Belton’s Shackelford Heading to Longhorn Country
As you read this, a local high school football player is preparing to take the biggest step of his life. Belton High's Zach Shackelford is southbound on I-35 since re-committing to University of Texas over the weekend after initially deciding on Kansas State. The last-minute decision doesn't even describe how close it came down to the wire. Shackelford was either going to enroll for classes at Texas or Kansas State on Tuesday, the day after MLK Jr. Day.
With key vacancies in the starting offensive line in Texas, Shackelford has more than a shot to hold the starting role at center as a true freshman. The 6-4, 300 lb lineman's decision was catalyzed by the new hire of O-line coach Matt Mattox, who visited Shackelford in Belton. Mattox originally recruited Shackelford for Tulsa, until the stars rearranged for Texas.
Coach Mattox was recruiting me at Tulsa. I went up there to Tulsa to visit and got to know Coach Gilbert and Coach Mattox. So when they ended up at Texas, it made me step back and take a look at this. If they hadn't come in, I was going to Kansas State.
"Shack" was a three-star recruit out of Belton who played for head coach Bob Shipley, a father of former Texas receivers, Jordan and Jaxon Shipley. In an interview with Horns Digest, Shipley said:
He just really plays hard every single snap. He’s an offensive lineman with a defensive lineman’s mentality. He’s just very aggressive. He loves the contact. He loves to mix it up and try to dominate everyone he goes against.
Shackelford was sought after by many big names including K-State, Arizona State, Houston, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State - just to name a few. In fact a recruiter from Michigan had an odd, yet complimentary word with Shipley.
The O-line coach from Michigan was in here in the spring, and he said, ‘I love this guy. He’s got an NFL ass.’ I don’t know what an NFL ass looks like, but apparently Shack’s got one. He’s got kind of a high butt. Really strong, muscular. Some of those big guys don’t have a butt. But he’s got a bubble butt – apparently an NFL ass.
Maybe this epic recruiting video also had something to do with it hooking 'em...