Lindale Linbacker Kale Ridge + Texas High Quarterback Cade Pearson Get Offers From Prairie View A&M

Prairie View A&M made some moves Friday to the benefit of local players.

Most notably, the Panthers program gave rising senior Lindale linebacker Kale Ridge his first scholarship opportunity. It then called on Texas High quarterback Cade Pearson, a rising senior now with seven Division I offers, to join after graduating from high school next year.

Ridge and Pearson announced their respective Prairie View A&M invitations through their personal Twitter accounts.

Lindale fielded one of the best defenses in East Texas last season. Ridge (6-2, 205) was part of a unit that averaged less than 21 points given up per game on the way to a Class 5A Division II bi-district appearance.

Marshall, a District 15-5A co-champion and the league's first seed for playoff purposes, edged Lindale in the two teams' playoff meeting by a score of 21-17.

Ridge's final tackle of the campaign blew up a Marshall screen pass on 3rd-and-10 and put the ball in Lindale's offense's hands for potentially a game-winning drive.

Lindale went four-and-out and Marshall kneeled out the final minute of the contest.

Ridge attended the ETSN.fm + APEC Football Recruiting Combine for a second consecutive year last month. Highlights of his most recent performance included nine reps of 225 pounds on the bench press and the ninth-best Keiser squat output among all players at 3,315 watts.

Pearson (6-3, 193) is preparing for his third and final season as Texas High’s starter under center. He has guided the school to a 15-7 overall record, including two Class 5A Division I bi-district round playoff appearances and a shared District 15-5A title with Longview and Marshall last year.

The signal caller produced nearly identical numbers as a sophomore and as a junior. He posted a two-to-one touchdowns to interceptions ratio and threw for a little more than 1,600 yards in both seasons.

Prairie View A&M completed its 2015 season with an 8-2 record and finished second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Grambling State finished first overall and competed in the same West Division, so the Panthers did not qualify for the SWAC championship game.

Texas State, an FBS competitor, handed Prairie View A&M its only other loss of the season.

SWAC teams do not participate in the FCS playoffs. The SWAC winner in the conference championship game faces the winner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for an interconference championship in New Orleans called the Celebration Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The winner of the Celebration Bowl is widely regarded as the historically black colleges and universities' national champion of the season.

Ridge and Pearson, like all high school football prospects preparing to enter their senior year, will become eligible to sign with any program that offers them on Feb. 1, 2017.