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Texas Recruiting Notes 2021


Reese Bennett

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5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Ok. Then I suppose my answer is I hate having to wade through 6 year old racist talk in the recruiting thread when at the very least there’s timely and topical racist conversation we can be having instead? 

Tell us your opinions on Donald Trump and the Catholic Church

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1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

Why the fuck are we talking about this shit now, again, in the fucking recruiting thread? I’m all for most non-cheese related thread derailments, particular ones caused by me, but can we maybe not debate the merits of a booster’s comments from 6-7 years ago? It was a throwaway comment by EZ$. Can those determined to white knight mccombs take this shit elsewhere? There’s plenty of mouth breathing cockholsters in the football board or the cloak room that will happily take on a conversation on just how racist Texas and it’s alums is/are/were/whatever. 

Whoops. I pretty much never go into the CR but at this point, I can’t even keep track of what thread I’m in because everything seems to be converging right now.

To get us back on track, I looked out our offers by position in this class. Defense looks pretty damn good across the board. DT could get a little iffy if we miss on Turner, but we’ve at least identified and offered backup plans. We’re on Plan A or B at almost every other position.

Offense is a different story... We’re set at QB, and we have our RB2, but it looks like we’ll whiff on Wheaton and Jackson. After that, we don’t have any offers that are realistic. Drayton needs to be working to identify OOS RB1s, not sitting around His house watching NCSI all day. It’s truly insane what a lazy, low volume recruiter he is, and that Herman lets him get away with it. 
 

WR isn’t great, but if we land Ketron Jackson and Alexis, then we’re in a decent spot and have some options for the last WR in the class. We probably need a couple more OOS offers here, too.

At TE, Davis is a question mark to stay and we didn’t take a TE last year, so we at least need Davis plus another. I wouldn’t hate taking 2 true TEs if we can find good ones. Boulware just made some offers, but we’ll have to wait to see if we have a chance with them. Helm seems like the most realistic, but he’s no lock. Hopefully we can find a late riser here as those guys tend to be the beat TEs anyway. Guys who’ve been TE size since their SO year tend to not work out. 
 

OL isn’t good either. Even if I put on my burnt orange colored glasses, I can’t come up with a 5 good, realistic options based on our current offers. We’ll definitely need a second wave of offers soon. 
 

Overall, the lack of backup offers on offense when we’re not in a great spot for our primary targets is not a good sign. it seems like Herman’s betting the offense will be good this year and our current offers will turn towards us, but as we’ve already seen multiple times, that kind of hubris can really hurt us. This football season is becoming more and more of an all or nothing proposition not just for Herman, but for the whole football program. If he lays an egg this season regardless of whether he stays or gets fired, this will become a really, really rough class and will undo a lot of the good work Herman’s done on the recruiting trail to raise the talent level in the program in the last three classes.
 

A small 2020 class combined with a bad 2021 class will weigh down the program and cause depth issues for the next 3-4 years, like we’ve seen with Mack and Charlie’s departure.  On the other hand, if we do win big, this roster will be one of the top 5 or 6 most talented in the country for the next 3-4 years with a deep and talented QB room and Herman will be set up for success for the foreseeable future. 
 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Casual Encounter said:

Take that to the CR. We don’t have, or want, any hope here. Besides, Giancarlo Esposito shouldn’t be preaching about hope. He played the part of a major drug kingpin whose head was blown off.

But he had a nice run before that, when he didn’t have to pretend to be the manager of a fried chicken place. 

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“I’ve already started. I’ve already started. I’ve got my boy Ish with me, now I’m going to try to get some more,” Coffey said. “We need some offensive players so I’m going to try to get some running backs, some wide receivers, some tight ends. On defense, some linebackers and DTs.”

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21 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Whoops. I pretty much never go into the CR but at this point, I can’t even keep track of what thread I’m in because everything seems to be converging right now.

To get us back on track, I looked out our offers by position in this class. Defense looks pretty damn good across the board. DT could get a little iffy if we miss on Turner, but we’ve at least identified and offered backup plans. We’re on Plan A or B at almost every other position.

Offense is a different story... We’re set at QB, and we have our RB2, but it looks like we’ll whiff on Wheaton and Jackson. After that, we don’t have any offers that are realistic. Drayton needs to be working to identify OOS RB1s, not sitting around His house watching NCSI all day. It’s truly insane what a lazy, low volume recruiter he is, and that Herman lets him get away with it. 
 

WR isn’t great, but if we land Ketron Jackson and Alexis, then we’re in a decent spot and have some options for the last WR in the class. We probably need a couple more OOS offers here, too.

At TE, Davis is a question mark to stay and we didn’t take a TE last year, so we at least need Davis plus another. I wouldn’t hate taking 2 true TEs if we can find good ones. Boulevard just made some offers, but we’ll have to wait to see if we have a chance with them. Helm seems like the most realistic, but he’s no lock. Hopefully, we can find a late riser here as those guys tend to be the beat TEs anyway. Guys who’ve been TE size since their SO year tend to not work out. 
 

OL isn’t good either. Even if I out on my burnt orange colored glasses, I can’t come up with a 5 good, realistic based on our current offers. We’ll definitely need a second wave of offers soon. 
 

Overall, the lack of backup offers on offense when we’re not in a great spot for our primary targets is not a good sign. it seems like Herman’s betting the offense will be good this year and our current offers will turn towards us, but as we’ve already seen multiple times, that kind of hubris can really hurt us. This football season is becoming more and more of an all or nothing proposition not just for Herman, but for the whole football program. If he lays an egg this season regardless of whether he stays or gets fired, this will become a really, really rough class and will undo a lot of the good work Herman’s done on the recruiting trail to raise the talent level in the program in the last three classes.
 

A small 2020 class combined with a bad 2021 class will weigh down the program and cause depth issues for the next 3-4 years, like we’ve seen with Mack and Charlie’s departure.  On the other hand, if we do win big, this roster will be one of the top 5 or 6 most talented in the country for the next 3-4 years with a deep and talented QB room and Herman will be set up for success for the foreseeable future.

Yeah defense is looking just fine to me. Roach has even made a couple more bullish comments on Turner lately. Not bullish as in we're gonna get him, but at least we're not completely dead like we'd all been assuming. I've been assuming that we'll keep working on Landon Jackson and Clayton Smith, however unlikely that may be. At least we're set up so that'd be a cherry-on-top situation. What about Burris, haven't heard much on him lately? Not gonna happen?

I was looking at RB yesterday. Our offer situation there is kinda interesting. Brooks, the top 4 RBs in the nation (including Wheaton and Johnson), a random dude out of GA who has been committed to Clemson since August, and Brandon Campbell, who I assume was a Brooks back-up plan. What you attribute to laziness made me wonder if they're just content to use that number somewhere else if they can't get a guy that's elite. Just going by rankings, I'm not even sure who they'd pursue that would be an obvious RB1 to Brooks' RB2.

At WR, I just hope the don't end up taking guys that can't play here to get to a certain number. Not saying Jackson and Alexis fall into that category, but the pickings are getting slim. Quay must really, REALLY be a flake.

The less we talk about OL right now, the better. Oof. If we don't land the Brocks, it's truly panic time, which is a horrible spot to be in. I thought your closing thought were overstating things on my first reading of your post, but yeah basically punting on OL for an entire year would really, really hurt.

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I may be in the minority here, but I believe Wheaton is still in play. No one knows anything and the staff is still confident. It's still time for more evals and offers, but not as though Drayton is recruiting a board of no one. He's also reportedly still on Henderson who is a "Texas kid". If they can get him to visit, there's a shot. He didn't visit Columbus either. 

OL is my only real concern today. And even then, just like every other position of need or concern, it will be fixed with a good season. 

 

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23 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Yeah defense is looking just fine to me. Roach has even made a couple more bullish comments on Turner lately. Not bullish as in we're gonna get him, but at least we're not completely dead like we'd all been assuming. I've been assuming that we'll keep working on Landon Jackson and Clayton Smith, however unlikely that may be. At least we're set up so that'd be a cherry-on-top situation. What about Burris, haven't heard much on him lately? Not gonna happen?

