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Texas Recruiting Notes 2021


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2 hours ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Any chance we could get back in it with the 2 Arizona OL since PAC 12 called it quits?Ā  At least Miller has visited a time or 2.

I was wondering if the "flip" news might be about one of those guys. MightĀ the geography contribute to the clandestine nature of this rumor?

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New cyfair coach moved into a home down the street from house the week I sold it. Nice guy, not an Aggie by any means. I think he went to Nebraska maybe?Ā 

Next time I stop by Iā€™ll ask him about LJ. He did say they arenā€™t allowed to see players because of the Hidalgo orders until 9/8.

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Was my OC at Bay City my junior year. Dude knows football and is a hell of a guy. Recently won a state title at Rockdale.Ā 

Under the Warren Trahan coaching tree. (Beau Trahan's son)

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Mike at Night

Earlier today, I entered a Texas Crystal Ball pick forĀ LJ Johnson. The four-star running back from Cy-Fair is a guy Texas has been working on a ton, and weĀ detailed last weekĀ that no school was recruiting him harder. That effort appears to be paying off as a key source near Johnson told 247Sports that Texas holds the edge. This is a pretty big development as sources near Johnson told Horns247 back in the spring that Texas A&M held a pretty clear lead. There were rumors that Johnson was close to shutting his recruitment down, but our digging didnā€™t find anything imminent. It seems like Texas is putting itself into a strong position here and if the staff keeps pushing, they could get him to move his timeline up from the fall.

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ā€”There have been a lot of questions on how this will affectĀ Camar Wheaton. The simple answer is that the two are independent recruitments. They donā€™t know each other or talk. I spoke with a source near Wheaton today to take the temperature on how Johnsonā€™s interest would change his recruitment, and I was told that any rumors of another commit wouldnā€™t move any. In fact, I was told that Wheaton would probably love for someone to make his decision easier. Iā€™d like to think that Texas would take both guys if they could, but numbers are going to be tight and itā€™s unlikely one would want to follow the other. I havenā€™t been told anything for sure, but my gut tells me that the likelihood of grabbing both is probably low.

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ā€”Regardless, Johnson or Wheaton would be a massive pick up for Texas. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but both have legitimate speed, and Johnson has a power component to his game that sets him apart. Texas is prioritizing both to continue adding depth and talent to the running back room. One key component in this recruitment is assistant running backs coach Brandon Harris. The former LSU quarterback has been generating some buzz with several running back recruits over the past few weeks. Iā€™m going to have a full background story on Harris tomorrow.

ā€”Tunmise AdeleyeĀ made his decision to decommit from Ohio State today following the announcement that the Big 10 and PAC 12 would postpone fall sports. I donā€™t expect anything to happen there with Texas as Florida and Texas A&M seem to be the schools talked about most. I also talked with sources near Bellaire Episcopal five-star offensive tackleĀ Donovan Jackson. When I broached the subject of Jackson looking around, I was shut down pretty quickly and told that he was all in with the Buckeyes. Donā€™t expect anything on that front.

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ā€”I also spoke with a PAC 12 assistant today. I wanted to get a feel for if these coaches were worried that season postponements would have an effect on recruiting. The assistant I spoke with said that he didnā€™t anticipate major problems with recruiting. The biggest argument right now isnā€™t the concern of death with COVID-19, but the long-term effects like myocarditis. Itā€™s still unclear if myocarditis is caused by the virus, but those long-term effects could cost athletes the rest of their careers. This assistant told me that they are trying to explain these things to recruits in an effort to make them understand. Of course, there will probably be a few prospects that decide to look around, but nobody I spoke with seemed overly concerned.

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23 minutes ago, Blackcat00 said:

New cyfair coach moved into a home down the street from house the week I sold it. Nice guy, not an Aggie by any means. I think he went to Nebraska maybe?Ā 

Next time I stop by Iā€™ll ask him about LJ. He did say they arenā€™t allowed to see players because of the Hidalgo orders until 9/8.

Ā 

Was my OC at Bay City my junior year. Dude knows football and is a hell of a guy. Recently won a state title at Rockdale.Ā 

Under the Warren Trahan coaching tree. (Beau Trahan's son)

Ā 

Won a state title at Rockdale but they hated him for some reason lolĀ 

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3 hours ago, futureman said:

I am right about the brockermeyers. Ā if you actually think theyā€™re going to sign with bama youā€™re a bit dim.Ā 

I believe you.Ā  This is just a way for the Brockermeyers to give Saban and Bama the Royal Finger and flip to the Horns!Ā  Wouldn't it be nice?

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13 hours ago, texifornia said:

Are you saying that lifelong Indiana resident Steve Wiltfong doesn't naturally say "yall"?

re: y'all

Spoiler

not to go all CR here but wife's company (worldwide conglomerate)Ā  has recommended that folks use "y'all" instead of "you guys"

Ā 

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1 hour ago, Ghost of Shag said:

So was LJ who TFB was referring to yesterday?Ā 

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47 minutes ago, Bevo14 said:

That would be fuckin lame if so. I already had Johnson OR Wheaton in the calculator.

