EA 20 Days 'TIll Texas Football: Next five 2A breakout players

Player

Noteworthy

Taylor Cook, QB, Altair Rice

Good enough to earn an offer (and subsequent pledge) to Miami, Cook had OK numbers last season, passing for 1,771 yards, but he only completed 50 percent of his passes. If he ups that to around 60 percent, Rice will go very far in the playoffs.

Darius Dotson (RB) and Michael Sam (DE), Hitchcock

Boy, we're we way off. In the 2007 DCTF, Sam was mislabeled as a 5-8, 170-pound receiver. In real life, Sam is a whopping 6-3, 225. He’ll be a terror lined up at defensive end this season, but the junior likely will move to LB by the time he is playing football on Saturdays. That's a ways off for Dotson, only a sophomore this fall, but Hitchcock coaches plan to start the 6-0, 195-pound prospect on offense, defense, and feature him on special teams.

Johnie (RB) and Julius (LB) Hurndon, Daingerfield

When you have seven other teammates returning on defense, you're a junior, and your coach still calls you the team's defensive anchor, you know the team is counting on you. That's the case for Julius. Johnie, meanwhile, should soar past 1,000 yards rushing after averaging more than 9 yards in his 103 carries last year.

Jacob McMurtry, QB, Troy

After starting four times as a junior, McMurtry moves in full time as the Troy starter. With an inexperienced group around him, he'll need to take his game to the next level. One thing he has going for him already: he's the prototypical size of a college QB, standing 6-5 and weighing 190.

Carl Swain, RB, Refugio

Though Swain and Refugio lost its coach from the 2006 season, the newly-arrived Jason Herring inherits 16 returning starters, Swain being the best of the bunch. He had excellent junior numbers (1,329 rushing yards; 643 receiving), but as the focal point entering his senior year, don't count out a 2,000-yard season.