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The Galena Park North Shore running back committed to Charlie Strong and the Longhorns with offers from LSU, UCLA, Arkansas and Mississippi State. The GPNS product is a 5-11, 195 pound RB who 24-7 has rated as the #44 prospect in the state of Texas and a four star athlete. Rivals has him as a modest 3 star prospect (#77 in state).
Scouting Thoughts
Houston carried 152 times for 1495 yards (almost 10 yards a pop) and 18 TDs as a junior, most of them on the same wrinkle in the GNPS offense. The highlights demonstrate his ability to get up to speed quickly and his explosiveness, but don't allow us to see his full array of running back skills as a more traditional ball carrier. His ability to break tackles, vision, and general skill set are all a bit of a question mark. He runs a little high and while he's decisive in getting north-south, when he makes adjustments laterally, he can be a little herky jerky. Later in the highlights, you do get to see him run inside on a lead play built off of the jet sweep action and he shows good toughness though unexceptional tackle-breaking ability.
Either the Longhorn coaches love him as a pure athlete and will sort out his best use a couple or years from now (all-purpose back, slot receiver with after the catch ability) or they saw enough of him in person to know that he's what they want in the RB position and that the North Shore offense used him in a limited way.
Houston is also a track athlete, posting solid times (10.88 100 last year, 22.15 200) and he clearly has the ability to take a soft corner and make the defense pay.
An intriguing and outside-the-box take we won't really be able to assess until after his senior year of high school. And you have to love any RB who wears a number that no one wants - #41. Dude obviously wants to stake his own claim.
The Longhorns now have 10 commitments in the 2015 class. If there's a common thread linking all of them, it seems to be dismissiveness of the early 2015 recruiting service rankings with a focus on athletes who are off-the-beaten track or have a lot of untapped physical potential.
Strong seems to be forming a class base while casting a wide national and state net to capture the bluest of blue chips later in the process. We'll see how it plays out.