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Texas Recruiting Notes 2023: Strippers, Monkeys, and 5-Stars


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247 Recruiting Stampede

TIFWIW, but they're confident about Owens returning to the fold:

Spoiler

The Stampede: Recruiting buzz following the first game weekend of the season

 

The season is underway, and the Longhorns are officially 1-0 after a win over Louisiana-Lafayette at home. With that win came a lot of good energy and good feedback from recruits who were able to see the unveiling of the new facilities at DKR.

The Horns247 staff was also out on the road to see several Texas targets in action and gather information on where things stand between those prospects and Texas. Steve Sarkisian and his staff have a Top 10 class and some recent momentum on the recruiting trail. They will look to continue success on the field and parlay that into wins on the recruiting trail.

So what did we hear about the gameday experience, which visitors showed up and what intel did we pick up from the road?

In this week’s edition of The Stampede, Horns247’s weekly gathering of recruiting intel, the Horns247 recruiting staff drops a boatload of notes from the recruiting trail.

 

Longhorns still the favorite for Rueben Owens

On Friday night, I made the trip down to Wharton County to check out El Campo five-star running back Rueben Owens II in a game for the first time.

Despite playing a Fulshear team that currently has 6A enrollment numbers (compared to El Campo’s 4A status), Owens still flashed at times. He was typically dragging along defenders as soon as he touched the ball but was almost always making the first man miss.

It wasn’t a productive night by any means, but there were positives to draw from his performance. I look forward to getting back out for a game in the future that El Campo’s offensive line can handle a little bit better.

 

10578502.jpeg?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,of(Photo: Nick Harris, 247Sports)

 

On the recruiting side, things haven’t looked better for Texas since he de-committed than they do right now.

His relationship with Brandon Harris, Steve Sarkisian and Stan Drayton is stronger than it’s ever been, and the offensive performance on Saturday caught his eye in a big way. In fact, Owens was on FaceTime with the staff while they were still in the locker room after the win against UL-Lafayette.

Depending on who you talk to, the timeline for this recruitment is all over the place, but I feel confident enough in the moment to change my Crystal Ball confidence score up to a 7 from a 1. He was clear about Texas still being his leader following his de-commitment, and now that we have a little hindsight, I think that’s certainly a fact. Since then, the lead has only grown.

When it comes to other schools that are contending, I see Georgia as the number-two. There is a good relationship there with Kirby Smart, and it definitely helps when the Bulldogs can pitch their success at the running back position over the course of the last two decades. Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU and USC are other schools that I’m continuing to monitor.

Prior to Friday, I stayed in DFW to check out Rockwall-Heath and Southlake Carroll in a 6A top-ten clash.

10305005.JPG?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,offset-y0.50&width=620&height=320(Photo: Blair Angulo, 247Sports)

Carroll 2023 quarterback Kaden Anderson impressed me in the second half, and I look forward to seeing his improvements throughout the season.

Rockwall-Heath 2022 wide receiver Jordan Nabors had his second consecutive big game in an offense that does nothing but produce big performances. The Baylor commit is someone I expect to see some more recruiting attention come his way this fall, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Texas get serious down the line as they have already initiated preliminary contact.

 

(Nick Harris)

Recruiting buzz following Texas win

I’ll start this off by echoing Nick’s intel that I’ve also heard some really strong intel as it pertains to Owens. As we reported shortly after he decommitted, if Texas continued to pursue they would likely be rewarded, and they haven’t taken their foot off the gas since that time.

As soon as the game was over, Sarkisian was on FaceTime with Owens who was excited with the way Texas ran the ball. Owens was far from the only prospect who felt that way.

The Texas staff didn’t waste any time getting on the phone with their primary targets to capitalize on the news of the day. Let’s start with some of the big names who were on hand during the game.

10420093.JPG?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,offset-y0.50&width=620&height=320(Photo: Mike Roach, 247Sports)

Texas largely hosted a group of commits and unoffered targets.  The Longhorns were able to get a few uncommitted targets on campus for the game to take in the beginning of the Sark era.

Four-star Port Arthur Memorial cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau made the trip back to campus, and he scored the visit with high marks.  I recently mentioned that there’s growing confidence Texas will add Guilbeau back to the class sometime this fall, and I think that confidence remains based on what I’ve heard.  TCU remains the biggest competition, and Guilbeau does like the Frogs quite a bit. 

One thing working against TCU is the eventual move for Texas to the SEC leaving TCU’s future up in the air. One source I spoke with felt a decision could come sometime in October after Texas and TCU face off in Fort Worth.

