Zapata Talks Visit, Interest

Hornell High School running back David Zapata may be smallish, but those who may have underestimated him during his high school career will certainly tell you they made a mistake. Zapata averaged an absolutely blistering 7.9 per carry and 199 yards per game throughout his career and is still somehow in search of his first written offer.

It was well over a year ago when talking about players over the phone that Northeast Recruiting Manager Bob Lichtenfels told me that he thought he had found his next sleeper in Hornell, N.Y., native David Zapata as he rushed me to view the highlight film he had just loaded. Upon watching Zapata sift his way through defenders to the end zone, you could see the 5-foot-7, 177-pound running back had plenty of skill and now it seems the rest of the nation is noticing as well as he seems to be close to offers with a number of programs.

“My coach said that BYU Coach Patrick Higgins loved my tape and has called three or four times this week about me,” Zapata said. “Clemson and Boston College have also called this week, so those are the newest schools to really inquire about me.”

“I have also been hearing a lot from Army, Navy, Indiana, Ball State, Louisville and Syracuse and took my first official to Annapolis on November 17th to watch Navy play against Northern Illinois,” Zapata explained. “My brother lives in Dover, Del., so we went down from there and I got to go onto the field before the game and meet with the coaching staff. I have an older brother who went to the Air Force and he recommends that I go to a service academy because of the education and the opportunities it will allow me after football, whenever that ends. At this point I am keeping all of my options open and really like something about each of the schools that are recruiting me.”

As a senior, Zapata rushed for 1691 yards and 21 touchdowns. He finished his career with 6101 yards and 81 touchdowns, good for sixth place all time in rushing yards and seventh place all time for scoring in the state of New York.