Cedar Hill High's Driphus Jackson.
Photo by Robbie Rakestraw
Cedar Hill quarterback
Driphus Jackson was named the winner of MTV2's
reality show "The Ride," which featured seniors battling for a spot in
Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Jackson, who has committed to
Rice, said in the finale of the show: "Now that this dream has come
true, I'm going to show everybody what I'm made of."
You can see Jackson
get picked in the finale
here (about 16 minutes in).
RECRUITINGJesuit
senior
James Hairston, one of the top kickers in the country, has
orally committed to LSU. "I'm definitely elated," Hairston said. "I feel
like the world has been taken off my shoulders because it's something
I've been working on for so long." Hairston is ranked by Chris Sailer
Kicking ranks as the No. 6 kicker in the Class of 2011. … Hurst L.D.
Bell quarterback
James Mauro has orally committed to Western Kentucky.
Mauro, a towering presence in the pocket at 6-7, is the younger brother
of Joe Mauro, a star quarterback at Bell who played sparingly at
Northwestern because of shoulder injuries. James Mauro's other older
brother, Josh Mauro, is a redshirt freshman defensive end at Stanford. …
Abilene quarterback
Ronnell Sims and receiver
Darius Joseph have orally
committed to SMU. According to the Abilene Reporter News
, Sims is being recruited as a receiver.
NEWS AND VIEWSHigh
school football is still huge in Texas, as shown by the television
ratings for the 5A Division I championship game. On Dec. 18, it was the
most-watched sports program in Texas' largest TV markets: Dallas-Fort
Worth and Houston.
The matchup of
Pearland and
Trinity (Euless), broadcast
by Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports Houston, got better ratings than
the New Mexico Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl and two college
basketball games featuring top-25 teams: Texas vs. North Carolina and
Baylor vs. Gonzaga.
Also, the 2010 U.S. Air Force All-America team was
released this week and includes two Dallas-area players: Aledo running
back
Johnathan Gray and Denton Ryan defensive lineman
Mario Edwards.
Gary and Edwards are juniors and each has the potential to be the
state's top recruit next season.
Matt Wixon is the high school
sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He can be reached at
mwixon@dallasnews.com or on Twitter @mattwixon.
