Longhorns Recruiting Road Trip: Westlake vs Lake Travis

On Friday, our Devon Messinger was at the most highly-anticipated game of the Texas high school football week five slate. Entering the heavyweight title match, fourth-ranked Westlake squared off against the eighth-ranked Lake Travis Cavaliers. While I have covered both teams so far this season, Friday’s match was a great measuring stick game to compare each team’s top talent.

Week Five:

Entering this year’s game, I was excited to see how Lake Travis would perform against Westlake, knowing that Friday’s matchup would be an opportunity for Lake Travis to retake the driver’s seat for the title of the Austin-area’s best football team. However, if you know anything about me, it is that I will always rave about Westlake’s senior running back Jack Kayser. And, once again, Kayser did not make me eat my words as he ran for 130 yards and a touchdown against the Cavaliers on Friday.

While Westlake was able to maintain a solid lead for most of the contest, it was Lake Travis junior defensive lineman Gustavo Cordova and senior linebacker Markus Boswell that caught much of my attention. While I have covered these two for a little while now, it seems like they are peaking at the right time of their high school careers. Against Westlake, Boswell tallied eight tackles, including a sack, while Cordova was incredibly active at the line of scrimmage, amassing seven tackles.

What catches my eye about the two Cavaliers defenders is their athleticism. On the D-Line, Cordova moves well for a player that is listed at 6’5″ and 250 pounds. Additionally, my eyebrows raise any time that the Oklahoma Sooners extend an offer within the Central Texas area (think Colton Vasek). While it may pain Longhorns fans to admit this, the Sooners tend to be pretty good at evaluating talent. In the case of Cordova, the junior was offered by the Sooners in July and has had an additional five offers pour in since then. While the Longhorns can afford to be picky, I will be curious to see if there is any traction between Cordova and the Longhorns down the road.

Meanwhile, in the case of Boswell, the senior linebacker has 12 college offers but has yet to make a decision in his recruitment. Boswell has solid options in schools such as North Texas and Texas State, and will have a few more months to go through the decision-making process.

Lastly, potentially the real gem of this game was… the kicker? That is right! While I have covered plenty of Westlake games, enough to have mentioned his name by now, I have never commented on senior Spencer Barnett. In fact, the last time that I mentioned any sort of kicker was when I covered JD Coffey‘s Kennedale team back in 2020, when I discovered Aidan Birr – who is currently Georgia Tech’s kicker… you are welcome Georgia Tech. All jokes aside, Barnett nailed a 53-yard field goal with ease against Lake Travis. Furthermore, Barnett’s longest field goal of the season was a 59-yarder. I would honestly be at least a little bit shocked if Texas’s special teams coach, Jeff Banks, did not at least consider bringing on Barnett. Need I remind you that Justin Tucker also attended Westlake High School?

While Lake Travis did their best to make things close late, Westlake was able to hold on and retain their Central Texas title belt with a 20-14 win.

Extra Point:

In my opinion, Kayser, an Army commit, would be one of the best recruits in the country had he not been ‘undersized’. But, give me a team of Jack Kaysers any day and I will gladly make the other team pay if I was the head coach. Of course though, for Texas’s recruiting, a 5’8″ running back might not move the needle. However, I definitely believe that Kayser should have a few more offers than he already has. In addition to his sheer production, Kayser has proven to be a winner, being one of the key players on Westlake’s championship team as a sophomore in 2021. Anyways… I will get off of my soap box now.

Along with the many names that I mentioned, both teams feature a plethora of future college athletes that I was unable to mention. I anticipate seeing both teams at least one more time throughout the rest of the season and, as always, will try to highlight new faces next time.