Johnson, the former coach of the Texas A&M Aggies for 21 seasons, took over the Bearkats baseball program this past year, and saw a significant turnaround.
The 'Kats won 17 games more than they did in the 2006 season, finishing the season with a 40-24 record, and leading the Bearkats to their first NCAA regional finals in school history.
"He's a legend and an icon in college coaching," Ron Eastman, head coach of The Woodlands Highlanders said.
"He's a real good coach," Schneider said. "He knows his stuff, and has been around baseball for a long time."
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"His (Johnson's) two young assistants really wanted to recruit the Houston area," Eastman said, explaining the reason all three Highlanders are heading to Huntsville. "They saw us play last summer, and they saw us practice a few times - I didn't have to do much persuasion when it came to the scholarship offer."
As a 13-game winner this past season, with a very low ERA, Stevens was a first team All-District, and Coach Eastman said he was real pleased with his performance throughout the 2006 campaign and this past season.
"Jerad did a stellar job," Eastman said. "He was real consistent from week to week."
His former coach expects him to be a finesse pitcher in college, with a mid-to-high 80's fastball, and what he described as a good slider.
Another member of the trio headed to Huntsville is shortstop Ryan Mooney.
Mooney was also voted as a member of the 2007 Texas Sports Writer's Association All-State Baseball Team with Schneider and Stevens. He hit better than .400 this past season, had a pair of home runs, and eight stolen bases. However, according to Eastman, his defense in the field is what made him special.
"Ryan moved from second base to short, which really solidified our infield defense," Eastman said. "He was as good defensively at shortstop as anyone I had seen all season."
Though not being the fastest athlete out on the field, Eastman noted that Mooney was a very good and smart base runner, who had good quickness, despite not possessing blazing speed.
Tim Schneider the slugging third basemen had a few options to chose from in terms of where to play his college ball, but certain key factors went into his decision to attend Sam Houston State.
"I had some other options, Jerad and I have been pretty good friends for a while," Schneider said. "He pushed it quite a bit, well I guess a lot, it was a factor."
Schneider who this past season was named MVP of District 15-5A, and part of the Texas high school all-star game, had seven homeruns, while midway through the season, at 90 at-bats was hitting over .500, though finished the season with a .422 average.
"He never slowed down," Eastman said. "He was an offensive force all season long."
For Schneider playing time was also an important factor into his decision.
"I was put in a good position, a lot were graduating at Sam, they had signed 12 pitchers, so I had a good shot at third base," Schneider said. "I'm hoping to play my freshmen year, main reason why I came. I want to be able to have a chance to play early and be able to start on my freshmen year on a team which went to regional last year."
"They are really good guys," Eastman said of his former players. "All good high character people."
