3-Star Southlake Carroll TE RJ Maryland's Live Commitment

[Applause] and we've got a lot to get to including two live commitments here in studio can we flash over to the other side not to ruin things here but uh rj maryland of south lake carroll is getting ready to commit live here on texas football today uh coming up here in just a moment so let's talk a little bit about uh how this is going to work rj maryland is going to commit we'll talk a little bit about that and then we're going to bring in jack curtis highland park defense event he will be making his commitment here as well we're so excited to have both of these big time prospects here committing live on texasfootball.com so let's talk a little bit about rj maryland and this young man uh ish when you take a look at what rj maryland brings to the table uh what really stands out to you athleticism size somebody who is ready to play the tight end position at the next level we played wide receiver of course at south lake carroll i think he anytime you watch the tape on him he's somebody who is a mismatch and i think physically he's ready to contribute wherever he decides to go at the tight end position so i'm really excited to see where he ends up you know one thing i'm really interested in is this is a guy who's a winner obviously you know he's won itself like carroll one there whoever whoever gets his commitment is going to be uh getting a winner for sure and powers you've seen a lot of big time playmakers rj maryland good bloodlines as well but uh but a guy who's gonna make a make an impact wherever he lands i'll second everything that ishmael said about his talents but one thing that really jumped out to me this year is when they needed a senior leader to step up especially after you know quinn ewers left the team early it was rj maryland who they went to and he uh not only succeeded in that role he stepped up and was the guy in that offense and he his game transcended his senior year and that's what you want to see from a top recruit you want to see them have their best year on the field as a senior and r.j maryland certainly did that enough of us let's go over to the real star of the show rj maryland who's standing by with our mallory hartley i'm standing here by south lake tide and r.j marilyn and family just seconds away from announcing his big commitment but first rj i've got to ask you man how are you feeling today i know you're a little bit nervous but but how you feeling oh yeah i'm feeling great uh ready to get this thing over with and yeah it's been really great that's a perfect answer well man the floor is yours where are you headed uh i would like to thank dave campbell for having me um like to thank my family for helping me through the process and stay with my coaches they really helped me with all this with that being said i will be signing with southern methodist university man that is that's really awesome rj i'm gonna ask you a couple questions now all right you're standing here next to your dad russell marilyn you know he played football for the university of miami which is the other hat right about there so tell me what were the factors that went into your decision between you choosing smu over miami oh yeah it's just the it's the better school for me my situation um yeah just starting my own legacy absolutely and russell over to you you know you've watched your son grow up and fall in love with the sport that he is now playing at the next level what does it mean to you to be standing here right next to your son on this special day it means everything i mean i've seen him from when he was born he had the little the carol dragon helmet on and you know and uh i remember the times we're outside throwing the ball back and forth and uh you know his flag coaches here his high school coaches are here and just you know it's just it's really a great great feeling i appreciate all you guys for hosting this i'm very proud of him and uh now it's time for him to uh to do his thing and uh and create as he said his own legacy so it's a great day absolutely well congratulations rj and we wish you all the best of luck in your next endeavors supper back to you all right how about that rj maryland heading to smu uh i don't think there's any two ways about it uh a coup for rhett lashley and company oh 100 you look at some of the tight ends that have come through that program you know grant calcutta last year and then under red lashley kylan grantham before that that's a guy who that's a program that's pumped out tight ends obviously with the new head coach now but i mentioned colin grants on somebody who's in the nfl now who's going to be a breakout player that's some but that's a program and that's an offense that can pump out quality tight ends and they know prospects when they see them you know national signing day obviously is rolling on there's going to be other players signing across the course of the day but powers right now i don't know about you i look at r.j maryland as the top prospect in this 2022 smu class yeah he's definitely right up there i mean it's a really good signing class you know they had to roll with some punches of course having a huge coaching change when sonny dykes went basically across town to tcu and rhett lashley and co have really not missed a beat in my opinion and what i really love about rj maryland's commitment to smu is that he is a true mismatch nightmare he's a guy who you can't just pin him down to one position calling him a titan isn't fair you know he's a wide receiver who can play tight end flex him out wide and let him get some space and he is going to be a terror to linebackers uh in the aac i mean i think this is a like you said it's a huge it's a huge commitment for them yeah you know when i take a look at what rj maryland does in a lot of ways he is kind of that