It was a packed house at the Frenship High School Library Thursday, February 6 as 17 Frenship athletes signed their National Letters of Intent to play collegiate athletics. Students poured into the Library to support their classmates in a day of celebration, speeches, and a ceremony unique to making the transition from high school to college sports.
“It’s a really special moment,” said Frenship Head Football Coach Jay Northcutt, “we spend a lot of time with these young men over their high school careers and to see them have the chance to not only compete at the next level, but also to go to college, is why we all do what we do.”
Northcutt’s feelings about the gravity of the moment were apparent as he spoke one by one about the nine Tiger football players seated at the signing tables. “We feel really fortunate to do what we do,” Northcutt continued. “These are remarkable young men and Frenship is a special place. Many teams may not have one player sign an NLI in a year and we’re seeing 10 in one season.”
Congratulations to Defensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator Mark Ribaudo on an exceptional job managing these recruiting processes as the Tigers have seen 30 student athletes sign in 2019-2020 so far.
Baseball
DJ Garza – Frank Phillips College
Garza also won the District 2-6A 170lbs Wrestling Championship following his signing. He joins teammates Josh Akers and Jacob Gutierrez who signed the LOIs in November.
Cheer
Bella Guzman – Trinity Valley Community College
Cordell Little – Dallas Baptist University (Mascot)
Guzman joins teammate Paige Robinette who signed with TVCC in October. Netflix subscribers will note that TVCC featured prominently in the hit series Cheer available on the streaming platform. Little’s signing marks the second consecutive year that Frenship Cheer has seen a mascot sign onto a collegiate squad.
Football
Evan Barboza – Eastern New Mexico University
Logan Douglas – Angelo State University
Caleb Eugenis – UT Permian Basin
Alyjah Garcia – Wayland Baptist University
Elijah Gomez – Cisco College
Robert Hernandez – Wayland Baptist University
Drew Hocutt – Angelo State University
Cage Jones – Eastern New Mexico University
Jordan Maden – Wayland Baptist University
These nine Tiger seniors join teammate Donovan Smith who signed with Texas Tech University in December to make 10 football players headed to college teams.
Boys Soccer
Ryan Maldonado – Wayland Baptist University
Maldonado has worked his way up from a subvarsity player when Coach Scott Smith arrived at Frenship to a leader on the team and now a committed collegiate player.
Girls Soccer
Alli Holder – West Texas A&M University
Isela Martinez – Oklahoma Panhandle State University
Holder and Martinez join Kyler Carrasco, Katalin Heise, and Lexi Jackson to make five girls soccer seniors now signing on the line to play at the collegiate level.
Softball
Angelica Abila – McMurray University
Shay Hopkins – Cisco College
Three Tiger Softball players have signed to play collegiately, the third being fireballer Torrey Hogan who signed with Angelo State University in November.
Frenship will celebrate more signings throughout the Spring semester. They are generally at 10:15am in the FHS Library and parents and family are welcome to attend. The next signing will be Wednesday, February 12 as Daniel Garland signs his NLI as a commit to the University of Texas in Track & Field. Be sure to follow @FrenshipSports on Twitter to keep up with everything going in the Frenship Athletic Department.