John Tyler’s Tre Allison Commits to SMU

With 2017 National Signing Day less than two weeks away, an East Texas junior has already made his college decision.

John Tyler 2018 linebacker Tre Allison has committed to SMU, according to a tweet sent by the Lions' official Twitter account on Sunday.

Allison (6-0, 200) is the first East Texas recruit in the 2018 class to offer up a verbal commitment.

The Lions' linebacker, who participated in SMU's junior day event on Saturday, also holds an offer from Mississippi State.

Allison helped his team go 11-2 in 2016, and reach the Class 6A Division II regional semifinals. Allison finished with a team-best 118 tackles with two sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and one recovery.

SMU, which just finished its second year under head coach Chad Morris, is a likely candidate for a bowl game next season on the heels of a 5-7 finish with no postseason game in 2016.

The most recent campaign was a three-win improvement compared to Morris’ first team and a four-win improvement versus the 2014 team controlled by former head coach June Jones and interim Glen Mason.

The past two Mustangs teams have been more and more dominated by players Morris’ own staff acquired, and the oldest of those will be juniors in 2017.

Furthermore, SMU has ceased its trend of scheduling one or more historically significant opponents per season from a group of Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas Tech in favor of three winnable non-conference games before facing chief rival TCU and diving into American Athletic Conference competition.

Allison, like all junior-year prospects, will become eligible to sign with any school that offers him in February of 2018.

2018 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

• Tre Allison, John Tyler, OLB, 6-0, 200 — committed to SMU; additional offer from Mississippi State (2)
• Chance Amie, Tyler Lee, QB, 6-3, 190 — offer from Bowling Green (1)
• Dekalen Goodson, John Tyler, DE/OLB, 6-0, 215 — offer from Mississippi State (1)
• Chasen Hines, Marshall, C, 6-3, 340 — offers from Baylor, Louisiana Tech, Minnesota, North Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU (7)
• Keaontay Ingram, Carthage, RB, 6-0, 198 — offers from Baylor, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU (6)
• Demarvion Overshown, Arp, ATH, 6-4, 196 —offers from Kansas, SMU, Southern Miss, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, UTSA (7)