Offensive lineman Tyler Tezeno from Klein Collins High School (TX) becomes the 6th verbal commitment in West Virginia’s 2013 recruiting class.
The 6-foot-2, 285-pound athlete is the second offensive lineman to commit to the class. The other was New Jersey native Marcell Lazard. The 3-star prospect by Scout.com is also first commitment in the 2013 class from the state of Texas.
It didn’t take long for word of his commit to spread after he gave his verbal to West Virginia on Thursday morning.
“As soon as I got off the phone I got a call from somebody from ESPN and then when I got off the phone with them my twitter crashed,” joked Tezeno.
The Mountaineers offered the Texas native shortly after his spring practices began. He says since then, thoughts of gold and blue have been in his head.
“They’ve been on my mind since day one because I know what a good program they are,” said Tezeno. “I was just waiting to see my options because if I commit I’m not going to change it.”
“It’s (WVU) a household name around here,” continued Tezeno. “I knew they were good and they stayed on my mind the whole time.”
Tezeno had offers from Arizona State, LSU, Indiana, Northwestern, Rice and Washington State. He says West Virginia was the perfect choice for him and his family.
“We felt that it was the right fit and this process is a little taxing on you and I decided it was time,” said Tezeno.
Morgantown is more than 1,000 miles away from Texas and Tezeno won’t be able to see his family as often as he would like, but he wanted them to be able to watch him play. Since almost half of WVU’s road games will be in Texas that played a big factor in his decision.
((Below is an interview with Tezeno))
“My family has been there for me since day one,” said Tezeno. “It was very important for them to be able to watch my games and they don’t have to go so far.”
Tezeno plans to major in engineering when he arrives in Morgantown and has a 4.0 GPA. The 6-foot-2 lineman says it wasn’t until last year when he got interest from a lot of Division I schools. That’s when Tezeno started talking to WVU offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh.
“They were just genuine guys and that’s what I respected about them,” said Tezeno. “They never tried to force anything.”
Tezeno will play either guard or center for the Mountaineers. He also says he’s excited to play in front of the Mountaineer faithful.
“The people from West Virginia are great and they’ve been giving me a lot of support,” said Tezeno. “It feels good.”