Texas Tech Is First To Offer Whitehouse’s Cameron Cantrell
There's a high probability rising junior Cameron Cantrell once met Kliff Kingsbury and received a pledge from Texas Tech's head coach that he too would one day hear from the Red Raiders.
If so, it wasn't just lip service.
The Whitehouse receiver picked up his very first college football scholarship opportunity Saturday from Texas Tech. His older brother, Dylan Cantrell, will be a fifth-year senior on the Red Raiders football team this season and was part of Kingsbury's very first signing class in 2013.
Cameron Cantrell (6-1, 175) had a strong debut season at the varsity level this past fall as a sophomore. He caught 40 passes for 521 yards and scored twice for a Whitehouse program that reached the postseason for the first time since 2013.
Whitehouse closed the year with a 6-5 record after losing in the first round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs.
Cameron Cantrell will attend the invite-only ETSN.fm + APEC Football Recruiting Combine on May 21.
Texas Tech has been up-and-down through Dylan Cantrell's first four seasons on campus, but the coaching staff has a certain soft spot for the former Whitehouse receiver. Dylan Cantrell initially committed to Tommy Tuberville's staff and stayed committed during the transition to Kingsbury.
Dylan Cantrell was Texas Tech's third-leading receiver last season as the Red Raiders worked to a 5-7 record, and he wasn't the only former Whitehouse player putting up big numbers in Lubbock. Patrick Mahomes II, selected 10th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in last month's draft, was a three-year starter at quarterback.
Texas Tech has been ranked as high as 10th in the country at the midseason point during Kingsbury's four-year tenure, but none of the teams have ever finished better than 8-5.
Last year's team went 5-7 with statistically the worst defense of all 128 teams at the NCAA Division I FBS level. Ironically, Mahomes and Dylan Cantrell were key pieces to what was statistically the best offense among all FBS teams.
The Red Raiders program most recently reached a bowl game in 2015. It went to 11 consecutive bowl games between 2000 and 2010 and was bowl eligible each season from 1993 to 2010.
Cameron Cantrell, like all college football prospects currently in their sophomore year of high school, will become eligible to sign with any program that offers him in December of 2018.
2019 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers
- Jade Ashalintubbi, Elysian Fields, OL, 6-6, 331 —offers from Tulsa, ULM (2)
- Chance Billington, John Tyler, OL, 6-4, 275 — offer from SMU (1)
- Keontae Burns, Pittsburg, WR, 6-3, 175 — offers from Iowa State, SMU, Southern Miss (3)
- Cameron Cantrell, Whitehouse, WR, 6-1, 175 — offer from Texas Tech (1)
- Coltin Clack, Texas High, QB, 6-3, 215 — offer from Florida Atlantic (1)
- Keivie Rose, Henderson, DE, 6-4, 220 — offers from Florida Atlantic, SMU, Tulane (3)