If LJ was the one they were talking about,Ā Iā€™m guessing heā€™s already given a silent commitment to us. Thatā€™s the only way TFB would report it the way they did.

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Cross posting since this is relevant to our recruiting and our Herb Hand discussions.Ā  I guess I've become the founding member of the give a Hand for Herb Club (even though I'm not convinced he's the answer at OL Coach).Ā 

14 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Here is the comparison from 2017-2020 after taking out transfers ( I also gave a 1000 rank to anyone that didn't have a rank or was a Juco)

image.png.8941c29e8ddbff7985267d0368f1ca50.png

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4 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Man, when you put it all in a chart like that it's really sobering just how badly we're getting out-recruited by aggy on the OL.Ā 

Is this the time where we point out that one of our guys ranked 1000 is going to be a top 15 pick in the NFL draft while their highest ranked guy from the 2017 and 2018 classes will never play a down for them?

Oh and relevant to all the Herb Hand talk, if you take out JUCO Willie Tyler, Hand's average rank per recruit in his two full classes is .9353, which is approximately the 147th player in the country.Ā 

Ā 

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2 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Cross posting since this is relevant to our recruiting and our Herb Hand discussions.Ā  I guess I've become the founding member of the give a Hand for Herb Club (even though I'm not convinced he's the answer at OL Coach).Ā 

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Should also be pointed out that Herb Hand has landed two of the best OL grad transfers available in Calvin Anderson and Parker Braun.

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1 minute ago, golfclap said:

To be fair he is absolutely the biggest beneficiary of Herman/McKnight/Chang and their ability to identify late-rising jumbo athletes. These aren't guys that Hand identified and built relationships with, they are guys (like Jones, Hookfin, etc ) that the support staff have identified and built a relationship with first.Ā 

I think that's why we've seen some offers/interest from Hand that simply don't fit with what we've done. I believe in Chang, McKnight, and Herman - I don't know that I believe in Hand. I do think he did a fantastic job helping Texas land the grad transfers.Ā 

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I agree on the late jumbo athletes, but Hookfin's the only guy who really falls in that category for Hand's two classes.Ā  For the most part, he identified his top targets and in 2019 and 2020, then went out and landed them.Ā  The lack of backup plans is obviously an issue this class, but losing the spring eval period also really hurt his ability (and the whole staff's ability) to go out and find solid backup options, which is probably a big part of why we haven't offered as many new OL targets as you'd like to see.

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6 minutes ago, golfclap said:

To be fair he is absolutely the biggest beneficiary of Herman/McKnight/Chang and their ability to identify late-rising jumbo athletes. These aren't guys that Hand identified and built relationships with, they are guys (like Jones, Hookfin, etc ) that the support staff have identified and built a relationship with first.Ā 

I think that's why we've seen some offers/interest from Hand that simply don't fit with what we've done. I believe in Chang, McKnight, and Herman - I don't know that I believe in Hand. I do think he did a fantastic job helping Texas land the grad transfers.Ā 

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Simply false and not at all how he recruits. Byrd has many influences on his recruitment andĀ certainly some will beĀ negative influences re: Texas -- but that is just not how Samples recruits at all. Wells and Nahlin are absolutely shitting up 2020 with butthurt, bad information, crybaggery, and outright horseshit.Ā 

That's a great one. As a trail blazer and standard bearer for all forms of baggeryĀ as a suffix, I have to say, this is a new one to me and I fucking love it. Take your motherfucking rep.Ā 

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5 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

I agree on the late jumbo athletes, but Hookfin's the only guy who really falls in that category for Hand's two classes.Ā  For the most part, he identified his top targets and in 2019 and 2020, then went out and landed them.Ā  The lack of backup plans is obviously an issue this class, but losing the spring eval period also really hurt his ability (and the whole staff's ability) to go out and find solid backup options, which is probably a big part of why we haven't offered as many new OL targets as you'd like to see.

You don't think Willie Tyler counts? Are you just skipping JUCO's?

Are we not considering Andre Karic a Jumbo athlete? Or saying July doesn't count as identifying late? Because he definitely seemed like a backup plan for awhile, but that could just be us pissed it took so long to offer.

I'm not being an ass, I'm genuinely asking.Ā 

Ā 

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1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

You don't think Willie Tyler counts? Are you just skipping JUCO's?

Are we not considering Andre Karic a Jumbo athlete? Or saying July doesn't count as identifying late? Because he definitely seemed like a backup plan for awhile, but that could just be us pissed it took so long to offer.

