As rival recruiters from around the nation descend on Houston each May to evaluate high school prospects, and as recruiting services begin to dress up their summer rankings, it’s doubtful Houston St. Thomas High School shows up on the recruiting radar.

Aldine Nimitz... yes. Bay City… check.

But St. Thomas? It’s a destination after recruiting season for a nice Caribbean vacation, not a major stopping off place for college football coaches.

But Texas A&M coaches found St. Thomas to be the home of an athletic offensive lineman, Alex Kotzur.

The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Kotzur first caught the eyes of the Aggie coaches at R.C. Slocum’s summer camp, where he shined in speed and agility drills. His 5.1 timing in the 40-yard dash and 29-inch vertical leap suddenly thrust the private school sleeper into a hot prospect.

"He did some nice things out there in the agility drills," said A&M offensive line coach J.B. Grimes. "We were very interested in him coming out of camp. Then we went and watched him play and saw him in about four or five ballgames on tape.

"I really liked his athleticism. He’s a guy who has a tremendous amount of upside because he’s a good athlete. He’s got to get bigger and stronger, and obviously, he’s got to get accustomed to the type of competition you face in the Big 12."

Kotzur has followed the Aggies since he was a kid, and his high school coach, Charles Burton, graduated from A&M in 1983. So the sell was easy for this prospect who committed as soon as he was offered. But as soon as the Aggie coaching staff extended the offer, Grimes said Kotzur’s stock soared.

And the recruiting battle was on.

"He was a guy that was about to get hot," Grimes said. "A&M’s where he always wanted to go. Things were heating up on him, and when we went over there and watched him play and extended the offer, he accepted the offer almost immediately. It was about to get hot, but then we cooled it off real quick.

"They were really excited about being Aggies. I tell you what, we’ll be proud we have this kid."

Kotzur, who is also a top basketball player and baseball player at St. Thomas, didn’t have to line up against mammoth defensive lineman in the smaller private school leagues.

So does a school’s level of play hinder the evaluation for a player like Kotzur?

"Not when you have as much information as we did on this kid," Grimes added. "We had a lot of information on his kid because of our camp. That’s why the camps are so important. You get some physical evaluations done on the kid, and regardless of where he plays ball, those numbers are good. It doesn’t matter. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as you would imagine because of the prior evaluation."

Kotzur likely is headed for a redshirt year, and Grimes said his position at A&M has yet to be determined. Right now, it appears Kotzur looks like a prototypical left tackle with his tall frame and long wingspan.

While most of the recruiting services overlooked Kotzur, he earned one of the most respected honors for any classification – being named to the All-Greater Houston team, as a second-team selection. He also was named to the All-State squad in TAPPS 5A.

Grimes said he’s just glad the A&M coaching staff didn’t overlook St. Thomas High or Kotzur this recruiting season.

"You’ve got some guy who says he’s an expert, and he doesn’t do this for a living," Grimes said. "He’s probably a computer guy, but I do this for a living. It’s not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination.

"Those top 10 or 15 guys, your grandmother could pick those out. The rest of them, it comes down to evaluation and getting as much knowledge on them as you can."

– Homer Jacobs