sam houston wow that is a huge coup for sam houston who's stepping up to conference usa in a couple years and um actually i don't know if they're transitioning this year i think they're trans i think they're in their transition year i can't remember regardless bj foster is a huge gift for them so those kind of announcements that aren't necessarily seen coming right now you know that was kind of a big surprise when they landed somebody like that national signing day a massive day across the nation and especially here in the state of texas and we will have you covered at texasfootball.com we do appreciate rj maryland new smu commit and jack curtis new air force commit stopping by and letting us share in their special day here on texasfootball.com uh and we appreciate you for spending a little bit of your day with us we will be back tomorrow reminder tomorrow is another big day i gotta go home and sleep it's uil realignment we will have our uil realignment show starting at 8 50 a.m tomorrow morning uh live on texas football.com facebook youtube twitch and twitter so make sure you tune in for that instant reaction uh to the biggest day in texas high school football tomorrow morning uh that's going to do for us thanks for spending a little bit of your day with us congratulations again to rj maryland and his family on their commitment to smu and to jack curtis and his family for their commitment to uh air force uh for mallory hartley for greg powers for ishmael johnson and ashley pickle i'm greg tepper i don't have the trophy oh i do vince young please give me your player of the year trophy we'll see you tomorrow for uil realignment special here at texas football today [Music] [Music] you