PWO's tumultuous journey ends with the chance to don the scarlet and black

Houston (TX) Episcopal running back Jake LeVrier always dreamed of playing college football. After earning first team All-District honors as a sophomore for League City (TX) Clear Falls, LeVrier was potentially on his way to making that dream a reality if he continued on his upward trajectory.

However, despite LeVrier’s big first varsity season and the accolades that followed, Clear Falls posted a 1-9 record. And despite being located in the 6A classification in the Houston area, the school didn’t receive a lot of foot traffic from college programs.

LeVrier and his family eventually settled on the decision to transfer, going from 6A Clear Falls to private school Bellaire Episcopal in the Southwest Preparatory Conference. While it seemed like maybe a downward move – going from public school to the private school ranks – there was a lot of upside in transferring to Episcopal.

“Episcopal football had (five-star) Marvin Wilson, (five-star) Walker Little, (Texas Tech signee) Gio Pancotti, and a lot of other highly recruited athletes. My old school didn’t really do very well. I really wanted to go play college football, and I thought that that would be a good opportunity for me, to go to Episcopal.”

The move immediately paid off for LeVrier as he dominated his junior season rushing for 1,474 yards (at over eight yards per carry) and 20 touchdowns with another 21 receptions for 600 yards and nine touchdowns. With Episocopal posting a 9-2 record that year as well.

LeVrier earned All-State honors following his junior season. Coaches made their way through Episcopal to speak with the RB and his recruitment was ready to take off following his big junior season.

But then injuries struck.

“I happened to hurt my hamstring after about four games into the season. I made it back for the state championship game and felt like I did pretty well scoring two touchdowns. The first four games I played in, I was averaging close to 200 yards a game and then I happened to get hurt.”

“I was pretty upset at first but then I just had faith that everything would fall into the right places at the right time, which they did and is something that I am very excited about.”

The injuries might have hampered any recruiting momentum LeVrier was gaining but didn’t shut down his recruitment entirely. After a couple months of inactivity, Texas State came through with a preferred walk-on offer, a couple weeks later in December, Texas A&M came through with a PWO offer as well.

With his fortunes quickly turning, the real icing on the cake came when Texas Tech coaches Kliff Kingsbury and Zac Spavital made a visit to Episcopal to see wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and to check out LeVrier as well.

“Coach Kingsbury and coach Spavital came and they talked to me. Coach Spavital came back down later and talked to me about it all. It was probably about a month before signing day. I just really like their school and Gio (Pancotti) my former teammate goes there.”

LeVrier would eventually wind up receiving a preferred walk-on offer from Kingsbury himself.

“I was really surprised. He (Kingsbury) had come up to me and started talking to me and told me that I should be a Red Raider. We have had a lot of coaches come through Episcopal, probably all of the SEC, the Big 10, and a lot of coaches. For him (Kingsbury) to come up to me was pretty big.”

After the offer was extended, it didn’t take long for LeVrier to make the decision and decide he wanted to be a Red Raider. Just a week before signing day, Spavital came down for one last visit when LeVrier told him the news.

“Coach Spavital had come back down about a week before signing day and was saying how much they really want me. They just kept showing me a lot of interest, and I couldn’t think of a better fit.”

“I feel like I fit a lot better into Tech’s offense and there is a great chance for early playing time. I’ve talked to coach Kingsbury about playing running back and slot receiver. I will do pretty much anything that would help them.”

“They said that I have some of the best vision that they’ve ever seen at running back. I hope to use that to my advantage and hopefully that helps me fit in real well.”

LeVrier said that getting the PWO offers from Texas A&M and Texas State were nice, but he felt very comfortable choosing the Red Raiders, going as far to say that things “absolutely” worked out for him in the end.

In fact, even when things might have looked bleak during his injury-riddled senior year, the wheels behind the scenes seemed to always be churning in favor of LeVrier eventually being a Red Raider.

“I think recruiting Gio (Pancotti) last year kind of introduced them to me, and Gio has been telling them all about me ever since he got there. The new running backs coach, coach Juluke, used to be at LSU. I went to an LSU football camp once, and he said I stood out real well. Once he got to Tech, he was really excited because he knew I did well at the LSU camp and felt he could get me to Tech.”

LeVrier signed with Tech on signing day in February, choosing the Red Raiders despite never seeing the campus (LeVrier and his family would go on to visit Lubbock in March and they loved every bit of it).

Now that the ink is dry and LeVrier is as firm as ever in his decision, the next step for the running back is making sure he is as prepared as possible to come in an contribute immediately. While most scholarship freshmen may have a hard time adjusting and seeing the field, LeVrier is working as hard as he can to make an impact early, even in his PWO role.

“I’m going to be doing a lot to get in shape running-wise, doing a lot of lifting, too. I’ve been working out with my trainer trying to do all these agility drills to try and get quicker. I’ve been lifting a lot.”

And so far, things are working out for LeVrier who recently clocked a 4.5 flat laser-timed 40 and weighed in at 5-foot-8 and 195 pounds when he visited Tech two weeks ago. Another benefit of being at Episcopal is the top-notch training he receives from being around high-profile D1 athletes on a regular basis, too.

“All my workouts with my trainer have helped me out a lot. I go up against and compete with one of the best receivers in Jaylen Waddle. We compete in everything, we are always competing. I do every workout with Marvin (Wilson), Walker (Little), and Jaylen (Waddle) and even Gio last year. Last year our quarterback walked onto Baylor and earned a scholarship, so he told me about that and helped me out. I think just being around and hearing from all of those guys has really prepared me.”

In the end, LeVrier was always just following his dream. Despite the ups and the downs of his career, his dream will soon become a reality when he has a chance to suit up for the scarlet and black this fall.

“I’ve always wanted to play college football. I didn’t care where I played, just as long as it was close to home in Texas. As soon as Texas Tech started talking to me, I was really interested and the rest is history.”