Advertisement

sportsHigh School Sports

Signing Day: A&M lands Timberview recruit; Flower Mound baseball has 6 signees

Mans. Timberview PG signs with Aggies

MANSFIELD – Third-year Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy signed Mansfield Timberview’s Alex Robinson on Wednesday, the point guard he’d been recruiting since he arrived in Aggieland.

Robinson, 6-1, 170, is a four-year starter at Timberview and he’s ranked No. 58 nationally by Rivals.com.

Advertisement

“He makes other people around him better with his ability to create offense,” Kennedy said in a release. “He’s also a great athlete who can really defend the point.”

High School Sports

The latest news, analysis, predictions and more for each season.

Or with:

Robinson averaged 17 points, six assists and three steals as junior.

Kate Hairopoulos

Advertisement

Top DISD prospect chooses UNT

DENTON – Carter forward Jeremy Combs signed with North Texas on Wednesday, a recruiting win head coach Tony Benford sees as a step toward the school bolstering its connection with Dallas area high schools.

Combs led Class 4A in scoring last season with an average of 23.2 points a game and is ranked No. 14 on TexasHoops.com’s list of the top players in the state. The 6-7 forward is the second Texas top 15 prospect to sign with UNT in the last two years. Arlington Seguin forward Greg Wesley, who is now a freshman at UNT, was ranked ninth by the website last season.

Advertisement

“What we want to do is recruit the Metroplex and especially the Dallas Independent School District,” Benford said. “We got the best player out of the DISD this year in Jeremy Combs. If we can do that every year, we are going to be pretty good.”

Combs also visited Texas Tech, but wanted to stay close to home, where his father can see him play regularly.

“I am excited about going to North Texas,” Combs said. “That is where I want to be and who I want to play with. I felt like UNT was the best fit for me.”

Brett Vito

Reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion Scottie Scheffler to golf at Texas

A day before playing in his first varsity basketball game, Highland Park golfer Scottie Scheffler was typically low-key, saying he was surprised to see the crowd at Highland Park’s signing ceremony.

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal,” he said.

Scheffler — who signed with Texas — has seen bigger stages. The reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, Scheffler is the top-ranked junior golfer in the country, according to the American Junior Golf Association.

Advertisement

His choice of school won’t dampen comparisons with former Jesuit golfer Jordan Spieth. Spieth won two U.S. Junior Amateur titles (2009, 2001) and three UIL titles before going to Texas, where he was a Ben Hogan Award finalist as a freshman. Scheffler has two 4A individual titles under his belt heading into this season.

“He’s not a bad person to be compared to,” Scheffler said.

Corbett Smith

Flower Mound’s six baseball signees round out strong senior lineup

FLOWER MOUND – The photo opportunities with different teammates, friends and families seemed endless for Flower Mound outfielder Connor Wanhanen.

Advertisement

Wanhanen was among six Flower Mound baseball players solidifying their college decisions on the first day of the early signing period for national letters of intent.

A first-team SportsDay All-Area selection last season, Wanhanen signed with TCU — one of four players signing with Big 12 programs: pitchers Kyle Johnston (Texas), Seth Jordan (West Virginia) and B.J. Myers (West Virginia), as well as third baseman Tim Millard (Dallas Baptist) and first baseman/catcher Mitch Andrews (Sam Houston State). Outfielder Stefan Szymankiewicz also took part in the ceremony, but will officially sign with Hill College in January.

The group was a big part of Flower Mound’s strong run in the spring, winning 21 straight games and going unbeaten in District 5-5A play. Wanhanen — a quarterback for the football team — was the district’s MVP, hitting .447 with 24 RBIs and 31 runs scored.

“I think it’s a testament to how hard we’ve worked day in and day out,” Wanhanen said. “The hours and hours of time we’ve spent are finally paying off.”

Advertisement

Corbett Smith

Allen’s strong senior football class includes pair of baseball signees

ALLEN -- Football isn’t part of the NCAA’s early signing period. But a pair of football players for Allen, the state’s top-ranked team in 5A, had reason to celebrate.

Cole Carter, Allen’s leading receiver this season with 38 catches and 10 touchdowns, and Ryan Hoogerwerf, the team’s backup quarterback, signed letters of intent for baseball. Carter, an outfielder, signed with West Virginia. Hoogerwerf, an infielder, signed with Louisiana Tech. Allen pitcher Troy Chezem, who does not play football, signed with Oklahoma.

Advertisement

Matt Wixon

Justin Northwest softball star Brianna Barnhill chooses Abilene Christian

JUSTIN -- Brianna Barnhill had the unenviable pressure of following in the footsteps of an older sibling who was a high school star.

“When I was younger, I kind of felt it a lot,” Barnhill said. “But as I got older, I kind of ignored it.”

Advertisement

Like her sister Brittany, Brianna has become an all-state softball player at Justin Northwest. And on Thursday, Brianna will match another accomplishment of her sister — signing to play college softball.

Justin Northwest’s senior shortstop will sign with Abilene Christian, a school that gained NCAA Division I affiliation in athletics this year and joined the Southland Conference. Brianna said she started playing softball because of her sister and that she received help during the recruiting process from Brittany, who was an all-Big 12 pitcher at Texas before finishing her college career at Mississippi.

“She gave me a bunch of tips that helped a lot … just constantly sending out emails, keeping in contact with coaches, which is what she did, and that helped her,” Brianna said.

Brittany, who is now a softball assistant coach at Colorado Christian University, was one of the best pitchers to ever come out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and she set a state record for career strikeouts. Brianna, meanwhile, has made her mark at the plate, hitting .477 with eight home runs during an all-state junior season.

Advertisement

Greg Riddle

Rockwall-Heath volleyball standout Regina Tillis signs with LSU

Regina Tillis has been one of the best outside hitters in the state for the last four years.

The 5-9 Rockwall-Heath standout signed a national letter of intent with LSU on Wednesday.

Advertisement

“They said I’m one of the shortest outsides in the college game,” Tillis said, “so I’m going to have to work even harder.”

Tillis committed to LSU as a sophomore. She said her father’s family lives outside Baton Rouge.

Heath players Claire Carpenter (Kansas) and Savanna Stutts (LeTourneau) also signed.

David Just

Advertisement

Duncanville standouts Ariel Atkins, Tasia Foman sign with Texas

Ariel Atkins and Tasia Foman have been playing together in Duncanville since they were 7 years old.

The pair of talented senior guards decided to stick together for four more years Wednesday, signing national letters of intent with Texas.

“At first I didn’t want to go anywhere in Texas,” Foman said. “But we’ve been playing together since we were 7. Why stop now?”

Advertisement

Foman and Atkins committed to Texas in March, one day after winning a second consecutive 5A state championship. Foman averaged 11.2 points, 4.2 steals and 3.9 assists during the regular season, and Atkins — SportsDay’s player of the year — averaged 16.1 points, 5.7 steals and 4.6 assists.

Senior forward Tiara Davenport also signed, choosing Louisiana Tech.

David Just