he's the new breed of tight end right you know you think about what's playing in in the college level and at the nfl right you know you bring up guys like travis kelsey right who those are basically big big big receivers you know what i mean in a lot of ways that hybrid type is becoming a lot of what uh this uh a lot of what's going on in in in the recruiting world and for smu to be able to grab him and it does feel like in the rhett lashley offense it feels like he's a really good fit for what they're going to be able to do yeah i agree 100 and you saw his highlights roll right here he makes tremendous one-handed catches and what he brings to the table i think that you really have to uh put into context is that he's a red zone weapon right he's a guy that you can rely on to make a big play when they need a touchdown when they're in a scoring opportunity this is a guy who can get the job done and those are the guys that you need i mean red zone efficiency is probably one of the most integral uh components to college football and i think rj maryland will give that mustangs offense a key component there you know one other thing is that that stands out to me about rj maryland's game and i go back to something that that i said uh before he committed was you talk about pedigree and you could talk about a winner obviously uh being the the son of a college football hall of famer and a number one overall draft pick and and russell maryland helps but i think it also you go back to what he was able to do at south like carroll and playing at a program that has played at the state championship stage that played big games um you know he's gonna i think that for a lot of a lot of players they're gonna go into college and it's gonna be maybe overwhelming certainly it's a big leap up but maybe because of the places that he's pl places that he's played in the games he's played in he can be more ready to be a be you know be a big time factor early on i like that powers mentioned the fact that it was a lot of pressure coming into the year on him that he embraced it um coming from a state finalist team losing of course we mentioned quinn ewers but also brady boyd was a big receiver for them last year he stepped up into that wide receiving core and you know anytime you lose two division one fbs talents and you have to step up that's that's a lot of pressure on you and he did it with flying colors and like power said had a breakout year so all right uh let me ask you powers about because because mallory kind of asked the question over there um the other option was miami you know in miami obviously there's there's bloodlines there uh with with russell maryland uh is this a surprise to you is this you know coming coming in now um now that we know that russell uh rj maryland is heading to smu did that come as a surprise to you well you know he was a one-time boston college committee too you know take that into account when you're kind of dissecting uh the course of his recruitment he he's a guy who picked up a ton of offers throughout uh the process and i think miami was a legitimate option of course his father played there but i'm not surprised anymore whenever a big time recruit stays in the dallas area and ops to go to smu this is this is a new era for smu and they've done a really good job especially recruiting local kids uh how important do you think because obviously there's been a lot of turnover there with um with the coaching change with sunny dykes going across to tcu rhett lashley coming in um how important is a commit like this to signaling to other prospects that the winnings not going to change here and that that you can be a star here how important is a commitment like this to the future of the smu program well i think it's pretty important from this standpoint too is that smu's become a premier destination for transfer talent right and the fact that they've also kept their eyes focused on getting top tier high school prospects from the state of texas is a good sign not only for the recruits around here it's a good sign for the texas high school football coaching community who wants their kids to go to a program like an smu they haven't abandoned high school recruiting and i think that's key for smu as it moves forward because they're able to get good talents and mix them in with key components in the transfer portal and i think that's going to put a successful product on the field and that's why that they're going to continue to rack up w's on saturdays uh let me ask you ish is this a guy you know powers mentioned that smu has gone into the transfer portal uh a lot especially you know you mentioned calcutta guy that came in through the transfer portal at the tight end position uh you you are the host of republican footballer college football podcast here at dave campbell's texas football is r.j maryland the type of guy you think could see the field early for these mustangs i don't see why not um because typically when you when you use tight ends you like tied in depth as well and so even if he doesn't see the field as a starter um i do think he'll be able to see the field and he's athletic enough we mentioned to once he gets in a college program in a college system and a college workout regiment he's going to he's going to fit right in so absolutely i think that it's uh it's a big get for rhett lashley and company rj maryland the south lake carroll tight end heading to the hilltop thanks so much for watching that video if you would like more and to be notified when they come out go ahead and click that subscribe button right down there you can also watch texas football today every day live at noon on texasfootball.com facebook twitch and right here on youtube for more of the best coverage of texas football in the lone star state go to texasfootball.com subscribe [Applause]