C-USA All-American Prudy Calderon Transfers To Texas A&M-Commerce

Texas A&M-Commerce will officially begin their 1st season at the FCS level in 2022, in which they will join the Southland Conference. The Lions were successful at the Division II level as they won the 2017 D-II National Championship and have won three Lone Star Conference titles since 2014. Texas A&M-Commerce landed a major addition to their secondary as former Rice defensive back Prudy Calderon has officially been added to the 2022 roster. 

Safety Prudy Calderon is officially listed on Texas A&M Commerce roster. The Lions have secured arguably the best coverage safety in the portal providing the secondary with 19 career pass deflections. Calderon reunites with Coach Bailiff who originally recruited him to Rice. pic.twitter.com/1PeoLh1zvN

— NIL Apparel LLC (@NIL_Apparel_LLC) May 22, 2022

Calderon was a consensus 3-star prospect out of San Marcos High School in the class of 2018. The 5-foot-11, 213-pound defensive back ranked as a Top-150 ATH in the country and a Top-300 player in the state of Texas as he saw playing time at defensive back, quarterback, and special teams. Calderon was named the District 15-6A Offensive MVP in his first year at quarterback after producing over 3,000 yards of total offense and 39 total touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, Calderon was named to the All-District team after totaling 160 tackles, 7 pass breakups, & 4 interceptions over his high school career. Calderon held offers from Rice, Army, Eastern Illinois, Brown, & Columbia; but announced his commitment to Rice in February of 2018 on National Signing Day. 

Calderon was able to make an immediate impact for the Owls as he won the Joe F. Lipscomb Award, which is given to the most outstanding freshman player, and also was named a Freshman All-American in the C-USA in 2018. Over his four seasons at Rice Calderon totaled 70 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, & 19 pass breakups. Calderon saw action in almost 40 games in his Rice career before announcing his transfer in December of last year.

The Lions lost multiple top contributors from the talented secondary last season; including All-Americans Dominique Ramsey, Alex Shillow, & Kader Kohou. Calderon will bring much needed experience to the Texas A&M-Commerce secondary and is primed to be an immediate contributor for the Lions in the 2022 season. Calderon will join returning contributors Darius Williams, Daryion Taylor, & King Ambers in the Lions secondary next season.

Texas A&M-Commerce will open their 2022 season against Lincoln University on September 1st before traveling to Tennessee Tech in their 1st FCS matchup of the season.