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I am from the Aledo area and have followed Blane throughout his football career - I see some of you have found some highlights and information about him when he played at Aledo. Because of various circumstances and playing out of position in high school he was somewhat of an unknown on the recruiting scene, but here is his story:

Blane was the starting OLB (basically a walk up safety in Aledo's base 4-3 defense) for Aledo's 2006 4A state semifinalist team, and was moved to middle LB after 5 games in the 2007 state semifinalist season. He led the team in tackles both years he started - totaling 319 tackles for the 2 years (although he rarely played after the first series in the third quarter because of the run away scores Aledo usually put up). Was first team all-district in district 8-4A (with Stephenville and Everman) both years and 1st team all-state in 2007 (Kyle Mangan was 2d team all state that year). He was never a real flashy player - just real solid. Always around the ball and knocking the snot out of people - and seemed to get in on every play. Some games he'd have 15-20 tackles by halftime. Aledo lost both years in the semifinals to Copperas Cove and Baylor's Robert Griffin, but statistically had one of the best defenses in the state both years. The blue team towards the beginning of the highlight you tube video is Copperas Cove and # 10 is Robert Griffin.

The Aledo coaches wanted to play him at SS his senior year, because that was what he was projected to play in college - but couldn't afford to move him out of the LB spot. As a result, he had no film as a safety to send to D1 schools. He also suffered a torn meniscus and strained MCL in the state quarterfinals game his junior year, and ended up having to have surgery the next spring - which kept him from attending any camps during the summer of his senior season - and kept him relatively unknown on Rivals, Scout and the recruiting scene. His best high school 40 time I heard about was 4.58, so he was basically a 4.6 kind of guy, and he ran a 4.11 pro-shuttle at Aledo's testing day. However, he had good instincts and feet and always seemed to play faster than his 40 time (see highlights with Griffin).

A lot of D1 schools showed interest in Blane as a safety - despite no film or camp info, but none of them would pull the trigger on an offer. Several asked him to be a preferred walk-on - including Texas (where his dad went to school), Utah, Arizona, Stanford, and Georgia Tech. Air Force told him they wanted to offer, but he told them up front he didn't want to go the Academy route so I don't think they ever formally offered (incidentally, the AF DC at the time was Coach DeRuyter). Blane had offers from several smaller schools as both a safety and OLB - including full rides to Abilene Christian and Truman State, but said he really just wanted to go to A&M - even if it meant giving up football. A couple of weeks before the 2008 Maroon & White game, he and his dad took his film down to A&M and told the staff he really wanted to be an Aggie if they could find a spot for him. After looking at the film, Coach Sherman and the defensive staff told him they wanted him to be a preferred walk on at A&M. Blane turned down his other offers and reported to A&M less than a week after graduating from Aledo. That's how he ended up at A&M - really a pretty cool story.

Still a bit of an unknown, but he's put some pretty good licks on folks and apparently is starting to catch the attention of the powers that be. He's had to learn the nuances and techniques of the safety position at the D1 level - which is tough - but he is an intelligent kid (his recruiting bio said he was #16 out of 355 in high school - I was told he has a 4.0 as a business major) and is very "football smart." Last year he was in the 2 deep until he broke his leg the scrimmage before the spring game. Played every game last year on special teams and I hear he won some special teams award this year at the recent athletic banquet.

Hopefully he'll turn out to be a solid contributor. Regardless, he really loves being an Aggie (and his dad has had to adjust the color scheme of his wardrobe significantly). His dad is an attorney by the way....

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