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Sources close to two more 2015 recruits told us today that a pair of prospects from California have verbally committed to UTEP's 2015 football recruiting class.
High school teammates from Perris, California quarterback Jerrell Brown, and defensive athlete Jayson VanHook are supposed to be on the official list announced on Wednesday and apparently were on campus over weekend.
This past season Brown led Citrus High School to an 11-3 overall record, and 5-0 league mark by throwing for 2,190 yards with a 62 percent completion percentage and 20 touchdowns.
The 6'2, 175 pound dual threat also rushed for 819 yards and 8 touchdowns with five 100-yard rushing games, earning First-Team All Inland Division honors as a quarterback.
VanHook is an interesting prospect. At 6'3, 195 pounds he played linebacker as a prep, but has the frame and tackling ability to bulk up enough to make an impact at linebacker or even possibly move into the secondary as run stopper if need be. As always with Kugler there is the major emphasis of being a special teams player as well for prospects in VanHook's mold.
Like Brown, VanHook was also named First-Team All Inland in 2014 for his work as a linebacker.
He recorded 105 total tackles with 62 being solos, adding six sacks, 15 quarterback hurries, and a forced fumble last season.
Both Brown and VanHook were named respective offensive and defensive players of the year by the Mountain Pass League which acts like a regional division for areas around California's CIF which is similar to the UIL in Texas.
VanHook had an offer from Hawaii, while UTEP was Brown's only other FBS offer, and it appears both would be prime gray shirt candidates with plenty of upside to bring inside the depth chart even outside of their high school positions in the future.
Brown has been on UTEP's radar over the past month or so.
Of course all the details will be officially ironed out Wednesday as the NLI's will be sent over and the class of 2015 becomes official. Stay tuned for the National Signing Day Open Thread where we will list the remaining offers, and possible commits along with the 16 solid commitments Tuesday night.