Jump to content

Texas Recruiting Notes 2020


Reese Bennett

Recommended Posts

23 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

EJ says Smart Chibuzo will be visiting for the WVU game with Footwork King, Demas, ect.  Is he the only aggy OL commit for this class worth going after?  Definately a Guard.

We could use a guard, and just looking at that picture of the UK visitors he seems to have a classic guard frame. I'd like to see him keep bad weight off into his senior year though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

X-post because it's like all 2020 - thanks @satyanash

Quote

Winning is great, really great, but it won't have the immediate impact on recruiting that hardcore recruitniks are hoping for. Of course, many recruitniks, the ones who flew over the cuckoo's nest, are more suited to the noun version of patient rather than the adjective. This board is pretty smart, and only sorta crazy, and understands what we've been writing the whole cycle: The staff always expected to win, so there's no point in deviating from the long, paint drying, patient approach.

Texas will continue to recruit long-shots like Bru McCoy with fervor, while also trying to flip instate must-gets like Garrett Wilson and DeMarvin Leal. No easy task, but winning not only helps in these recruitments, it's required. As far as instate recruiting goes, not only is the class shallow on talent, 82% of the instate top-50 players are already committed. Fortunately, Texas has commitments from five or six out-of-state players who would be top-25 players in this cycle.

Instate targets who are on the radar to varying degrees include Jalen Catalon, Elijah Higgins, Lewis Cine, Marcus Stripling, Deondrick Glass, and Peyton Powell. After Cine makes his decision next week (probably Georgia), the top-15 players will all be committed. I don't expect Texas winning to help much with those prospects, outside of perhaps Wilson and Leal, and again they're long-shots.

Back in July I wrote about the factors and scenarios to look for in late-cycle recruiting. I'll have to revisit this article in the next month as more information emerges, but this is where things could get interesting. Winning helps leverage these situations.

1. Coaching changes, uncertainty surrounding under-performing recruiting powers
2. Instate late-bloomers
3. Out-of-state prospects squeezed out by instate schools filling up
4. Prospects without a Texas offer but still being recruited quietly
5. Circle-backs
6. Leveraging volatility between the signing days

(Re: #1, Ed Orgeron is proving me wrong, Clay Helton is proving me right)

At 10-2 and playing in the conference championship you're going to capitalize on these scenarios in ways that many other schools can't, especially when you have so many spots remaining. There are going to be ways to position itself for success in that Texas wasn't able to last season, simply by being a program truly on the rise. For now, it's the job of the staff to keep winning and the recruiting staff to keep gathering information on prospects and their situations.

The main value of the patient approach in this cycle is prolonging the evaluation process and finding prospects who are truly ascending. By doing this you gain a better understanding of the players who had questions -- often the type that don't show up on film -- who have worked towards answering them. On a test that has a lot of boxes, maybe a prospect is only missing one final box to check. Once that's done, they could become a viable candidate for the staff to hard-press down the stretch. As individual scenarios begin to crystallize, so to does the staff's interest in a player.

As a season plays out, program needs become more obvious. This certainly affects how you approach the rest of the class. Texas needs a ready-made JUCO linebacker, and just may get that in Caleb Johnson. Texas needs more immediate competition on the offensive line and is likely to get that from a Juco, and then maybe even again in the grad transfer market. Needs remain at wide receiver, running back, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, and Jalen Catalon. More names will emerge as candidates like Myron Warren did yesterday, and the better the season the more likely it is the staff doesn't have to drift too far down the big board for answers.

It's going to be an interesting finish to the 2019 class and winning will effect the ceiling, though maybe not quite as much as fans would have liked due to instate talent being down and many players being cemented to their current school of choice.

Where winning REALLY helps is with the 2020 class before trend lines begin to emerge. Juxtapose the start to the 2020 class with Texas at 10-2, rather than at the beginning of 2019 where UT had some in-house issues that were blown out of proportion just as OU made the playoffs and A&M made a coaching change.

