Top left: 2011 G Deon Mitchell Top right: Coach Murphy & Coach Max
Bottom Leftt: Demetris "Cleveland" Smith
Bottom Right: PG Jonathan Garza & P Osas Ebomwonyi
In his 11th season at Pflugerville HS Coach Mike Murphy's Panthers are loaded again and poised for another deep playoff run. The Boys from Da Ville lost in the 3rd Round last year to eventual Regional Champ Klein Forest but will have many of their weapons back for this years campaign. Murph's biggest loss was not to graduation but to Texas Longhorn Coach Mack Brown. Big Alex Okeafor, one of the most highly recruited DE's in the country has decided to graduate early at Christmas and forego his senior year of basketball in order to get a jump in Spring Football with the Horns. The kid's a man child, and academically as sharp as a tack. Don't you just hate it when kids are STUDENTS as well as athletes too?..lol Seriously though, we wish Alex well. Great kid, great family.
Pflugerville will get great senior leadership from 2009 5'9" PG Jonathan Garza. Garza is the QUICKEST kid in the Greater Austin area. He was hampered by nagging knee injuries in the latter part of the summer but had a strong spring with the Texas D-1 Ambassadors. Jonathan felt the highlight of his summer was when he played in the Manhattan Classic on the campus of Kansas State University. It was there that he caught the eye of Midwest recruiting guru, Jerry Mullin and received his endorsement. He has committed early to Lamar University in Beaumont, and will sign his LOI in November. I think the Southland Conference is a nice fit for him.
Emerging P 6'8" Osas Ebomwonyi went into the spring as a relative unknown. A role player behind Okeafor last season, "The Sauce" has developed over the summer into an intimidating shot blocker. Playing with the Texas D-1 Ambassadors he shot up the charts and at the moment he has been offered by Lamar, UT-Arlington, Sam Houston State, Montana State, and The Citadel. Undoubtedly more offers will follow for the nimble Big. His offensive game is really beginning to emerge as well. Basically, the kid does not realize yet how good he can really be.
6'3' Brian Todd will likely vie for the other starting spot along with 2011 5'10" G Deon Mitchell. Mitchell will be the heir apparent to Garza, but in the meantime the silky smooth soph with the sweet shot will give the Panthers two D-1 quality guards in the lineup at the same time.
6'3" banger Demetris "Cleveland" Smith was a midseason move in last year from Ohio. Smith is lean and long. If he grows another 2-3 inches the kid is a lock to D-1. He has a motor that never stops and a knack for rebounding in the mode of Dennis Rodman. It's uncanny. Promoted to the Texas D-1 Ambassadors top team in mid summer, he consistently amazed me by outrebounding much bigger and stronger guys. He finished off the last game of the summer in the prestigious Duel In The Desert by dropping 5 three pointers. A fluke or a sign of things to come? If he can replicate that this season, he won't need to grow those extra inches to play a the next level.
The panthers have several other potential contributors on the football field at the moment. The aforementioned players had better not be complacent or they'll lose time to the deep well of talent at PHS. The Panthers players are thinking State.
