HOUSTON – HCU head football coach
Jason Bachtel announced the addition of 11 signees to the Huskies football program on Wednesday morning, adding six high school players along with five transfers, to complete the No.1 recruiting class in the FCS subdivision. HCU ranks first among all FCS schools in the 247sports composite recruiting rankings, coming in ahead of five FBS programs.
"I thought we did a really good job, offensively, bringing in some guys in December," said Bachtel. "We put a major focus on the defensive side of the ball for February, up front and on the back end, but also we had to bring in some offensive linemen. Our goal was to take care of those positions and we wanted to put a major focus back on recruiting the state of Texas. Out of the guys we are announcing here, all but one are Texas guys. We wanted to make the statement that we were getting heavily back in Houston and we have three guys here from Houston."
"We brought in two back-end guys out of the high school ranks,
Tyran Chappell and
Drake Hudson who both have an opportunity to come in and make an immediate impact.
Taylor Behl is a Georgetown High School native who started out at ULM and then transferred to Campbell. We think he has a chance to have a major impact right away. Up front we have three high school guys, Legend Cabello,
Hashim Jaffa and
Ben Mulholland. These are three guys who are very physical up front and play a physical brand of football."
"We brought in some guys after the December signing class, including
Byron Mathis and
Ravonte Blowe on the defensive line. Those two come from Trinity Valley where they played for coach Mark McMillan there so they already know the defense.
Zayteak McGhee is a safety coming in from Murray State. He actually played for coach McMillan at Trinity Valley before going to Murray State and will come in with game experience at the college level.
Luis Chavarria is an interior offensive lineman who started at Prairie View and then played last season at Navarro."
"Now that we have this class signed we'll put this class to rest and start working on 2025. The immediate impact now is getting ready for spring ball which starts on March 5. We'll get a couple of days in ahead of spring break and then we'll come back and get 13 practices right after spring break before concluding with junior days in April. It's going to be here before you know it and we are extremely excited about this complete signing class. It's time to put it on the field now and we're excited about August 31 at SMU."
Tyran Chappell – DB – 6-3 – 160 – Denton, Texas
Chappell, a first team all-district performer at Ryan High School, comes to HCU following a senior season in which he helped lead the Raiders to an 8-3 record and a first round win in the UIL 5A Division I state playoffs. As a senior, Chappell finished with 20 tackles, 17 pass breakups, three interceptions, two tackles for loss and five blocked kicks.
Drake Hudson – DB – 6-2 – 190 – Flower Mound, Texas
Hudson, a standout defensive back from Marcus High School, will join the Huskies after a senior season in which he recorded 88 total tackles, 60 of which were solo, and added six pass breakups, five tackles for loss, one interception and one forced fumble. Hudson was an all-district honoree as a senior.
Reed Chandley – P/K – 6-0 – 175 – Canton, Georgia
A punter and placekicker from Cherokee High School, Chandley was a 2023 Kohls All-American and a first team all-state selection. He earned first team all-county honors as a kicker and second team as a punter en route to breaking five Cherokee HS school records, including most career made field goals, average kicking points per game and made field goals in a single season.
Legend Cabello – OL – 6-4 – 300 – Austin, Texas
Cabello played his senior season at Lake Travis High School, helping lead the Cavaliers to the quarterfinals of the UIL 6A Division I state playoffs and an 11-3 overall record. He was an all-district performer as a senior after also earning all-district and all-state honors at Midland Legacy High School.
Hashim Jaffa – OL – 6-5 – 255 – Katy, Texas
A Morton Ranch High School product from Katy,
Hashim Jaffa was part of a Mavericks offensive line that paved the way for a rushing attack that averaged 6.1 yards per carry and piled up 222.7 yards per game on the ground.
Ben Mulholland – OL – 6-4 – 315 – Cypress, Texas
Another Houston area offensive line product,
Ben Mulholland signs with the Huskies from Bridgeland High School. Mulholland was an all-district performer for a Bears team that went 9-2 overall and won its district with a perfect 7-0 record while racking up 400 yards of offense per game.
Taylor Behl – LB – 6-1 – 235 – Georgetown, Texas (ULM/Campbell)
Behl, a Georgetown, Texas native, joins the Huskies from Campbell where he spent the last two seasons. In 2023, Behl appeared in all 11 games for the Camels and finished the season with 35 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. He missed the 2022 season due to injury and played the previous two seasons at ULM. He appeared in eight games with 12 tackles for the Warhawks. Behl was a three-star linebacker coming out of Georgetown High School.
Additionally, the Huskies added four transfers who have already enrolled in school at HCU and are on campus for the spring semester.
Zayteak McGhee – S – 5-10 – 185 – Allen, Texas (Trinity Valley CC/Murray State)
Hailing from Allen, Texas, McGhee played in four games for Murray State in 2023 and recorded a pair of interceptions along with 11 tackles. His two picks came at Louisville and at Middle Tennessee in consecutive weeks. McGhee spent his first three collegiate seasons at Trinity Valley CC, appearing in eight games in 2020 and not playing in 2021. He broke out in 2022 with 66 tackles, four interceptions, seven tackles for loss, four fumble recoveries, one forced fumble and four pass breakups.
Byron Mathis – DL – 6-0 – 300 – Houston, Texas (Lamar/Trinity Valley CC)
Mathis, a local product from Cypress Creek High School, heads back to Houston from Trinity Valley CC where he totaled 52 tackles and a pair of sacks during his sophomore season. Prior to his time at Trinity Valley, he spent two years in Beaumont at Lamar. After a redshirt season in 2021 Mathis appeared in a pair of games in 2022 and registered five tackles.
Ravonte Blowe – DL – 6-3 – 245 – Denton, Texas (Trinity Valley CC)
A Denton, Texas native who played his high school football at Ryan High School, Blowe joins the Huskies after a pair of seasons at TVCC. Across his two seasons with the Cardinals, Blowe totaled 81 tackles, six sacks and 14 tackles for loss. He also blocked a pair of kicks as a sophomore and recorded an interception as a freshman.
Luis Chavarria – OL – 6-4 – 320 – Houston, Texas (Prairie View A&M/Navarro College)
Chavarria, who attended Episcopal High School in Houston just four miles from the HCU campus, began his college career at Prairie View A&M. He spent two seasons in Prairie View, appearing in three games. He played the 2023 season at Navarro College.
These additions join the 13 signees and transfers announced in December for the Huskies, bringing the program's class to 24 newcomers. HCU kicks off the 2024 season on August 31 in Dallas, Texas against SMU.
