Bobby Burton
If you don’t have the stomach for it, you shouldn’t follow recruiting.
Texas lost one of its top running back targets yesterday to Texas A&M in Carthage’s KJ Edwards. Edward’s was long considered a Texas lean until other factors came into play.
The Aggies are pushing the limits on NIL this year in recruiting with apparent little regard to the House Settlement.
Have they found a loophole or work-around? Or are they confident the rules of engagement will change yet again by the time December’s signing period rolls around (not a bad bet IMO)?
Whatever the case may be, it’s clear A&M is upping the ante. How Texas responds will tell the tale.
Yet, it’s in times like these that I remember something Mack Brown told me 25 years ago.
I’ll paraphrase here:
“Focus on the ones you bring into the program. Not the ones you lost. At most, you’ll see the player you lost no more than four days in four years.
But the ones you sign, you’ll see them every day. Focus on building those guys up.”
Of course, Brown was no poor recruiter. And the better the talent on the way in to a program, the better chance a coach will have to “build” a special player and team.
In sum, Texas fans should certainly register the losses - losses can tell us something - but the real focus should be on who Texas is adding to the class. Are those recruits, the ones who commit, good enough to win a national championship? If so, that’s what really matters, not the immediate feelings of loss or being jilted.
In other words, you’re always going to lose some in recruiting. But it’s who you sign that matters most.
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For those looking for the “sky is falling” recruiting prophecy here, sorry you won’t get it.
This has seemingly happened every summer of Sark’s tenure in Austin. And so far, Sark and his staff have navigated the rocky waters just fine.