UT's preferred patient approach only works if it's winning. While Texas is still taking its time on the current class, A&M is working hard towards the class ahead. I will say the UT staff has done well to pick up the interest on 2020's with the amount that visited in September, but the coaches certainly aren't pushing as aggressively as other staffs. They're in no hurry to take commitments at this point. That's good, keep in mind they're evaluating the two most populous states while also doing homework on Louisiana and the Southeast. They don't want kids who can play at Texas, they want the best kids who can play at Texas. That's a big difference fans don't always understand -- they're recruiting to a standard that doesn't care where you live. Currently Texas is in fair, to good, to great condition with the following prospects:

RB Zach Evans - fair
DB Dwight McGlothern - fair
WR Demond Demas - fair
ATH Ja'Quinden Jackson - good
OL Chad Lindberg - great
DB Chris Thompson - good
DB Darius Snow - great
QB Hudson Card - great
OL Logan Parr - great
DB Bryson Washington - good
DB Jaylon Jones - great
DL Vernon Broughton - good
OLB/DL Prince Dorbah - great
OL Jaylen Garth - great
OL Jake Majors - good
RB Ty Jordan - good
DL Alfred Collins - great
DB Kelvontay Dixon - great
DL Princely Umanmielen - good

Not coincidentally, these are also the prospects the staff is seemingly targeting the hardest at this point. Basically, the players they're showing the most interest in are returning the favor. Depending on how much the program wins over the course of the rest of this season (it's conceivable we could get tired of all the winning) and next will play a large part in who on this list ends up in the class. I could see the staff pulling back the reins on some of these offers as more players emerge from both in- and out-of-state.

For now, enjoy the winning. If Texas closes this season strong just assume the 2020 cycle will be guaranteed a top-five class.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TFB on Prince Dorbah: 

Prince Dorbah in Focus | 2020 DE
– Super K

Prince Dorbah is one of the most highly coveted DE/OLB prospects in the 2020 class. I recently stopped by Highland Park to see Dorbah in action and spoke with him about his football background and his recruitment.

But before I get into those notes, here’s something you might like…

Background & Interests

Dorbah was born in Ivory Coast, Africa and came to the United State when he was young. Had he stayed in Africa, he probably would’ve grown up playing soccer but here football and basketball were his choice sports, “Even since I could pick up a football we’d be playing out in the streets at my apartment”. Dorbah says he was interested to football by his brothers but basketball was his true love.

“Growing up I loved basketball. At one point I even thought about quitting football and focusing on basketball. I saw myself as a basketball player. My dream was to make it to the NBA. Now, my dream is to make it to the NFL”.

Once Dorbah found his way into a starting roll at Highland Park as a sophomore, he realized football was his future. “I didn’t realize I was that good at it but people around me saw it”. He picked up his first offer from Oklahoma State, “One that happened I thought, ‘So, I guess I am good at football’”.

Following that offer, Prince could see his dreams coming more into focus, “After that I just started working even harder because I felt like I was one step closer to where I want to be”. Dorbah spent this past summer training with former OU and Green Bay cornerback, Mike Hawkins and it showed. When I saw him play a couple weeks ago, Dorbah was coming off the ball hard even into the fourth quarter.

Recruiting

Following the offer from Oklahoma State, a lot of interest began pouring in. Texas went by to see Dorbah in the spring. Shortly thereafter they made the offer. Dorbah did camp at Texas. He also recently took a visit to Texas for the USC game. It was clear in speaking to him that that game really stood out to him and I think Texas made a big move with him, in part, because of that game.

Prince says that the three schools recruited him the hardest right now are Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma. In terms of contact with the staff, it’s a team effort, “I hear from Herman and coach Giles but really pretty much all of the staff”. It sounds like Texas has made him a priority and seeing his bend and closing speed, I can see why.

In terms of a decision, don’t expect anything to happen anytime soon. Dorbah says he’s taking it slow. He still has offers coming in. But the local schools do appear to have at least one advantage, “Mom doesn’t want me to go far. My dream was to play far away when I was a kid but I don’t know now”.

In-Person | Three Thoughts

***Perfect size for a hybrid DE/OLB. He looks about 6’2 or so. You don’t want those guys too tall, otherwise, you start to get out-leveraged on the edge and you give up some athleticism.

***Fantastic closing speed and good jump off the ball. Dorbah has the twitch you want to see to get a guy on his hheelsand he plays pretty hard. He’s a little inconsistent in his hand usage but when he fires them out, it’s effective. I think he can be way more dominant than he realizes at this point. But it’ll come.

