The UTEP Miners performed a bit of a coup on Tuesday, scoring an oral commitment from North Mesquite defensive tackle Marcus Bagley.
Just last month, UTEP got an oral commitment from North Mesquite wide receiver Devin Patterson, but Bagley's a bit of a higher-rated recruit than Patterson was.
Oral commitments are non-binding. The first day a Class of 2010 recruit can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 3.
Bagley is a big dude. At 6 feet 2 inches tall and 305 pounds, he is a star in the weight room too. Bagley has a 350-pound bench press and 500-pound squat.
He was recruited by high-profile programs such as Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, and actually received his first of two offers from Wisconsin last month.
So it's a bit surprising that the junior chose UTEP, a member of Conference USA, got Bagley over Wisconsin, a perennial frontrunner in the Big Ten.
"It's kind of close to home and my family can come see me play," Bagley told The Dallas Morning News. "And it's an up-and-coming program."
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Well, I don't know how close to home it really is. It's a near-9 1/2-hour drive according to Google Maps, or an 8 1/2-day walk. But compared to Madison, Wisc., I guess it is close to home.
Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. He passed on the midnight showing of the newest Harry Potter movie.