I was looking at RB yesterday. Our offer situation there is kinda interesting. Brooks, the top 4 RBs in the nation (including Wheaton and Johnson), a random dude out of GA who has been committed to Clemson since August, and Brandon Campbell, who I assume was a Brooks back-up plan. What you attribute to laziness made me wonder if they're just content to use that number somewhere else if they can't get a guy that's elite. Just going by rankings, I'm not even sure who they'd pursue that would be an obvious RB1 to Brooks' RB2.

At WR, I just hope the don't end up taking guys that can't play here to get to a certain number. Not saying Jackson and Alexis fall into that category, but the pickings are getting slim. Quay must really, REALLY be a flake.

The less we talk about OL right now, the better. Oof. If we don't land the Brocks, it's truly panic time, which is a horrible spot to be in. I thought your closing thought were overstating things on my first reading of your post, but yeah basically punting on OL for an entire year would really, really hurt.

I think we have a chance at flipping Clayton Smith if the season goes our way and the OU defense struggles. 
 

While we’ve landed some good RBs, we’re still very thin there. Ingram could leave after this year and then all we’d have is Bijan, RoJo, and maybe Daniel Young returning. We need to take 2 RBs, and also taking Brooks as your RB1 at UT would be malpractice IMO. There are plenty of good RBs across the country. Drayton needs to get off his ass and identify some. And even if he has orders from Herman to stay at 1 RB if we don’t get Johnson or Wheaton, he should still be recruiting other positions, but we never hear about him doing that. A RB coach that barely even recruits his position is a horrible use of the spot.

It’s a bit of a slim year in state, but the pickings aren’t slim at WR overall. There’s talent at WR all over the country. We need to go identify it and make offers. 
 

I’d also add that my final thoughts about this year being make or break is also because if the season doesn’t go well, the damage won’t be limited to just missing on priority targets....

12 minutes ago, Ricky's one-hitter said:

I may be in the minority here, but I believe Wheaton is still in play. No one knows anything and the staff is still confident. It's still time for more evals and offers, but not as though Drayton is recruiting a board of no one. He's also reportedly still on Henderson who is a "Texas kid". If they can get him to visit, there's a shot. He didn't visit Columbus either. 

OL is my only real concern today. And even then, just like every other position of need or concern, it will be fixed with a good season. 

 

I think Wheaton’s still in play, but it’s a lot like the Cain/Smith year. We need to have more than one option for RB1, and I don’t consider Henderson a realistic option at this point.

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1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

OL isn’t good either. Even if I put on my burnt orange colored glasses, I can’t come up with a 5 good, realistic options based on our current offers. We’ll definitely need a second wave of offers soon. 

giphy.gif

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1 hour ago, Ricky's one-hitter said:

I may be in the minority here, but I believe Wheaton is still in play. No one knows anything and the staff is still confident. It's still time for more evals and offers, but not as though Drayton is recruiting a board of no one. He's also reportedly still on Henderson who is a "Texas kid". If they can get him to visit, there's a shot. He didn't visit Columbus either. 

OL is my only real concern today. And even then, just like every other position of need or concern, it will be fixed with a good season. 

 

I don't remember how the various mods and boards feel about the Wheaton recruitment, but I think we're in a better spot than they believe. 

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59 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I think we have a chance at flipping Clayton Smith if the season goes our way and the OU defense struggles. 

Maybe, but I think Smith shut off contact from other coaching staffs 

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Just now, Fud said:

Maybe, but I think Smith shut off contact from other coaching staffs 

Yeah, I don't see it happening either. Cain and Grinch pitched him on playing 4 spots in their D and did a really good job selling his versatility combined with their need and the lack of anyone on their roster that can be that multi-tool. Even if the Sooners D struggles it will likely only cement their need for Smith. 

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Just now, golfclap said:

Yeah, I don't see it happening either. Cain and Grinch pitched him on playing 4 spots in their D and did a really good job selling his versatility combined with their need and the lack of anyone on their roster that can be that multi-tool. Even if the Sooners D struggles it will likely only cement their need for Smith. 

He got Bryson Washington'd. "Why go to Texas where you have to sit for two years when we'll get you on the field in game one?"

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Just now, crash_davis said:

how many recruits has Samples cost us?

