UIL Realignment is Finalized

Realignment is now final as the UIL granted four out of eight appeals Thursday.

UIL District Assignment Appeals Committee Meeting Results

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUSTIN, TX - Four out of eight appeals regarding reclassification and realignment were granted Thursday by the District Assignment Appeals Committee of the UIL. The committee composed of UIL Legislative Council members heard three appeals regarding district assignments, and five appeals dealing with conference assignments.

The committee granted appeals made by Dripping Springs High School, Hereford High School and San Marcos High School School to move into their requested districts in all activities except football. Dripping Springs will move from District 25-4A into 26-4A, Hereford will move from District 4-4A to 3-4A and San Marcos moves from District 27-4A to 17-4A.

Houston Stratford High School also had their appeal granted by the committee. Stratford will move from District 23-4A to 18-5A for all activities. They join Alief Elsik, Alief Hastings, Alief Taylor, Houston Memorial, Houston Northbrook, Houston Spring Woods and Houston Strake Jesuit in their new district.

The Assignment Appeals Committee voted to deny appeals from the following:
· Laredo Johnson
· Laredo Cigarroa
· Laredo Nixon
· San Antonio Highlands

Longhorns Out of the Gate Early

Much can change between now and signing day 2009, but if the Texas Longhorns continue to pile up the oral commitments, they may be staring at another national title to match the one from two seasons ago.

5-star quarterback Garrett Gilbert of Lake Travis was the first to commit, and was soon followed by three 4-star recruits; OL Thomas Ashcraft (6-5, 280) of Cedar Hill who is ranked No. 59 on Rivals.com's Rivals 100 national list, Madisonville running back Chris Whaley, No. 65 on the list, and Aldine Eisenhower wide receiver Greg Timmons, who is No. 69 on the list.

There are 13 Texans on the Rivals Top 100 national list and Texas now has oral commitments from four of them, while almost all the rest have the Horns on their radar.

Mark Brown was recently spotted in Lufkin, hot on the trail of Jamarkus McFarland, who is the #2 national recruit in the 2009 class according to Rivals.com, and if he could land the stellar defensive lineman along with South Oak Cliff strong safety Kevin Brent (5-11, 205), who is ranked No. 58 nationally by Rivals.com and scheduled to attend Texas' Junior Day on February 23rd, the Horns signing class would take another leap forward.

UT misses out on RB, McGuffie delays signing

The Texas Longhorns had hopes of landing top RB Darrell Scott of St. Bonaventure, California, but Scott just announced he is heading to Colorado.

Also, according to Rivals.com, Cy-Fair RB Sam McGuffie is delaying his signing with Michigan, and now could be considering the University of California.

UIL Realignment Overview

Here's a brief synopsis of the 2008 realignment. Although I haven't had time to pour over the changes, a few moves jumped out immediately:

Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity move to new districts
Longview, Abilene Cooper and Dallas Carter drop to 4A
Copperas Cove is back in 5A
The Little Southwest Conference is no more as Abilene moves east
Farmersville and Tatum, who met in 2A title game, move to 3A
2A champ Canadian drops to 1A

CLASS 5A
Numbers: 2,085 and above, 245 schools
New Schools: La Joya Palmview, SA Brandeis, SA Johnson
Up from 4A: Cedar Park Vista Ridge, Copperas Cove, Dickinson, Katy Seven Lakes, Keller Fossil Ridge, League City Clear Springs, McKinney Boyd, New Braunfels, New Caney, Pflugerville Connally, SA South San
Moved up by request: Dallas Molina, Eagle Pass, Eagle Pass Winn, Fort Bend Marshall, Fort Bend Willowridge, Laredo Martin

CLASS 4A
Numbers: 980 to 2,084, 243 schools
New Schools: Baytown Goose Creek Memorial, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln
Down from 5A: Abilene Cooper, Carrollton Smith, Carrollton Turner, CC Ray, Dallas Adams, Dallas Carter, Granbury, Houston Lee, Houston Stratford, Houston Westbury, Laredo Cigarroa, Laredo Johnson, Laredo Nixon, Longview, Magnolia, Mansfield Legacy, Mansfield Timberview, Rockwall, San Marcos, Seguin
Up from 3A: Canyon, Castroville Medina Valley, Frisco Liberty, Frisco Wakeland, Humble Kingwood Park, Hutto, Mabank, Pearland Dawson, Pleasanton, Royse City
Moved up by request: Austin Johnston, Austin Reagan, Houston Forest Brook, Houston Furr, Houston Jones, Houston Kashmere, Houston Scarborough, Houston Washington, Houston Worthing

CLASS 3A
Numbers: 430 to 979, 180 schools
New School: Bryan Rudder
Down from 4A: Alvarado, Brownwood, Burnet, FW Carter-Riverside, Fredericksburg, Huffman Hargrave, Lubbock Estacado, Paris, Paris North Lamar, Robstown, SA Houston
Up from 2A: Anna, Edna, Farmersville, New Boston, SA Hawkins, Tatum
Moved up by request: Anthony, Tornillo

CLASS 2A
Numbers: 200 to 429, 225 schools
New Schools: Houston Yes Prep-North Central, Sunnyvale
Down from 3A: Bowie, Clyde, Comanche, Gladewater Sabine, Kirbyville, Pilot Point, Presidio, San Diego, White Oak
Up from 1A: Anderson-Shiro, Donna Idea, Groveton, Harper, Johnson City Johnson, SA Brooks, Santa Maria, Valley View

CLASS 1A
Numbers: 199 and below, 380 basketball schools, 163 11-man football schools, 129 six-man football schools
New Schools: Houston Yes Prep-FW, Red Oak Life, Rowlett Advantage
Down from 2A: Big Sandy, Blue Ridge, Canadian, Dallas Faith Family, Ganado, Grand Prairie Advantage, Haskell, Hawkins, Italy, Itasca, Junction, Lockney, Mart, Mason, North Houston HS for Business, Riesel, SA Gervin, Somerville, Stamford, Stanton, Stinnett West Texas, Stratford, Tahoka, Timpson, Van Horn, Waskom, Yorktown