'09 TX QB Russell Shepard (LSU Verbal)

[MattC87]

Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Movement at the top of Texas state ranking

There is a new No.1 in the Rivals.com postseason Texas top 100 but he didn't have to travel very far to get to the top spot. Houston Cy-Ridge dual-threat quarterback Russell Shepard entered the season as the No. 2-ranked player in the state but with a senior season that was impossible to ignore, Shepard pushed his way to the top of the list.

In 2008, Shepard rushed for 1,946 yards and 28 touchdowns, eating up 7.6 yards per carry. What makes those numbers even more impressive is that the bulk of it came during his team's three-game playoff run. During that span, Shepard rushed for 835 yards on 89 carries and 11 touchdowns.

Additionally, as an athletic quarterback that has had his passing abilities questioned in the past, Shepard went a long ways towards proving his doubters wrong in that area. Shepard raised his completion percentage 10 points from 2007 to 2008 and passed for 1,843 yards as a senior with 794 yards being his previous career high for a season. More importantly, Shepard only threw four interceptions on 257 attempts.

Wish Michigan could have landed him.