Detail history of U.T. recruits
Longhorns that participated in State Championship teams.
Private Schools
The number of Longhorn lettermen who came to Austin from the private school ranks is not large, and historic records of private school state champions are harder to track down than those of public school champions. So this list of Longhorns who played for championship teams of the Texas Christian Interscholastic League (TCIL, and known as the Texas Catholic Interscholastic League before 1976), Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), or the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) is possibly incomplete.
Note: this section was updated after I tracked down a decade-old page that listed historic state champions in the state’s various private school leagues.
1984 — Waymond Wesley (Houston Marian Christian, TCIL AAA)
1987 — Alan Luther (Houston Kinkaid, SPC South)
1991 — Brian Dagley (Cedar Hill Trinity Christian, TAPPS AA)
1994 — Anish Michael (Dallas Bishop Lynch, TAPPS Super AAA)
1995 — Anish Michael (Dallas Bishop Lynch, TAPPS Super AAA)
2004: Sam Acho (Dallas St. Mark’s, SPC Division I)
2007: Emmanuel Acho (Dallas St. Mark’s, SPC Division I)
2009: Ty Templin (Fort Worth Trinity Valley, SPC Division II)
2018: Jaden Hullaby* (Dallas Bishop Dunne, TAPPS Division I)
2020: Will Stone (Austin Regents, TAPPS Division II)
Texas Longhorns who coached state championship high school football teams
Many Longhorn football lettermen throughout the program’s history have joined the coaching ranks after the end of their playing careers, and several of them distinguished themselves in that profession. Tom Landry (co-captain of the 1948 Longhorn team) won two Super Bowls as head coach of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and at least four Longhorns have won Texas high school state championships as head coaches.
Joe Clements, a three-year letterman at Texas from 1955 to 1957, is notable for having been the quarterback of Huntsville’s 1953 Class 2A state championship team, and later the head coach of its 1980 Class 4A championship team. Among the many players he coached in 19 seasons at his alma mater was future filmmaker Richard Linklater, and Clements was the inspiration for the football coach character in Linklater’s 1993 movie Dazed and Confused.
These are the four Longhorn lettermen I know of who have won state titles as head coaches.
Tom Dennis — Port Arthur Jefferson (1929 co-championship, and 1944)
Travis Raven — Austin Reagan (1967-68, and 1970, Class 4A)
Joe Clements — Huntsville (1980, Class 4A)
Todd Dodge — Southlake Carroll (2002 and 2004-05, Class 5A Division II; and 2006, Class 5A Division I), and Austin Westlake (2019 and 2021, Class 6A Division II; and 2020, Class 6A Division I)
Texas Longhorns who played for state championship football teams outside of Texas
We’ve now reached the, “But wait, there’s more!” portion of the post. Roughly 10% of the Longhorn football program’s all-time lettermen attended high school outside of Texas, and several of those were part of state championship-winning teams in their home states. Aside from Texas, future Longhorn lettermen have helped win state titles in 14 other states.
The earliest one that I’ve found in that category is Rutledge Vining, who played end for the Longhorn teams of 1928-30, and while a senior at Pine Bluff High School in Arkansas he was part of its 1925 team that won 16 games and was proclaimed not just Arkansas’s state champion but was also declared the national champion team by some media groups at the time. Louisiana is the state most represented on this list, and Longhorns have contributed to multiple state championships in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah as well.
Trivia note: Phillip Geiggar, a four-year starter in the late 1990s at Louisiana powerhouse Shreveport Evangel Christian, is the only Longhorn I’ve found from any state who was a starter or significant contributor on four state championship teams. The full list of non-Texan state champion Longhorns is below, along with the high schools they attended and the state conference or classification their teams won. As with the Texas state champions above, the names with an asterisk are players who have been on scholarship with a Longhorn team but are not recognized lettermen, and the names written in italics are new signees who have yet to suit up for a college game.
