ETBLITZ SCHOOLS IN DAVE CAMPBELL’S TEXAS FOOTBALL | And more! It’s on sale now; spoilers inside

After weeks of unavailability, the actual physical copies of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine can be purchased at East Texas-area Walmart stores.

On the cover: University of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers (on the left) and Texas A&M University quarterback Conner Weigman, in what appears to be a face-off, commemorating the renewal of the rivalry between the schools, which resumes this year on Nov. 30, at Kyle Field.

Now, buying and reading Dave Campbell’s Texas Football each year is an activity that most football fans in this state take pretty seriously, and we DO NOT want to spoil everything in the magazine. So, if you don’t want to know any spoilers, we encourage you to STOP READING THIS ARTICLE RIGHT NOW.

If you want to know some spoilers involving ETBlitz.com programs, meaning Kilgore High School, Henderson, Sabine, West Rusk, Gladewater, White Oak, Arp, Troup, Tatum, Overton, or Leverett’s Chapel, or some of their other predictions, then keep on reading.

We’ll even give you a countdown.

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*** STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS! ***

Here we go. If you read past this, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

• Kilgore cornerback Jayden Sanders is named as one of the magazine’s top 10 athletes in the state, is listed as a preseason all-state pick in their Class 4A preview, and is on the DCTF Whataburger Preseason Super Team on defense, the third team (Of note: Sanders is also likely to again play wide receiver for the Bulldogs).
• Tatum wide receiver Jordan Chambers is not listed among the magazine’s top 10 wide receivers in the state, but IS listed among the “best of the rest” section.
• The magazine has the Kilgore Bulldogs ranked fourth in the state in Class 4A, and they do account for the split in divisions. Kilgore, of course, is in the bigger 4A-DI. Ranked in front of KHS: Stephenville at No. 1, regular Kilgore rival Chapel Hill at No. 2, Frisco Panther Creek at three, and Celina at four.

Lindale, another of Kilgore’s district rivals, is ranked at 16, and Pine Tree, a new 4A team coming in from 5A after UIL realignment, is ranked at 21.

Sitting atop 4A-DII, in their customary position, is Carthage, with Gilmer at No. 2 – those are two of Kilgore’s non-district games again this season. Pleasant Grove, another non-district opponent, is ranked at No. 7.

• Chapel Hill is picked to top Kilgore for the district title and then to beat the Bulldogs in the playoffs for a fourth straight year. This doesn’t involve ETBlitz schools, but of note: they pick Carthage to beat Pleasant Grove in the regional playoffs in DII, and go on and win the 4A-DII state championship.
• Kilgore’s Sanders and Chapel Hill running back Rickey Stewart are their preseason picks as the defensive and offensive district most valuable players.
• Their playoff picks in the district are (in order) Chapel Hill, Kilgore, Lindale and Pine Tree – they pick Palestine, Henderson and Mabank as the three teams to miss the playoffs.
• In 3A, DCTF has Malakoff at the top of the DI preseason poll, and Gunter at the top of DII. No ETBlitz.com 3A team (Sabine, Tatum, Gladewater or White Oak) is ranked in the 3A-DI preseason poll, but West Rusk is ranked in the DII poll at No. 19.
• Tatum is named as a dark horse in the 3A analysis. “They’re in a tough district, but a third year under coach Whitney Keeling should make the Eagles very dangerous come year-end.”
• DCTF goes on to pick the Jefferson Bulldogs to win District 8-3A, DI, which also includes Sabine, Tatum, Gladewater, White Oak, Atlanta, and Liberty-Eylau, and Xavier Moore, a defensive lineman for Tatum, is their preseason favorite to be the defensive player of the year.
• New Diana is their pick to win District 11-3A, DII, which also includes West Rusk, Arp, Troup, Buffalo, Elkhart and Winona – that’s the predicted order of finish, by the way. West Rusk’s Cole Jackson is their pick as the preseason defensive MVP, and New Diana receiver Jaidyn Johnson the offensive MVP choice.
• In 2A, Overton is picked as No. 23 in the DII poll – we at ETBlitz thought coach Scotty Laymance’s team might be even higher in the DCTF preseason poll, since the Mustangs went 10-2 a year ago. They are, though, ranked a spot ahead of Tenaha, one of the few teams that dealt them a loss in 2023. And Mustangs receiver Jayden Edwards is named as a preseason all-state pick.

The magazine picks Lovelady to win District 11-2A, DII, though, and Mount Enterprise to finish second, Overton third, then Tenaha, Grapeland, Alto and Cushing behind them, in that order.

• Leverett’s Chapel isn’t ranked in the DCTF six-man preseason rankings, nor are they picked to win their district in the first season under coach Keith Hughes after the Lions went 3-0 last year. Union Hill is picked to win District 10-1A, DI, with Saint Jo picked second, LC third, then Savoy and Campbell.
• Dave Campbell’s likes coach Willie Gooden’s Kilgore College Rangers to win a third straight Southwest Junior College Football Conference championship.
• The magazine doesn’t exactly reveal its 12 teams to make the College Football Playoff, but it does tell us the eight it believes will be around in the quarterfinal round: in no particular order, DCTF predicts Oregon, Notre Dame, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas and Alabama will be the final eight, that Georgia, Oregon, Ohio State and Texas will be the final four, and that Ohio State will win the national championship, topping Georgia in the title game.
• One of the most interesting articles in the magazine is the writers’ poll in the college football section, which includes a “college football pop quiz” with answers from ESPN’s Dave Wilson (a Kilgore boy, the son of former Kilgore car dealership owner and Mayor Bill Wilson), Dave Campbell’s own Ishmael Johnson and Mike Craven, and Travis L. Brown of the Bryan-College Station Eagle, and many more.

One of the questions in the pop quiz: “The best college football defensive player in Texas is who?” Another: “Which Texas team is most likely to defy expectations, and why?”

Here’s Wilson’s answer to that question: “TCU, because the hunger is back after a disappointing season.” Wilson has a longer answer to that question. Obviously, check out the magazine to read it.

• Georgia and Texas are predicted by the magazine to finish 1-2 in the conference, and obviously, then, to meet in the SEC Championship Game. This is the first time since 1991 that the SEC will not have divisions. It’s also the first year, of course, for both Texas and Oklahoma to play in the SEC.
• DCTF predicts the Longhorns will make it through the season unscathed – except a loss at home to Georgia on Oct. 19. And yes – the magazine does predict a Texas win over Texas A&M on Nov. 30.
• They’re predicting an 8-4 season for the Aggies in coach Mike Elko’s first season in College Station, forecasting losses to Notre Dame in the season opener (?), to Missouri in College Station on Oct. 5, to LSU at home on Oct. 26, and then to Texas in the final regular season game.
• Utah and Arizona State will be the two Big 12 Conference title-game participants, DCTF predicts. How odd that sounds, honestly. It’s a new world in college football.
• They predict the Baylor Bears will go 5-7; that Houston, in the first year under coach Willie Fritz, will go 4-8; and that TCU and Texas Tech will each go 8-4.

The magazine lists for $11.95, and if you’d like to do online subscription instead, or just know more about Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, check them out on www.texasfootball.com.