Blake Carlisle
	Height	6-3
	Weight	180
	40-yard Dash	4.9

First-team All-District 24-6A tight end (first-team all-district linebacker as a junior)
All-Galveston County
ESPN: **
scout: **
rivals: **
247sports: **
ESPN: No. 118 outside linebacker in country
247sports: No. 163 outside linebacker in country
ESPN: No. 292 player in Midlands Region
ESPN: No. 222 player in Texas
247sports: No. 309 player in Texas

Strengths as a Player

Some coaches talk about players who are “great teammates” because they’ll do anything to help their teams win, and have a “high ceiling” because there is reason to believe they can improve and develop significantly in future years. Blake Carlisle appears to be both. An all-district linebacker as a junior, he was going to play linebacker and wide receiver as a senior until his team’s tight end got hurt. Dickinson gave up playing receiver to play tight end, and because he plays so much on special teams, too, he became a situational defensive player. But he also is thought to have ample room for growth — as a player and physically. Both of his parents are tall, and his frame is one that can add a lot of muscle and strength. As a player, Carlisle has exactly what SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone likes in a linebacker: height, long arms, good speed and a high-running motor. He is an effective pass rusher with a knack for getting his long arms up in the air to make it difficult to throw over him, and when asked to drop into coverage, his receiver/tight end ball skills make him a legitimate threat to snatch an interception.

Interviews

Dickinson head coach John Snelson on Blake Carlisle:

Blake is a great guy to have on your team, because he’ll do anything you ask him to do, and he does a lot of things really well. He was an all-district linebacker last year, and we planned to play him there again this year. We also planned to play him at receiver, because our biggest needs were on offense. But when our tight end went down, Blake, being as unselfish as he is, gravitated to that position without a problem. He’s one of those guys who would play anywhere you ask him to play.

Coach (Archie) McDaniel did a great job with Blake, getting to know him and his family and really building that relationship. Coach McDaniel likes him as an outside linebacker, as a nickel kind of player.

I think a lot of the bigger schools shied away from him because he’s not already 215, 220 pounds. But his daddy’s a big man and his momma’s about 6 feet tall, so he’s going to get taller, and remember, this is a guy who’s always going. He plays football, he plays basketball, he’s running track, he plays AAU (basketball), he does seven-on-seven (football) … he never slows down. But he’s a young guy, and when you look at his parents, you know he’s going to get big. When he gets to SMU and starts eating and lifting in a college strength program, he’s going to explode. He could get huge.

Blake has great ball skills, and he’s not as big as he will be, but he’s pretty strong. He does a great job of playing in space, and of re-routing receivers, and he’s physical enough to hold up against a tight end. Plus, he’s so long that quarterbacks have a hard time throwing over him or around him.

Players aren’t really recruited on how many catches and how many yards they have, and that kind of stuff. Coaches come in and want to see what they’ll project to, and Blake’s upside is huge. Once he concentrates on football and they get in that weight room, there’s no telling how big and explosive Blake’s going to be.

I never asked Blake to give up the other sports (to concentrate on football). I didn’t do that and I wouldn’t do that. My opinion is that a kid is only a kid one time, and if he wants to play all those, and he can handle everything academically … what I say is that if you can help the Gators win, in football, in basketball, in track, get out there and do it. Do your due diligence in the classroom and prepare yourself physically to play, and go play. Blake’s really smart and very athletic, and he has handled all of it.

SMU, man, if you get on campus and get to be a student at SMU, the contacts that you’re going to make, the people you’re going to meet … if you treat people right, it’s such a high academic, high-standard, very-well thought-of college.

The coaching staff that they have now — every high school coach in Texas feels very comfortable sending their kids to Coach Morris, because he’s one of us. He understands, and obviously he has takein his career to the next level, but when he was sending his high school kids to college, he understood what he wanted from those schools, and he wanted to keep the lines of communication open.

Coach McDaniel has been great building relationships in this area, with us (coaches), with players and with their families. We trust that staff wholeheartedly. Like I said, some schools shied away because Blake isn’t as big as he will be, but Coach McDaniel did his due diligence and got to know Blake and got to know Blake’s parents. When Blake got that offer, he went on a visit and just fell in love with the place.

Blake Carlisle on why he chose SMU:

SMU was the first school to offer me, and they were showing me love, compared to other schools. That was important.

Coach McDaniel seems like a pretty straight-up guy. He’s going to be on my back, but that’s good. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do to get the job done. I think that (being pushed) is what everyone needs — nobody wants a pushover. I think playing under him is going to be a lot of fun.

Nick (Horton) wasn’t selling me on SMU when I went on my visit, because I was already committed. We went to his apartment, played video games with Jackson Mitchell and just hung out. They told me how much they like playing for Coach McDaniel, and said they thought I would, too.

Said basically doing the same thing, outside backer – some kind of coverage or set the edge. You’re going to be doing the same thing.