1925: Rutledge Vining — Pine Bluff (Arkansas)
1931: Henry Mittermayer and John Morrow — South Bend Central (Indiana)
1962: Jerry Pritchard — Carlsbad (New Mexico AA)
1966: Bobby Mitchell and Freddie Steinmark — Wheat Ridge (Colorado AAA)
1971: Bill Hamilton — Las Cruces Mayfield (New Mexico AAAA)
1975: Rodney Tate — Beggs (Oklahoma Class A)
1978: Rick Benson — Chillicothe (Missouri 3A)
1983: Stephen Clark — River Ridge John Curtis (Louisiana Class 2A)
1984: Stephen Clark — River Ridge John Curtis (Louisiana Class 2A)
1985: Stephen Clark — River Ridge John Curtis (Louisiana Class 2A)
1996: Phillip Geiggar and Cole Pittman — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 3A)
1997: Phillip Geiggar, Stevie Lee, and Cole Pittman — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 3A)
Chris Simms — Franklin Lakes Ramapo (New Jersey Section I Group III)
1998: Bo Scaife — Denver Mullen (Colorado 5A)
Phillip Geiggar, Stevie Lee, and Cole Pittman — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 3A)
1999: Austin Sendlein and Lyle Sendlein — Scottsdale Chaparral (Arizona Conference 4A)
Phillip Geiggar, Stevie Lee, and Chase Pittman — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 5A)
Bryan Pickryl — Jenks (Oklahoma Class 6A)
2000: Lyle Sendlein — Scottsdale Chaparral (Arizona Conference 4A)
Greg Johnson — Lilburn Parkview (Georgia AAAAA)
Bryan Pickryl — Jenks (Oklahoma Class 6A)
2001: Chase Pittman — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 5A)
Greg Johnson — Lilburn Parkview (Georgia AAAAA)
Bryan Pickryl — Jenks (Oklahoma Class 6A)
2003: Aaron Lewis — Albuquerque La Cueva (New Mexico 5A)
2006: William Russ — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 1A)
2009: William Russ — Shreveport Evangel Christian (Louisiana Class 2A)
2011: Andrew Beck and Trey Holtz — Tampa Plant (Florida Class 8A)
2014: Davante Davis — Miami Booker T. Washington (Florida Class 4A)
Garrett Thomas — Many (Louisiana Class 2A)
2015: Junior Angilau — Salt Lake City East (Utah Class 4A)
2016: Brayden Liebrock — Chandler (Arizona Conference 6A)
Kenyatta Watson — Loganville Grayson (Georgia 7A)
Juwan Mitchell — Middletown Township Mater Dei Prep (New Jersey Non-Public Group II)
Junior Angilau — Salt Lake City East (Utah Class 4A)
2017: Brayden Liebrock — Chandler (Arizona Conference 6A)
2018: Brayden Liebrock — Chandler (Arizona Conference 6A)
Marcus Washington — St. Louis Trinity Catholic (Missouri Class 3)
2019: Xavier Worthy — Fresno Central (California Division I-AA)
2021: Spencer Shannon — Santa Ana Mater Dei (California Open Division)
Maalik Murphy* — Gardena Junipero Serra (California Division I-A)
Liona Lefau — Kahuku (Hawaii Division I-Open)
Derek Williams — New Iberia Westgate (Louisiana Class 4A)
Sydir Mitchell — Oradell Bergen Catholic (New Jersey Non-Public A)
2022: Liona Lefau — Kahuku (Hawaii Division I-Open)
Sydir Mitchell — Oradell Bergen Catholic (New Jersey Non-Public A)
Tausili Akana — Lehi Skyridge (Utah 6A)
Texas Longhorns who were part of a state championship high school team and an NCAA national championship team
Many of the players on the previous lists were part of some great Longhorn teams during their time in Austin, and I’ve found 26 who were part of championship teams at both the high school and college level. Texas has claimed four national championships in football: in 1963, 1969, 1970, and 2005. The following lettermen on those teams also won state championships as high schoolers.
1963: Scott Appleton, Jim Besselman, Tim Doerr, Bobby Gamblin, Ben House, and David McWilliams
1969: Terry Collins, Billy Dale, Glen Halsell, Bobby Mitchell, Johnny Robinson, Freddie Steinmark, Randy Stout, and Steve Worster
1970: Mike Bayer, Terry Collins, Billy Dale, Ray Dowdy, Randy Stout, and Steve Worster
2005: Rashad Bobino, Christopher Brown, Quan Cosby, Eric Foreman, Greg Johnson, Nate Jones, Aaron Lewis, Derek Lokey, Richmond McGee, and Lyle Sendlein
Note: Marco Martin was a member of Mesquite High School’s 2001 Class 5A Division I state championship team and appeared in 3 games during UT’s 2005 national championship season, but he is not recognized as a Longhorn letterman. Also, the original version of this section omitted Rashad Bobino from the group of players on the 2005 Longhorn team who had previously won state championships, as my notes erroneously indicated he had been a Longhorn letterman from 2006 to 2009, rather than 2005 to 2008. My thanks to a reader for bringing this omission to my attention.
I’m not aware of any Longhorns who won championships at the high school, college, and pro levels. It appears that the only one who has even come close to that trifecta was Lyle Sendlein, who was a member of two Scottsdale Chaparral teams that won Arizona state championships, was the starting center on UT’s 2005 national championship team, and was the starting center on the 2008 Arizona Cardinals team that played in Super Bowl XLIII but lost 27-23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hopefully some of the Longhorns who’ve added their names very recently to the program’s list of state champions will have their name in this section as well by the end of their college career.
Texas Longhorns who played on three state championship teams in high school
Stuart Peake — Abilene, 1954-56
Stephen Clark — River Ridge (Louisiana) John Curtis, 1983-85
Phillip Geiggar — Shreveport (Louisiana) Evangel Christian, 1996-99
Cole Pittman — Shreveport (Louisiana) Evangel Christian, 1996-98
Stevie Lee — Shreveport (Louisiana) Evangel Christian, 1997-99
Cedric Benson — Midland Lee, 1998-2000
Bryan Pickryl — Jenks (Oklahoma), 1999-2001
Tre Newton — Southlake Carroll, 2004-06
Steve Edmond — Daingerfield, 2008-10
Kendall Thompson — Carthage, 2008-10
Johnathan Gray — Aledo, 2009-11
Brayden Liebrock — Chandler (Arizona), 2016-18
Connor Robertson — Austin Westlake, 2019-21
2024 cornerback commit Jaden Allen has a chance to add his name to this list next fall, as he will go into his senior year at Aledo having already state championship medals in 2020 and 2022.
