Ole Miss signee Daniel Demery honored as private school Player of Year in north Texas
OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss signees in the class of 2023 continue to impress, and they have yet to take the field at Vaught-Hemingway.
One such player is safety Daniel Demery who was honored Saturday as the private school Player of the Year at the Texas Built Ford Tough Player of the Year Banquet held at the Omni Frisco Hotel in Frisco, Texas.
Congratulations to this year’s North Texas winners of the Built Ford Tough Players of the Year Award! 🏈🏆
Caden Durham (@cadendurham29)
Daniel Demery (@danielmdemery)#NTXFord #Ford #BFTPOY #BuiltFordTough pic.twitter.com/Fs5qmQcOWc— North Texas Ford (@ntxford) January 15, 2023
The program, concluding its 17th season, honors players from each classification and private schools throughout the season for their work on the field, in the classroom and in the community with Player of the Week honors.
Those players are then invited to the Player of the Year Banquet, where a top player from each division is named.
Demery has been a defensive force throughout out his high school career at Parish Episcopal in Dallas, finishing up as one of the top prep players in the region. He will bring much grit to the Ole Miss defense.
During his final season at Parish Episcopal, Demery notched 70 tackles, 10 pass breakups and 5 interceptions as his team finished 12-1.
His team went on to win the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) DI state title over Midland Christian this past December.
To those of us covering Demery’s career, it is not surprising has taken home such a prestigious award.
We caught up with him for his reaction on receiving this top honor.
“Winning private school Player of The Year was exciting, to say the least. I’ve worked hard every day since I was a little kid to get to where I am today. So being able to see that hard work pay off, first-hand, is truly amazing.“
Ole Miss safety signee Daniel Demery
Congratulations to this year’s North Texas winners of the Built Ford Tough Players of the Year Award! 🏈🏆
Caden Durham (@CadenDurham29) | Junior | Running back |
Daniel Demery (@DanielMDemery) | Senior | Safety #NTXFord #BuiltFordTough #Texasfootball pic.twitter.com/1WAizRfu8Z— North Texas Ford (@ntxford) January 15, 2023
Congrats to Daniel on his success, not just as a student athlete but as a member of his community.
(Feature image credit: Dallas Morning News)
Herring-Olvedo sees college football the way championship programs do—from inside the personnel room. Every evaluation, every roster move, every recruiting battle tells a bigger story about identity, culture, and how a program is built to win in December, not just July.
With more than 15 years covering the SEC and the national recruiting landscape, Herring-Olvedo has built a reputation as one of the sport’s most respected personnel-driven voices—blending film evaluation, roster construction, and long-term program vision through a true front-office lens. Her coverage of powerhouse brands like Ole Miss Rebels and Kentucky Wildcatshas consistently gone beyond headlines, focusing instead on the blueprint behind winning programs: development, fit, culture, and recruiting strategy.
That foundation was formed early at Brown University, where she worked in player personnel and recruiting while competing as a student-athlete. Inside those recruiting operations rooms, she learned how elite organizations are truly built—through relentless evaluation, relationship building, projection, and trust in the board. Those experiences shaped the way she studies the game today: part scout, part storyteller, part architect.
Her analysis and reporting have appeared across major platforms including ESPN, NFL coverage spaces, USA Today Sports, and Saturday Down South. She also brought her personnel-minded approach to the airwaves as an on-air analyst for the Wake Up 502 College Football Show on Big X Sports Radio 96.1, where she became known for combining film-room detail with a wider understanding of roster identity and program trajectory.
In 2025, covering the rise of Houston Cougars football under Willie Fritz reignited the part of the sport that first drew her into football—the culture, the edge, the belief that a roster can reshape an entire city. That inspiration led to the launch of Coogs 365 Sports, a platform built to cover Houston athletics through a true scouting and recruiting lens while connecting the emotion of the game to the heartbeat of H-Town.
Now, Herring-Olvedo returns to The Rebel Walk where with an even deeper perspective shaped by years inside recruiting circles, national SEC coverage, and hands-on evaluation experience. Her return brings a familiar voice back to Ole Miss coverage—but with an evolved lens rooted in roster architecture, player development, and the modern realities of building championship-caliber football in the NIL and portal era.
For Herring-Olvedo, recruiting has never been about stars beside a name. It is about identifying competitors, projecting growth, and building a locker room capable of sustaining success. Her philosophy mirrors the best front offices in football: stack traits, trust culture, and never stop building.



