Texas twang rabid at Air Force/Falcon's Lone Star staff geared its

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 7, 2000 by Meri-Jo Borzilleri

You don't have to go far to bump into anything Texan. Drive for 10 minutes in downtown Colorado Springs, and you're bound to be trailing a Texas license plate. Drive five hours south, and you're actually in Texas.

Pick up a paper, and Texas is as omnipresent as Oprah: George W. The Dallas Stars. Executions. Lance Armstrong. Killer storms.

It's no different on Air Force Academy's football team, where Texans thrive like kudzu. In 1999, seven starters - including four of five offensive linemen - were from the Lone Star state.

Seven Texans are projected to be starters this fall. Expect more of the same from the Class of 2004, where seven Texas residents are listed among the 54 football recruits, second only to California with eight.

Besides scary numerical consistency, Air Force's Texas pipeline is noteworthy for three reasons.

One, head coach Fisher DeBerry is not from Texas. He's from South Carolina. Two, practically the rest of his staff has ties to Texas. Three, the Falcons no longer play any team from Texas after leaving the Western Athletic Conference.

So why is Air Force so successful getting Texas kids to play for them? Because they set out to be.

Two years ago, DeBerry revamped recruiting efforts to focus less on the midwestern states of Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, and more on the Texas Panhandle and south plains. The reasoning - just as many players to the gallon.

"We felt like while that was very good football for basically the same distance, by putting another guy in Texas, we might step up the level of recruiting a little," said Chuck Petersen, Falcons offensive coordinator, who recruits hotbeds like Odessa, Amarillo, Arlington, Lubbock and Fort Worth.

Texas is, after all, the place where Friday Night Lights shine so brightly that crowds of 14,000 aren't unusual for high school games.

All Air Force had to do was look at history. Two of the academy's biggest stars, brothers Beau and Blane Morgan, grew up in a Dallas suburb. On the Air Force's 12 bowl teams under DeBerry and predecessor Ken Hatfield, 174 players were Texans, including 19 in 1990, when the Falcons beat Ohio State in the Liberty Bowl.

The next-closest state? The home one: Colorado, which had 114 players on those bowl teams.

Still, the move from the WAC to the Texas-less Mountain West Conference hasn't gone unnoticed. It's rare that California recruits outnumber those from Texas, as this year's class did.

"That was a big recruiting tool - 'Your momma can see you play,'" said Jim Bowman, assistant athletic director entering his 43rd season at the academy.

But that hasn't seemed to hurt Air Force's recruiting efforts - or mommas - as much as it could have. Besides their new recruiting approach, the Falcons can thank the airlines for continued success in Texas. American now has as many as seven daily flights from Dallas to Colorado Springs, and Delta has a couple.

So parents can watch their kids play in person. Recruits can also play on Friday night, then visit campus on Saturday and be back home that night.

It also helps that Air Force's coaching staff is as Texas as J.R. Ewing. New players will feel right at home, sharing Texas twang with coaches. Petersen, Jimmie Hawkins and Jeff Hays grew up there. Defensive coordinator Richard Bell and running backs coach Dean Campbell coached at Texas Tech. Vic Shealy, defensive backs coach, got his masters from Baylor. Bowman got his pilot training there, back in 1957. Jappy Oliver has never lived in Texas, but owns a house there.

Former offensive coordinator Bob Noblitt grew up in Kansas. This year, after 16 seasons with the Falcons, he retired. To Texas.

This season, the following Texas players are here: Joshua Dillard and Zachary Gideon from Hallsville; Wesley Eaves from Sour Lake; Justin Eulberg, from New Braunfels; Trevor Hightower from Plano; Andy Jacobsen from Lubbock and Jeffrey Overstreet from Killeen.

Impact players? Too soon to say. But don't be surprised. Air Force has come to expect big things from Texans, and for good reason.

- Meri-Jo Borzilleri may be reached at 636-0259 or merijo@gazette.com.

Local talent

Two area athletes are on the recruiting list for Air Force's class of 2004. They are Melonio San Pietro, a basketball guard from Doherty High School, and Arthur Harrison, a running back/defensive back from Sierra.

The newest Falcon athletes

Football

Nathanial Baldwin, RB/CB, 5-10, 165, Fr., Soperton, Ga. (Treutlen)

Aaron Bischofberg, OL, 6-4, 255, Fr., El Cajon, Calif. (Granite Hills)

David Borman, TE/K/P, 6-1, 215, Fr., Oakdale, Conn. (St. Thomas More)

Charles Bueker, OL/LB, 6-5, 230, Fr., Camarillo, Calif. (Adolfo Camarillo)

Matthew Burrell, LB, 6-1, 210, Fr., Mt. Airy, Ga. (Habersham Central)

Eric Butler, TE, 6-6, 235, Fr., Lexington, N.C. (West Davidson)

Andre Cantrell, OT, 6-1, 235, Fr., Jacksonville, Fla. (The Bolles School)

Ryan Carter, FB/LB, 6-2, 210, Fr., Madison, Wis. (Edgewood)