Texas State Offers Mineola’s Austin Anderson + Riley Anderson

The recruiting process has really taken off for Mineola offensive tackles Austin Anderson and Riley Anderson in recent days. They're back at the forefront of the East Texas recruiting scene with offers from Texas State.

The Bobcats, coached by Dennis Franchione, became Austin Anderson's fourth college option and Riley Anderson's third opportunity with a call to the twins Monday. Both players announced their offers through Twitter.

Austin Anderson (6-4, 280) was named to the 2014 ETSN.fm East Texas Football Super Team’s first team last week with a 96 percent grade and 118 pancakes. Riley Anderson (6-5, 285) won second team honors with a 91 percent grade and 96 pancakes.

Those individual accolades came after a surprising Mineola season that culminated with a Class 3A Division I championship game appearance. The duo helped push a run-dependent, young offense to 4,465 rushing yards and 53 touchdowns in 16 games.

Both players have scholarship opportunities from North Texas and Tulsa. Austin Anderson has an additional offer from Big Ten Conference member Northwestern. The combined college attention has all come since Feb. 3.

Texas State has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade in all aspects as a university, and it has been steadily growing its football program to coincide with with its goal of becoming a powerful in-state school.

The 2015 Bobcats' season will be the program's fourth year in the FBS after a 26-year stint as a competitive FCS school and earlier days in the Division III and Division II classifications.

Under Franchione, Texas State became bowl eligible for the second consecutive season last year with a 7-5 overall record, but it was not selected for a postseason game. The team went 5-3 against Sunbelt Conference competition.

Franchione launched his head coaching career in San Marcos in 1990, back when the university was known as Southwest Texas State. He quickly climbed the ranks and built good teams at New Mexico and TCU before reaching pinnacle jobs at Alabama and then Texas A&M.

The coach returned to Texas State in 2011.

Mineola's tackles became the first players the Bobcats coaching staff have targeted in East Texas' 2016 class and the sixth and seventh prospects Texas State has gone after in the area since landing former Gilmer defensive back Devondrick Dixon in the 2014 signing class.

The Bobcats have an intriguing non-conference schedule to supplement the conference slate.

Texas State will open the season at Florida State and close out-of-league play with Houston. Those games sandwich scheduled tilts with Prairie View A&M and Southern Miss.

Austin Anderson and Riley Anderson have a lot of time to find their college football homes. They become eligible to sign with a program on Feb. 3, 2016, and should receive more attention with college-specific junior day visits and summer camps through the spring and summer months.

2016 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers