NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
WESLACO — Fans of Weslaco East may have found a new favorite college football program to root for on Saturdays. Senior quarterback Richard LeFevre made his next move official and signed his national letter of intent (NLI) to the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
The 6-foot-4-inch quarterback is used to towering over his linemen but might see more teammates around his size at the Division I level.
Prior to the Cardinals full-ride scholarship offer, the phone had been ringing from established Division II programs like West Texas, Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
“The recruiting process was a hard choice, because I had to pick the best fit for me,” LeFevre said. “The best college I’m going to go to and the coaches, how the environment was going to be. They just offered me when I went up, which was last Friday through Sunday.”
He was joined at the signing in the Weslaco East fieldhouse by his teammates and coaches, who have been part of his football career since he came to East alongside his father at the start of his sophomore season.
Speakers at the podium, from head coach Mike Burget to WISD administration, talked about the family values at East and why LeFevre was such a good fit to lead.
He helped guide the Wildcats to playoff appearances in each of his seasons, bringing the school streak to 11 straight seasons in the state playoffs.
During his senior year, LeFevre threw for 1,687 yards — more than 900 yards better than his next best passing campaign. He was also an integral part of four Wildcats playoff victories.
Burget said he felt LeFevre was the best QB in the Valley because of the weight he had to lift with RB Roy Pedraza and other offensive weapons going down with injury during the 2017 season.
Jeff LeFevre, Richard’s father and East’s quarterback coach last season, was a comedian at the podium when he was called to speak, joking about the recruiting trip and the coaching staff’s taping abilities.
He was serious, however, about the work Richard has put in to improve his craft while not listening to any doubters who were skeptical about his size at the position.
“I’m starting to see that more and more today, (that) everybody is a little more negative than they are positive,” Jeff LeFevre said. “He has tools. He’s a big kid already. The thing about playing quarterback, it’s a skill you can develop. He worked hard to develop the skill. The sun’s gonna come out the next day, so either get on the field to work harder to perfect it, or you start believing in the nonsense.”
The elder LeFevre, who was a quarterback at Sul Ross University, passes along his knowledge about the game’s intensity after high school.
“He’s going to have to grow up and become a man, because when you go up to the next level, playing football, it’s a job,” Jeff LeFevre said. “It’s a fun job, but it’s a job. You have to take care of your studies. I like to tell Richard it’s a 24-hour job. It’s eight hours of school, eight hours of football and eight hours of sleep.”
Richard was up for the challenge.
“UIW, they came out with an offer I couldn’t resist, I couldn’t give up,” he said. “It was an opportunity I had to take.”