Five-star 2023 Tyler Legacy DL Jordan Renaud made the trip from east Texas with his teammate and Longhorn commit Jamarion Miller. Renaud camped at Texas over the summer, but he’s never seemed overly excited about Texas when I spoke with him in the past. I was told that the visit was a big hit with Renaud who gave the Longhorns some great feedback after the trip. As the Longhorns look to build a strong DL in preparation for their transition to the SEC, Renaud would be a huge piece of that puzzle.

 

9853589.jpg?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,offset-y0.50&width=620&height=320 TJ Shanahan (Photo: Andrew Ivins, 247Sports)

 

Austin Westlake OL TJ Shanahan also made the trip in with Westlake stars Jaden Greathouse and Connor Robertson. Proximity should play a big role for Shanahan. The four-star offensive lineman will likely visit a lot of schools this year, but on weekends when he isn’t out of town it will be easy to get over to campus from Westlake Hills. Texas was already in a pretty good position before Shanahan made the move to Austin, and now they can get him on campus regularly.

Aside from those big visitors on campus, it seemed that many of their top targets were watching and reached out. I spoke to sources who said that the staff had long conversations with prospects like Johntay Cook, Jaquaize Pettaway, Javien Toviano and Devon Campbell.

I also was told they had some conversations with some committed prospects up front like Cameron Williams and Kelvin Banks. I’ve said often that Texas feels they could potentially pull off some flips if they are able to play well and get guys back on campus this year, so it’s understandable they’d engage with those committed prospects as soon as possible.

I’m told that Texas also had a long conversation with Evan Stewart over the weekend where they illustrated both how they succeeded with passing plays he excelled in and how he could be used immediately. I believe they will also begin to use Hudson Card as a bigger pitch for the five-star wide receiver as well. While there’s been a lot of talk about which committed quarterbacks Stewart would most like to play with, the reality is that he likely will play early with a guy who is already at the college level.

Nick mentioned above that Jordan Nabors is a guy to watch as a backup option for Texas at wide receiver, and I’d also add Chase Sowell to the list. Sowell’s recruitment picked up over the weekend after he put up 6 catches for 174 yards and 3 touchdowns Friday. Sowell is also a star baseball player who is getting looks at the college level. He made the trip to Austin for the game and spoke with some members of the staff. The Longhorns will evaluate him throughout the season, and he could be in line for an offer if Texas needs a contingency plan.

New Facilities and gameday experience

I spoke to several players and parents who attended the game over the weekend to get some feedback on the new athletic facility. Everyone raved about the new Moncrief-Neuhaus facility which was to be expected, but one thing stood out to me.

Several of the people I spoke with were prospects without offers that the staff is merely evaluating or not recruiting that hard. Just about every one of them told me that despite not holding an offer, the Texas recruiting staff made them feel special and as if they were top priorities. That may seem like a small thing, but it says a lot about the attention to detail and gameday presentation this staff can put on. Overall, this was a good weekend for Texas.

(Mike Roach)

 

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During the Ole Miss game Eli was talking about staying in college for as long as they would let him (5 years after redshirting his freshman year). After looking back both Eli and Peyton could have left after their junior year to go pro and in the first round presumably. If Arch keeps that family tradition going it'll be a fun 4 years in Austin. 

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1 hour ago, Sir Ulrich said:

During the Ole Miss game Eli was talking about staying in college for as long as they would let him (5 years after redshirting his freshman year). After looking back both Eli and Peyton could have left after their junior year to go pro and in the first round presumably. If Arch keeps that family tradition going it'll be a fun 4 years in Austin. 

Especially considering he's gonna be worth millions by the time he leaves. 

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If Arch is a first round pick when he decides to declare NIL will mean nothing because those deals won't come close to his actual endorsement deals and NFL salary. 

 

32cd Pick:

image.png.1dd613069b9b52ef72c5834a42620440.png


Also the game has changed a ton with QBs being more prepared for college and NFL before making the leap. Arch is a 3 maybe 4 year player at most.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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3 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

The context doesn't change the genius of your insight. Who else could have predicted that Arch would play no more than 4 years of college ball?

They were saying NIL could potentially hold him over for a 4th year and used How Peyton stayed all 4 years of college even though he could have left after 3 and how Eli stayed 5 years when he could have left after 4. So yes the context of my comment matters.

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12 hours ago, Sir Ulrich said:

During the Ole Miss game Eli was talking about staying in college for as long as they would let him (5 years after redshirting his freshman year). After looking back both Eli and Peyton could have left after their junior year to go pro and in the first round presumably. If Arch keeps that family tradition going it'll be a fun 4 years in Austin. 

Let's get him to Austin first before we start getting too far ahead of ourselves...

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1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

If Arch is a first round pick when he decides to declare NIL will mean nothing because those deals won't come close to his actual endorsement deals and NFL salary. 

