Burnet’s Kaleb Maynard signs NLI to Sul Ross University

CAPTION: Burnet offensive coordinator Tyler McIntosh (left) and senior lineman Kaleb Maynard at the youngster’s signing ceremony. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

Burnet High School senior football lineman Kaleb Maynard signed his National Letter of Intent March 24 to play at Sul Ross University and fulfilled a vow he made two years earlier.

“I’m really proud of Kaleb,” Burnet offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Tyler McIntosh said. “He told me after his sophomore year, ‘I’m playing college football.’ At the time, Kaleb was one foot in and one foot out. He was doing everything. He buckled down his junior year. I’m really proud of him.”

When Maynard attended teammate Braden Ellett-Clark’s signing ceremony, he said Sul Ross was the leader and he was very close to committing.

“(Maynard) really liked the guys he talked to at Sul Ross,” the coach said. “One of the Tarleton State assistant offensive line guys (Eric Daniels) took the Sul Ross job as offensive line coach. He and Kaleb already had a little bit of a connection. It was good for him to have somebody there he knew already.”

McIntosh noted Maynard’s size of 6 feet and 3 inches and 315 pounds “got be a factor” in his recruitment. But the Bulldog’s commitment to getting better is why he was offered a scholarship, the coach added.

“He put in the hard work as far as getting in the weight room,” he said. “Kaleb has done a really good job of perfecting his craft. He puts in a lot of time on weights and films. He always had good questions. He’s a pretty good technician. He moves well for 315 pounds. He did a good job of finding the technical — that was a selling point.”

The Bulldog coach said Maynard attended a camp visited by his college coach and gave him feedback on the player.

“(My coach) said ‘He’s a big body who’s used a lot of the things (colleges) want him to know already,” McIntosh said. “They see what could be out of him. He has a big frame, and he’s able to move. He put out good tape.”

The son of Mandy and Brian Groothoff is undecided on a major.

“He’s a great kid who comes from a very good family,” McIntosh said. “He’s at every Burnet activity. You see him wearing a big yellow banana. He’s on the yearbook staff, so he’s always around taking pictures. He’s a guy who everyone knows. He gets after it, and it rubs off on people.”

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