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Texas Recruiting Notes 2021


Reese Bennett

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58 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

That second tweet is a thing of beauty. 

tenor.gif

For sure. he’s so fluid, and damn he’s got some long arms. That frame is fantastic. 
 

just gonna throw this here as well — Casey to Wiley and it’s legit and Wiley is a grown ass man.  This staff can straight up identify jumbo athletes better than any staff - @ me all you want. 

 

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The Athletic: This Week In Recruiting: South Carolina, a 5-star QB and more talent to the SEC

Texas relevant part here:

 

Spoiler

 

Texas finds its 2021 quarterback

There was a lot of movement at quarterback for Texas last week given the Longhorns landed five-star prospect Quinn Ewers of Southlake (Texas) Carroll — the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class – before subsequently losing a commitment from Jalen Milroe of Katy (Texas) Tompkins, a four-star class of 2021 prospect who flipped to Alabama.

Now, things are settling down after Tom Herman found his new quarterback in the 2021 class in three-star Charles Wright of Austin (Texas) High, who is the No. 1,127 overall player and the No. 39 pro-style quarterback in the country. Rankings-wise, that is a big drop off from Milroe, but Texas clearly found something it likes in Wright, who had been committed to Iowa State and also had offers from Arkansas, NC State and others.

This is a reminder of how difficult it is to string together commitments from top 100 quarterbacks in back-to-back classes. It happens, sure, but even at Oklahoma — the quarterback factory in the sport right now — five-star quarterbacks Spencer Rattler (2019 class) and Caleb Williams (2021 class) were separated by three-star Chandler Morris of Dallas Highland Park. That’s not to say that Morris doesn’t have a chance to be a productive starter in college, but that’s how depth charts work in this sport. Only one quarterback can play.

Yes, Texas will feel the loss of Milroe, especially if he goes to Tuscaloosa and becomes a starter in a College Football Playoff game, which is a very possible outcome. But it’s the price the Longhorns have to pay to sign the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class in Ewers, who could be a program-altering prospect.

In reality, staggering a three-star quarterback who is willing to be patient between top 100 quarterbacks is a healthy way to build a quarterback room in a sport where transferring happens regularly. The Longhorns signed four-star dual-threat quarterback Hudson Card — the No. 59 overall player in the 2020 class — last year, giving the program a very functional future at the position.

Now the biggest battle is holding onto Ewers. That recruitment isn’t over yet. He’s too good.

 

 

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IT predicts the finish to the class

Quote

That isn’t to say this predicted class finish is likely, but I think it’s at least worth entertaining. I’m more confident in some recruitments than others.

Texas is sitting on 17 commitments. That leaves room for 8 more commits.

As is standard when heading down the stretch, you’re not just looking for best player available but also filling needs. Those two factors are always in tension, whether building out a class or an NFL team on the clock come draft time. BPA’s are oh so enticing, but it’s dangerous to sacrifice meeting needs.

Running Back - 1

Lakeview Centennial running back Camar Wheaton left UT out of his top list of schools. We mentioned that’s a good thing because it indicates where Texas sits with its true priority, LJ Johnson from Cy-Fair.

We’re predicting Johnson to be the take to go along with Jonathon Brooks. I like complementary parts at skill positions, and sandwiching Johnson between Bijan Robinson and potentially Jaydon Blue gives Texas some thunder and lightning possibilities. You can attack the whole field with those three.

When it comes to timeline, we’re not entirely sure, but we don’t think Johnson will go too far into the season, if at all. I know patience isn’t the hallmark of a recruitnik, but it should be rewarded here.

Wide Receiver - 0-1

Despite only having two players in the class, wide receiver is a position they could potentially punt on for the rest of the cycle. Reasons include: 2022 is loaded and they have great early footing; while the depth chart doesn’t have a ton of bodies, it’s filled with versatile contributors; the freshman are showing promise; receivers capable of filling gaps can be found in the transfer portal.

All this means the staff shouldn’t feel the need to reach and could allocate the spot to a BPA after running the cost-benefit of each scenario.

Names we’re watching here are JJ Henry and JoJo Earle, but perhaps an outside receiver emerges.

Offensive Line - 2

Texas has a center and a likely guard in a class where it needs tackles. That means they’ll be aiming for pure tackles from here on out. Given need, I suspect they’ll recruit Jack Leyrer like he’s a priority. That’s a bit of a guess because his recruitment was very quiet until recently. He’ll visit this weekend. We don’t think he’s a lock to UT but he profiles well to the school.

For the second offensive lineman, it will likely be an all hands on deck approach. It could come from high school, Juco, a Portaler, somebody from late next spring, etc.

If Kerstetter returns that helps in the short term, but they need tackles in the pipeline.

Defensive Line - 2

Texas is in a favorable position with Ja’Tavion Sanders and Jordon Thomas committed. Thomas will likely make the transition to defensive tackle between the timeframes Ta’Quon Graham and T’Vondre Sweat did. Sanders is the dual run-defending, pass-rushing D-end the line requires.

DeSoto’s Shemar Turner fits in the mold of Vernon Broughton. He’s big to the point he looks like a 3-tech or 4i long term but he has the athleticism and body type to stick at defensive end for a while if that’s the goal. Texas will have to hold off half of the SEC West but we think it’s doable given current standing.

