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Roadrunners land first football signees
San Antonio Business Journal - by W. Scott Bailey

The UTSA Roadrunners’ upstart football program has locked in its inaugural signing class.

A total of 24 high school seniors have signed letters of intent to suit up for UTSA, which will play its first season as an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Independent (FCS/formerly Division I-AA) in 2011.

The class is highlighted by seven all-state performers, including sophomore transfer Brady Brown, who played for O’Connor High School in San Antonio and later at Texas A&M-Kingsville). The list also includes Robert Chapman and Cody Rogers, who are seniors at San Antonio’s Clark and Brandeis high schools.

Eleven members of UTSA’s inaugural signing class were selected to all-area teams during their high school careers. Six were academic all-state honorees.

“We’re really excited about the quality of this class,” says UTSA head coach Larry Coker said. “This is a very talented and well-rounded group that has bought into the vision of UTSA Football. They want to be the ones to help start this program.”

UTSA officials say 13 members of the signing class are from the greater San Antonio area.

“I think San Antonio is really under recruited,” Coker says. “There are some very good high school players in this area that sometimes are overlooked. We wanted to recruit San Antonio very heavily to help us build a good base of local players and then work our way out to the different areas of the state. I really think the quality of the players and coaches in this city and the state of Texas is outstanding.”

UTSA will hold its first official practices this fall. The university hopes to compete as a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) independent in 2013.

Inaugural UTSA Signing Class:
see list...