***To the point above, when he’s not thinking and he’s just reacting, he is dominant. In other words, he has the instinct for the game. Wish I had this one on video…

That was a play where he wasn’t thinking. He saw blockers coming it at them, quick hands and threw the both away and explodes out to make a tackle. There was no one around. Had he allowed either guy to block him or not made that tackle, the ball goes for plenty of yards.

Favorites

Favorite TV show? Hard Knocks on HBO

Favorite Movie? Avengers: Infinity War

Favorite Artist? Lil Baby and Gunna (Had never heard of them. I felt old…or wise!)

Dream Vacation: Dubai

College Major: Engineering or Sports Management.

Top School: Says he doesn’t have one yet and if he does, he wasn’t ready to divulge it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the OU Braniacs site, on Zach Evans:

Quote

***A peculiar thing is that in the 2019 class the Sooners have had a bit of a harder time recruiting running backs (although, as I mentioned, speaking to Kenny McIntosh in person last week made it very clear that the Sooners are in it and quite possibly the leader). But in the 2020 class, every running back seems interested in Oklahoma. They have two monsters already committed in Jaylan Knighton (Deerfield, FL) and Jace McClellan (Aledo).

I was recently told that the Sooners also lead for Seth McGowan (Mesquite Poteet). And, as you all know, we’ve spoken with 5-star running back Kendall Milton out of Fresno, California and he called Chip Viney “close family” and plans on visiting OU. As I side note, I’ll be out in Fresno tomorrow to see Milton in person.

But the guy who I was certain OU didn’t really have much of a shot with was 5-star running back, Zach Evans (North Shore, TX). Sure he’s visited Oklahoma but when I’d speak with him or his brothers, I always got the sense that it was a TAMU vs. Texas battle with TAMU holding a slight lead.

I reached out to Evans, recently and three things struck me:

– He watches OU play on television a lot more than he watches, even Texas.

– He plans on getting up to OU for a return visit, soon. His brother had mentioned this to me a few weeks back, so this isn’t a huge surprise but again, I just didn’t read a ton of interest. Now, it sounds like they are very serious about making it up to OU, when they’re able.

– Finally, and this one was the most surprising. He said he wants to play with Kendall Milton.

I asked Zach about the Sooners and this past weekend, “They stand good with me. I expect them to execute more but things happen when you get complacent”. On the Mike Stoops firing he added, “Sometimes it ain’t the coaches, it’s the players”.

How OU manages their 2020 running back recruitment is going to be interesting. Everyone of the RBs mentioned above are excellent excellent players.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A kid Texas should keep an eye on is Montavian Hunt out of Jasper in East Texas.  He is a little fast back in ths Fozzy Whitaker /Tre Watson mold.  He had 342 yards last week against a  pretty good West Orange Stark defense last week.   His team is undefeated, so he should get some run in the high school playoffs.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, texifornia said:

Ew, Milton is from Fresno, which is pretty much OU territory

https://247sports.com/Player/Kendall-Milton-46041050/

IIRC. Fresno has been OU territory since the Dust Bowl considering so many Okies fled their shit hole to start a new one in California.

6 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Gonna go out on a limb and say that OU ain't gonna sign three 5 star RBs in 2020 (and a fourth in the top 150).

It's like they think they're Bama.

5 minutes ago, Carl Winslow said:

brother

 

CJ Robinson is Zach Evans's brother? Doesn't matter, almost anyone has better intel than Taylor Hamm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those disregarding Evan's peculiar comments regarding Texas, contrast those with his quote about OU and tell me that he's not down on Texas.

I asked Zach about the Sooners and this past weekend, “They stand good with me. I expect them to execute more but things happen when you get complacent”. On the Mike Stoops firing he added, “Sometimes it ain’t the coaches, it’s the players”.

 

That being said, I'm happy he's visiting this weekend and hopeful we can turn things around with this kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems like a lot of the dudes who are high on Texas early, or at the very least taking alot of early visits are these stud o-line men. I know we need at least some bodies this year, but that o-line class could be devasting next year. Additionally, with Evans comments about going to the school who pulls in the best o-line class, it's incredibly early, but theres things to like when watching from afar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...