Albert Regis profiles to either 3-tech or 1-tech. We think this will be a UT/A&M battle. Could Texas sweep the Aggies for both Turner and Regis? That may be wishful thinking, but we like where UT sits with both.

Linebacker - 1

After years of lamenting how hard it is to find linebackers with the baseline prerequisites to play in the Big 12, Texas is one Cooks away from having a kitchen full of these types of ‘backers.

Coleman Hutzler has done well in the Terrence Cooks recruitment; one that always set up favorably to Texas.

We think the Shadow Creek athlete will decide sometime between now and early October. We’ve been bullish from the jump.

Defensive Back - 1

Austin LBJ’s Andrew Mukuba is a perfect fit for Chris Ash’s quarters coverage. With coverage being the name of the game for safeties, more so than in the past, he’s been in demand with national elites. But is that still the case? Can he commit to Clemson or LSU? Setting an announcement date is a good way to find out if your offer is committable.

I still don’t know what will happen in this recruitment but I tend to think Clemson pulled back some. Any daylight created should be filled by UT aggressively pushing.

Way too early predicted finish:

RB LJ Johnson

WR JoJo Earle or JJ Henry or BPA used elsewhere

OL Jack Leyrer/Player to be named later, they haven’t cast a wide enough net to make a good prediction

DL Shemar Turner/Albert Regis

LB Terrence Cooks

DB Andrew Mukuba

Best Player Available candidates:

DE Landon Jackson -- difficult to flip from LSU but not impossible due to relationships in place

DE David Abiara — I think they should stay in this one as long as possible while selling football and academics. 2022 doesn’t have as many options at D-end and Texas is way behind for Ernest Cooper.

CB A late emerging in-state talent or someone from out of state

OL maybe a couple of O-linemen I’m tired of discussing

Flips

Overall, Texas should want to land Johnson, Mukuba, and Cooks as soon a possible while continuing to recruit the priorities on a longer timeline. Otherwise, keeping powder dry for what could be a wild flipping season is a good idea.

Gerry responds

Quote

My top 5 most important remaining for Texas in 2021

1. Shemar Turner - elite elite elite talent. Add him to what Texas will return on the DL next season, and it' starts looking like 2000-09 on the DL

2. Albert Regis - same reasons, but farther away. Developmental DT, and it fits perfectly. Elite athlete at the position. Having that Texas 2000-09 level depth across the DL is a must to returning to 10+ wins a year.

3. David Abiara - I'm DL all the time in this class. Just really like these guys in 2021, and where it positions the program. I think Abiara is big because he's damn good, but also a quality DE to go in the class with Sanders and Thomas. The what if game makes Abiara big ... what if Sanders decides he wants to play TE (don't think this is crazy talk) and Thomas transitions to DT.

4. Terrance Cook - adding the best LB prospect in Texas to the group committed, and young emerging talent on campus helps take the D to another level in the next 3-4 years. This speed is different with Cook too.

5. LJ Johnson - adding another elite RB talent to the room would be huge, especially if Ingram has a pretty healthy 800 yard season and heads to NFL Draft.

*Not adding OL's here because they will be more developmental guys at this point.

 

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1 minute ago, HtownHorn said:

So taking a 2021 WR that would be lesser quality than the stacked 2022 WR is not what that idiom means? The assumption is that we get Henry or Jackson.

"bird in the hand" means its better to hold onto something you have rather than risk giving it up for something better in the future. 

We want to risk taking fewer WRs in the '21 class and hold out for more (and more talented) WRs in the '22 class

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1 minute ago, Mason Ramsey said:

"bird in the hand" means its better to hold onto something you have rather than risk giving it up for something better in the future. 

We want to risk taking fewer WRs in the '21 class and hold out for more (and more talented) WRs in the '22 class

My mistake.

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2 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Who knows?  Maybe missing on almost all the good OL this year will be a blessing in the skies next cycle, but we should probably nip that thinking in the butt because it will bring up some really deep-seeded trauma for Newy if he reads this, though I could really care less.  Irregardless, we need to pull a complete 360 so we dont have to think about what could of been and this all becomes a mute point.  For all intensive purposes,an OL class with guys like Myslinski, Lengyel, and Leyrer doesn't really jive with the championship expectations we have for our sleight of hand QB of the future, Hutson Card.  

Not sure whether to pos rep or neg. It's beautiful and uphauling at the same time.

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10 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Who knows?  Maybe missing on almost all the good OL this year will be a blessing in the skies next cycle, but we should probably nip that thinking in the butt because it will bring up some really deep-seeded trauma for Newy if he reads this, though I could really care less.  Irregardless, we need to pull a complete 360 so we dont have to think about what could of been and this all becomes a mute point.  For all intensive purposes,an OL class with guys like Myslinski, Lengyel, and Leyrer doesn't really jive with the championship expectations we have for our sleight of hand QB of the future, Hutson Card.  

I could care less

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48 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Who knows?  Maybe missing on almost all the good OL this year will be a blessing in the skies next cycle, but we should probably nip that thinking in the butt because it will bring up some really deep-seeded trauma for Newy if he reads this, though I could really care less.  Irregardless, we need to pull a complete 360 so we dont have to think about what could of been and this all becomes a mute point.  For all intensive purposes,an OL class with guys like Myslinski, Lengyel, and Leyrer doesn't really jive with the championship expectations we have for our sleight of hand QB of the future, Hutson Card.  

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