TCU Football adds to class of 2018 with JUCO RB Emari Demercado

After making his official visit over the weekend, Saddleback College (Mission Viejo, CA) running back Emari Demercado committed to TCU, with plans to sign quickly and be on campus next month.

The 5’11, 200 pound back out of California’s Downey High School was a full qualifier out of high school, but didn’t receive much interest. So he matriculated to Saddleback, where he rushed for over 1,000 yards and had 500 more through the air. As a senior at Downey, he averaged 7.6 yards per carry on his way to a 976 yard, 11 touchdown campaign.

TCU was Demercado’s first offer, but the talented and versatile back was being shown interest by several other schools, include Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, and Oregon State. Had he chose to stay the JUCO route for one more season, he likely would have been highly sought in the 2019 cycle, but TCU was the perfect fit for the West Coast native, as he told Jeremy Clark of Horned Frog Blitz. “The biggest reason I committed is because I felt at home, I could tell that they are just a big family,” he said. “From the coaches, to the players, to the staff. Everyone welcomed me and my mom with open arms and family is huge to me so that played a great factor in my choice.” Fellow Californian Michael Onyemaobi, a redshirt freshman defensive back for the Frogs, also helped. “He definitely played a big part since he’s from Cali too, telling me how the adjustments were for him since we can relate a lot.”

Demercado joins a backfield that includes Darius Anderson, the breakout star of 2017, Sewo Olonilua, and true freshman Fabian Franklin. He is the 23rd commit in the class of 2018. Check out his highlights below. Welcome to the Frog fam, Emari!