I'm not being an ass, I'm genuinely asking.Ā 

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JUCOs shouldn't count for rating per recruit, because their numbers are always skewed extremely low.Ā  I don't really count Karic as a jumbo athlete and we were on him much, much earlier than guys like C. Jones or Hookfin, who were much more due to our personnel staff than Hand.Ā IIRC Karic had quotes that Herb Hand had been talking to him for quite a while before he received an offer, so I think Hand should be credited for recruiting him, unlike those other two.Ā 

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Just now, Burt Macklin said:

JUCOs shouldn't count for rating per recruit, because their numbers are always skewed extremely low.Ā  I don't really count Karic as a jumbo athlete and we were on him much, much earlier than guys like C. Jones or Hookfin, who were much more due to our personnel staff than Hand.Ā IIRC Karic had quotes that Herb Hand had been talking to him for quite a while before he received an offer, so I think Hand should be credited for recruiting him, unlike those other two.Ā 

Right, I get the first part. I just meant in the general statement of Tyler qualifying as a Jumbo Athlete, rating be damned.Ā 

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16 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Hmm. I'd love to have some easier games early to get our offense and defense in sync, but i guess TCU is supposed to be down a bit this year. I'd have preferred Baylor or Kansas. But at least we get Baylor between the Okie schools. Seems pretty fair.Ā 

OU gets Iowa State before us.

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8 minutes ago, texifornia said:

The (other) behind-the-scenes factor in Drayton suddenly being able to recruit

here's the article ::

The old saying goes, ā€œIt takes a village.ā€ Itā€™s often applied when talking about a community effort to raise a child. It could also be applied to recruiting.

Long gone are the days where the full-time assistants on staff are the only ones involved in a prospectā€™s recruitment. In todayā€™s age of support staffs and quality control coaches, young assistants can make a name for themselves by being an impact on the recruiting trail.

Look no further than Raā€™Shaad Samples. The SMU running back coach worked as an offensive assistant at the University of Houston and moved to Austin when Tom Herman took the job at Texas. During his time as an assistant wide receiver coach, Samples played a pivotal role in recruiting several Dallas-area prospects. His reputation helped to earn him an on-field position at SMU.

Samplesā€™ absence was felt in Austin from the time he left, but a new name is emerging for the Longhorns.

Brandon Harris knows all about high profile recruitments. A former four-star quarterback at Bossier City (LA.) Parkway, Harris chose LSU over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State and Texas A&M in 2014. He was recruited by then Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman during his high school career and the two formed a bond.

Harris played three seasons at LSU but decided to transfer in 2017 after losing his starting position. Once again, Herman and Harris crossed paths when Harris decided to transfer. Texas initially kicked the tires on Harris, but he ended up at North Carolina where he served as the backup.

After graduating from North Carolina, Harris was hired by Texas in a support staff role to assist running backs coach Stan Drayton prior to the start of the 2019 season. During his time on campus, Harris assisted Drayton in presiding over a two-headed backfield that ran for 1,502 yards and successfully transitioned Roschon Johnson from quarterback to running back.

Drayton and Harris also accomplished a monster task off the field when the Longhorns signed five-star Tucson (AZ) Salpointe Catholic running back Bijan Robinson. Since that time, Harris has been stepping up his game as a recruiter. In speaking with several Texas running back targets, Harrisā€™s name came up consistently.

ā€œHeā€™s definitely involved in my recruitment,ā€ four-star 2022 Klein Cain running back Jaydon Blue said. ā€œWe talk almost every day about football. Itā€™s not just about my recruitment, we talk about a lot of other stuff. We have a pretty good relationship.ā€

Harrisā€™s recent experience as a highly rated recruit helps bridge the gap between coaches and prospects. Blue went on to say that he appreciates Harrisā€™s viewpoint and advice.

ā€œHeā€™s a great guy to talk to,ā€ Blue said. ā€œHe always keeps it 100 with you. He will tell you why some of the coaches he coaches with now are so good and what stands out about them. Heā€™s just a great guy.ā€

Recruits werenā€™t the only ones with strong feedback on Harris. Garland Lakeview Centennial assistant Anthony Saincilaire has seen it all. He serves as the recruiting coordinator for the Dallas-area program, and heā€™s met with virtually every team in the country as part of the recruitment of five-star running back Camar Wheaton. Saincilaire thinks that Harris is on the way up in the coaching profession.

ā€œCoach Harrisā€™s part in the process with Camar has been reiterating coach Draytonā€™s philosophy,ā€ Saincilaire said. ā€œHe does a great job communicating which allows me to depend on him for info about the UT running back room. In my opinion, he has been the best assistant running backs coach throughout the process.ā€

The Longhorns are in the mix for some heavy hitters at the position down the stretch, and Harris will be part of the recruiting effort. As the Longhorns close in on Wheaton or four-star Cy-Fair running bac LJ Johnson, keep an eye out for any mention of Harrisā€™s name.

Texas is a destination job for many coaches, but itā€™s also proving to be a great launchpad for young careers. Harris could very well be the next in that line.

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3 minutes ago, golfclap said:

ā€œHeā€™s definitely involved in my recruitment,ā€ four-star 2022 Klein Cain running back Jaydon Blue said. ā€œWe talk almost every day about football. Itā€™s not just about my recruitment, we talk about a lot of other stuff. We have a pretty good relationship.ā€

This is not something I had thought about to this point. Brandon Harris was at LSU until 2017Ā and is recruiting a kid that is perceived to have LSU and Texas at the top of his list. Unless they go hireĀ Dorian Leonard, advantage Texas.Ā 

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