 

32cd Pick:

image.png.1dd613069b9b52ef72c5834a42620440.png


Also the game has changed a ton with QBs being more prepared for college and NFL before making the leap. Arch is a 3 maybe 4 year player at most.

 Not sure it was about the money for the Mannings while in college anyway. They know the money will be there in the long run.

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1 hour ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

This was posted by TFLoss on Hornsports:

From OrangeBloods, they're hearing there's a good possibility that QB Arch Manning and his family will be in town for the OK State game on October 16th.

Is Oklahoma St supposed to be our “big” recruiting weekend? Hopefully he’s committed before that to us and comes in helping us recruit 

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1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Is Oklahoma St supposed to be our “big” recruiting weekend? Hopefully he’s committed before that to us and comes in helping us recruit 

Would be nice, and I think things are going well, but there's a lot of recruiting left in this one. We need to knock his socks off on a gameday weekend, while showing his family that Sark is who they think he is. ULaLa was a very good start. Going into Fayetteville and galvanizing the Sark effect will be a big next step. Applying serious pressure in Louisiana will help a lot too. Just takes time. 

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I tend to think the Mannings will be less concerned about GameDay environment and the usual recruiting eye candy than they will be about Sark’s development of Hudson Card and results on the field. This is going to be all business for them and they want to find the place that will make Arch another #1 draft pick. 

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Justin Wells

 

DE Ashton Porter, Cy Ranch (Cypress, TX) – 2023:

One player that UT keeps tabs on was back in Austin over the weekend.

At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, the four-star defensive end holds 12 offers including UT, Tennessee, Michigan State, Ole Miss, and Cal. He hit the ATX this summer and his return trip was just as good.

“I like how Texas played,” said Porter. “I want to be there (Austin) more.”

Porter has really connected with the Texas staff and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski.

“(UT) sees me as an outside linebacker/defensive end,” Porter said. “I love Texas, the culture, the campus.”

After notching 32 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, and two forced fumbles in 2020, he earned unanimous 16-6A first-team all-district honors.

Porter wants a program that fits his style of play, culture, and opportunities after college. He’s seen Texas A&M and Baylor in person, and is looking at scheduling a few more games this fall. Porter is a guy that could thrive under PK and he’s slowly starting to learn that.

OL Robert Sweeney, Highland Park (Dallas, TX) – 2023:

Looking through the junior offensive tackles in-state, the 6-foot-6, 250-pounder has the size and upside programs want. Now, he just needs the reps and experience.

Sweeney was a guest of the Longhorns on Saturday during the 38-18 win over Louisiana.

“Austin was awesome, I had a blast,” said Sweeney. “The facilities and the staff really stood out to me. They treated me like family.”

Sweeney holds three offers – Florida State, Penn State, and Maryland – and tells IT he’s hearing from Texas, LSU, Cal, Washington, and Notre Dame.

“The coaches said they really like me as a prospect, but due to my injury, they are still in the evaluation phase with me,” Sweeney said, who tore his ACL in May.

We’ll be watching his recovery as well as the Texas staff.

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Justin Wells:

 

QB Arch Manning, Isidore Newman (New Orleans, LA) - 2023:

Hurricane Ida hit Manning's home town pretty hard, and pushed the On300 top overall prospect for 2023 and priority UT target into Oxford (Miss.) for the last few weeks,

The Mannings have property in the Mississippi area that allowed them to evacuate in time and avoid the storms. During that stretch, Arch and Cooper would attend a handful of practices at Oxford High, coached by Chris Cutcliffe, son of noted Manning friend, David. Arch even put together a late passing session on campus to ensure he stays sharp until he can reunite with his team. If Isidore Newman's football schedule was significantly altered, it's a school the Mannings would consider.

But the Mannings returned to New Orleans and we're hearing there could be games played in the next two weeks. Manning saw Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Clemson over the summer, and we'd heard from a handful of prospects about how much of a strong impression Steve Sarkisian and the staff made on the five-star signal-caller. Desoto elite pass-catcher and UT target Johntay Cook maintains a relationship with the prodigy at quarterback and insists they'll play together at the next level.

Another trip to Austin could happen this fall, possibly in October. With the offense and Hudson Card's showing last Saturday versus Louisiana, that's the type of production the Mannings want to see when making the big decision.

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Wells

Spoiler

Catching up with 2023 El Campo four-star (94 score) tailback and former Texas commit Rueben Owens for a couple notes..

*He’s spoken to Texas everyday since September 1st and is keeping UT near the top of his list
*He’s hearing from Georgia, USC, LSU, Texas A&M, and Oregon on the regular
*He has 38 carries, 301 yards rushing, and five TD in two games
*He was considering reclassifying into the 2022 class, but now will graduate early and enroll in January 2023, he tells IT

 

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