June 19, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball program announced on Monday (Jun. 18) that Damon Franklin (Flint, Michigan /Flint Northwestern H.S.) has signed a National Letter of Intent and will join the Broncs for the 2007-08 academic campaign.

"I'm very excited about having a quality freshman like Damon, unbelievable athlete maybe the best athlete that UTPA has had in the last 15-20 years," said head men's basketball coach Tom Schuberth. "He is an exceptional young man and a great student, he led the city of Flint in scoring the last two years as a junior and senior. He comes from an excellent basketball background and a high school program that has great tradition. Damon is going to be an unbelievable asset for the Broncs the next four seasons.

During his prep career at Flint Northwestern High School, Franklin was a two-time city scoring champion his junior and senior campaigns. During his final season at Flint Northwestern High School, the newly-signed Bronc averaged 18.2 points per game en route to earning first-team All-Area and second-team Class B All-State honors.

Franklin averaged 17.2 points per game during his junior campaign at Flint Northwestern High School where he was honored with second-team All-Area and third-team All-State Class B laurels.

Franklin had drawn interest from several other schools, including Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee State, Drake, Centenary and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne.

The 6-4 guard finished his senior campaign with a 3.7 cumulative grade point average and was an Academic Honor Roll award recipient.

The newly-signed Bronc joins Adinson Mosquera (Medellin, Colombia/Lon Morris College), and Nicholas Weiermiller (Elmira, NY/IMG Academy) as the newest members of the Valley's men's basketball team.

UTPA Sports Information