Best of the Best Texas: Allen High School 2015 Preseason Preview

Written by Ryan Wright

Allen High School head coach Tom Westerberg has built a football dynasty in Texas. The 11th year head coach has four state championships under his belt including three consecutive with nine District Champion titles. The Eagles are coming off a 16-0 campaign in 2014 but take the field for the first time in three years without 5-star quarterback Kyler Murray (Texas A&M) under center.

Despite the loss of great talent from the 2014 squad, expectations are high once again for the Eagles. National preseason high school polls have Allen ranked no worse than No. 11 in the nation and all the way up to No. 7.

The rankings: USA Today No. 11, PrepNation No. 7, MaxPreps Xcellent No. 10.

Offense
No matter how great the next quarterback may become, replacing Murray’s 4,715 passing yards with 54 touchdowns against just seven picks will be hard to do. Junior Jared Harvey was the most experienced Eagles’ backup QB in 2014 completing 8-of-15 passes for 44 yards but the reigns to the program, for now, are being handed off to incoming transfer Seth Green.

Green left East Ridge High School (Minnesota) after passing for 1,643 with 18 touchdowns while rushing for another 433 yards with three more scores. He was a three-year starter for the Raptors bringing all of that game experience to the Eagles. The 6’3”, 200 pound, dual-threat posted a win-loss record of 22-9 while under center for the Raptors. Oregon landed a verbal commitment from the 4-star in October 2014.

Another void the Eagles must overcome with the graduation of Murray is rushing yards gained. He led the Eagles with 1,498 yards scoring the ball another 24 times. Running back David Feliciano (6’1”, 215) was the team’s second leading rusher a year ago carrying the ball 123 times for 879 yards with 12 touchdowns. Expect the senior to have a bigger role in the offense in 2015.

Whoever is running the ball will want to run off the backside of 5-star offensive lineman Gregory Little. The 6’5”, 318 pound, road grader was a one-time commit to Texas A&M but has opened his recruiting back up. Recruiting services may not agree on much but Little is widely considered the best tackle in the nation with over 20 scholarship offers to programs like LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, TCU, Texas, Oklahoma, Clemson, Baylor, USC, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon, and Alabama.

More holes to fill come along the offensive line with Bobby Evans gone to Oklahoma and Cody Wheeler to Texas Tech.

Murray’s top target in 2014 was Jalen Guyton. Guton had 74 receptions for 1,605 yards with 16 touchdowns. Notre Dame signed Guyton leaving another sizable amount of offensive production Westerberg has to fill in 2015. Kerry Hall and David Feliciano are the top returning pass catchers. Hall had 47 receptions for 481 yards finding the end zone four times and Feliciano came up with 15 catches for 220 yards with three more touchdowns.

Defense
Whatever the offense might be lacking in returning starters the defense should make up for with great talent all over the field. Ole Miss cornerback commit Jaylon Jones sets the tone for the Eagles’ secondary with Anthony Taylor (Texas State) manning the other side.

Putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks will be defensive ends Levi Onwuzurike (6’3”, 230) and Simone Tupou (6’0”, 228). The leader among the linebackers is Jakob Yandell (Texas State).

Schedule
The Eagles start off the season with a scrimmage against Arlington Martin before opening the season again with Guyer High School (Denton). The schedule lines up nicely for Allen with eight home games and just two district games on the road; Lewisville and Flower Mound. Making life a little easier, the Eagles have a bye before traveling to Flower Mound.

2015 Allen High School Schedule
Aug. 28 Guyer at Allen
Sept. 4 Viera High School (Florida) at Allen
Sept. 11 McKinney Boyd at Allen
Sept. 18 Plan at Allen
Sept. 25 Marcus at Allen
Oct. 2 Allen at Lewisville (Goldsmith Stadium)
Oct. 9 Hebron at Allen
Oct. 16 Bye
Oct. 23 Allen at Flower Mound
Oct. 30 Plano West at Allen
Nov. 6 Plano East at Allen

Photo credit: starlocalmedia.com; No. 7 David Feliciano.