Texas Southern is on the hunt for offensive lineman within East Texas.

The Tigers program reached out to Chapel Hill's Jeremy West and John Tyler's Adrian Harris with college football scholarship opportunities Wednesday.

West reported his invitation via his own personal Twitter account. The John Tyler football Twitter account was first to announce Harris' offer.

Texas Southern marks the second Division I offer for Harris (6-4, 289). Louisiana-Monroe also wants him.

West (6-3, 296) is a longer shot. He has been committed to Northwestern State for four months and picked that program in favor of fellow SWAC invitations from Alcorn State and Grambling State in addition to Louisiana-Lafayette and Stephen F. Austin.

In both cases, however, Texas Southern is their first opportunity from a major urban setting. Houston. The fourth largest city in the United States.

The program plays its games at BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston, a 22,039-seat venue it shares with the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.

Harris helped John Tyler to a District 16-5A championship and second round playoff appearance. The team that knocked John Tyler out, Mansfield Lake Ridge, will play for the Class 5A Division I state championship on Friday.

West's Chapel Hill team finished an injury plagued 2015 season with a 3-7 regular season record and a first round appearance in the Class 4A Division I playoffs.

The Tigers will be under new management for the 2016 campaign after a 3-7 record to close the current year. Head coach Michael Haywood joined the program two weeks ago after a five-year hiatus from coaching.

Haywood was most recently the head coach at Miami of Ohio from 2009 to 2010 after assistant coaching jobs at Army, Ohio, Ball State, LSU under Nick Saban and Texas under Mack Brown before rising to the level of offensive coordinator at Notre Dame under Charlie Weiss.

The coach went 1-11 with a depleted Miami of Ohio roster his first season and guided the team to a Mid-American Conference championship the very next year.

Haywood was hired by Pittsburgh in late 2010 as its head coach, but he was fired half a month later due to domestic violence charges. Those charges were later dismissed following Haywood's completion of a pre-trial diversion program.

Todd Graham ultimately replaced Haywood.

As it is, Haywood has a 10-15 record as a head coach. A strong record considering the 1-11 start.

Harris and West, like all senior high school players, will become eligible to sign with any program that offers them on Feb. 3.

Chapel Hill offensive lineman Jeremy West, a Northwestern State commitment, received an offer from Texas Southern on Wednesday. (Rob Graham, ETSN.fm)
Chapel Hill offensive lineman Jeremy West, a Northwestern State commitment, received an offer from Texas Southern on Wednesday. (Rob Graham, ETSN.fm)
loading...

More From East Texas Sports Network