Well, there's the one's he's drawn to SMU (Nwokobia and Byrd), but then there's the opportunity cost of keeping Meh/Warehime/wtv and not promoting him, in which case it'd be more than that, but who knows to what extent.

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32 minutes ago, cafe society said:

@SydneyCarton Do you think if aggy continues to bugger up their response to racial reform that we can get back in on Johnson, or has that ship sailed and he's LSU bound?

It’s certainly possible. Depending on how we respond to our campus reforms and things get handled there (and everywhere) I think everything about this class could turn on it’s head in the blink of an eye. But we’re talking total lightning in a bottle unlikely at this point, imo. I’d have to know more about Johnson myself to hazard that kind of guess. 

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38 minutes ago, texifornia said:

Well, there's the one's he's drawn to SMU (Nwokobia and Byrd), but then there's the opportunity cost of keeping Meh/Warehime/wtv and not promoting him, in which case it'd be more than that, but who knows to what extent.

hole blow GIF

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3 minutes ago, Ricky's one-hitter said:

I’m still beyond confused about this. He was thought to be a 5 star OT prospect after his sophomore year, yet now he’s staying on the DL for two years because they have a 3 and 4 star who are both a year younger than him at OT? I get the original reason was because they needed help at DT,  but I have a hard time believing Duncanville has been so bare at DT for 2 straight years that Byrd is better used there if he’s a 5 star talent at OT. 

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Byrd's 5* ranking was too high -- it was a lot about frame, projection, and athletic upside with his ability to shine in a camp setting. Watch Ducanville though - Early is freaking fantastic and Williams is a damn mauler. I can easily see Byrd being a legitimate 4* OT talent and still not getting reps over either of them. Perhaps this year he moves back to OL, I certainly could see him playing RT with Williams at RG. 

Honestly that is an incredible trio of guys to have on one OL. David Ash would still be alive today if he had those 3 guys. 

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42 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I’m still beyond confused about this. He was thought to be a 5 star OT prospect after his sophomore year, yet now he’s staying on the DL for two years because they have a 3 and 4 star who are both a year younger than him at OT? I get the original reason was because they needed help at DT,  but I have a hard time believing Duncanville has been so bare at DT for 2 straight years that Byrd is better used there if he’s a 5 star talent at OT. 

It would be like taking your best pass rusher and ask him to play LB because you didn't recruit any other LBs. And then asking him to eat up blocks repeatedly to free up safety blitzes from Pflugerville three second after the ball is snapped. 

Or something like that....

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44 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I’m still beyond confused about this. He was thought to be a 5 star OT prospect after his sophomore year, yet now he’s staying on the DL for two years because they have a 3 and 4 star who are both a year younger than him at OT? I get the original reason was because they needed help at DT,  but I have a hard time believing Duncanville has been so bare at DT for 2 straight years that Byrd is better used there if he’s a 5 star talent at OT. 

I don’t know about this upcoming year, but last year they definitely needed help at DT, and Byrd was the two-way player. It’s as simple as that.

Generally speaking, he has all the tools to be a 5-star, but they are definitely stunting his growth by having him play out of position. If he does move back to offense, his final ranking will have a lot to do with his senior tape.

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4 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

It would be like taking your best pass rusher and ask him to play LB because you didn't recruit any other LBs. And then asking him to eat up blocks repeatedly to free up safety blitzes from Pflugerville three second after the ball is snapped. 

Or something like that....

You know you, you goddamn triggering son of a bitch, just fuck you. 

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3 minutes ago, Lonestar88 said:

I don’t know about this upcoming year, but last year they definitely needed help at DT, and Byrd was the two-way player. It’s as simple as that.

Generally speaking, he has all the tools to be a 5-star, but they are definitely stunting his growth by having him play out of position. If he does move back to offense, his final ranking will have a lot to do with his senior tape.

A high school OL/OC told me awhile back that as a fan it didn't bother him at all that he's playing DL, because it keeps him from learning bad habits that he'll have to unlearn in college 

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Byrd had elite athleticism and elite feet, he plays hard and mean, and when he played OT his sophomore year in big time 6A ball he usually won his reps. There's a lot to work with there. From an evaluation standpoint, my biggest question with having him as a top five in the state 5* type would be length. 

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