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Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Imagine if we had completely bailed on the 2025 class in July.

This is what our class looked like on July 8th last year (sorted by On3 player rating)

EDGE Lance Jackson

DB Kade Phillips (decommitted a few weeks later)

LB Elijah Barnes

EDGE Smith Orogbo

RB James Simon

QB KJ Lacey

RB Rickey Stewart

OL John Mills

OL Jackson Christian

TE Emaree Winston

OL Jordan Coleman

CB Caleb Chester

OL Devin Coleman

 

Now, I will say we had a lot more high-level uncommitted targets left who announced in July/August (Brooks, Ffrench, Lockett, Terry, Jonah Williams, Townsend) than we do this year.

 

Edited by Hookem2147
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Posted
3 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

Is there a new kink feature in sex bots that aggie has created? I mean.. it tracks but... it's news to me.

 

Your keyword is "RUFF!"

Please indulge responsibly.

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Posted

 

On Rouse, there doesn't appear to be a clear favorite.  The recent returns for Texas haven't been good.  So it would hardly be a shocker if he chose the Vols.

But this doesn't appear to be a case of manufactured excitement.

- Vols 247 (Ryan Callahan) believes Rouse hasn't informed any of schools, and refers to recent optimism re: Texas.  (And he clearly didn't know of Rouse's announcement pull-in, in advance.)

- Horns 247 has a similar take, and favors Texas slightly, based on recent feedback.

- Earlier today, on the OTF livestream, Gerry echoed that sentiment (none of the schools have been informed), and said he believed that Rouse himself may not have made a decision (at least as of yesterday or this AM).

- And Fong's take above, where he too references Texas' recent "buzz", and sources leaning Texas.  (May have been a Texas-specific note, but still.)

So yeah, this really could be up in the air, and we may have a real chance.  Which qualifies as good news, of late.

 

 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Some updates from Fong

  Hide contents

Big decision on deck Tuesday

Marietta (Ga.) Kell four-star linebacker Brayden Rouse is set to make his college decision on Tuesday evening.

Texas is one of the top contenders alongside long-time front-runner Tennessee. The buzz has grown around the Burnt Orange through the spring to this point in the summer and there are sources that believe Rouse ends up in Austin over Knoxville.

“My experience was great being able to get back on campus was huge and seeing all the things I missed on the first visit to UT,” Rouse said. Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee are also in the mix. “I felt that I strengthened my relationships with the staff and it was key to get my family on campus to see everyone. 

“They have a great culture and they have a tremendous amount of talent which is the reason they have continued to be a National Champion contender.”

Rouse is the nation’s No. 7 linebacker and No. 100 prospect overall.

Texas battling Georgia for a pair of five-stars

Georgia is still considered the favorite for five-star tight end Kaiden Prothro and top-ranked linebacker Tyler Atkinson.

While the buzz still favors the Bulldogs, I get the sense there is increasing confident around the Longhorns program with Prothro and they continue to swing at Atkinson.

Atkinson recently gushed about his visit.

“I love Coach Sark(isian),” Atkinson said. “Great coach. Great person. Love Coach (Jonny) Nansen. He always did a great job recruiting. It’s so easy to talk to him. They just have a great fit. They’re going to have a Top 10 pick at linebacker in Anthony Hill. It’s been great.”

Texas got the last OV from Atkinson.

“My OV to Texas was eye-opening!” he stated. “This could be my last visit before I make the right choice, and I really feel it was a great decision to visit there.  This was my fourth visit with the Longhorns outside of pretty much living in Austin the past month for training. I have made some great connections there for sure.

The biggest highlight this weekend was Coach Sark! I really appreciate the fact that he took the lead on my recruitment and has been hands-on with everything. That has shown me a lot. I spent the majority of the time with Coach Sark, Coach Nansen, and the defensive coordinator, PK. I also spent time with the D-line and Edge coaches too.

Honestly,  Coach Sark and the entire staff made me feel like a priority, and I could be a key piece to the defense.

I feel really good about Texas, and they are one of my top schools to consider.

However, I am blessed to have some great options to choose from. I have a lot to consider from the past few weeks when it comes to my final decision.”

Key DB targets in play

Texas is in the thick of it for two of the nation’s top cornerbacks in Davon Benjamin and Samari Matthews. Benjamin ranks as the No. 3 cornerback in the land and Matthews checks in at No. 9.

The Longhorns have been trending for Mathews since the spring and the official visit took it to another level.

“My experience in Austin was amazing,” Mathews said. “From the staff and players to the energy of the city itself. What excites me most about the chance to play for Coach Sark is knowing he pushes his players to be their best in every way, both on and off the field. If I choose Texas as my home, I know I’ll be challenged to grow into the best version of myself, which aligns with the goals I’ve set for my future.

“Another thing that really stood out was the opportunity to learn from Coach Orphey and Coach Akina. I got to do some board work with both of them, and let’s just say we had a time! That experience made the idea of becoming a Longhorn even more exciting.”

I love my prediction for Matthews.

Benjamin is looking the hardest at Oregon, Michigan and Texas. There has been growing confidence around Austin.

Quick Hitters

Texas has spent time at the top of the list for four-star, in-state defensive lineman Jamarion Carlton. They’ve battled different schools at different points. Now it’s Baylor in the stretch run.

The Longhorns are continuing their push for coveted jumbo-athlete Heze Kent. Florida, Florida State and Miami are also in the mix heading into his weekend commitment. Touted edge rusher Jake Kreul won’t decide until the fall. Texas remains in play as they battle Oklahoma for him.

 

You can really feel the ChatGPT in those responses from Atkinson and Matthews

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Posted
1 hour ago, Getafix said:

 

On Rouse, there doesn't appear to be a clear favorite.  The recent returns for Texas haven't been good.  So it would hardly be a shocker if he chose the Vols.

But this doesn't appear to be a case of manufactured excitement.

- Vols 247 (Ryan Callahan) believes Rouse hasn't informed any of schools, and refers to recent optimism re: Texas.  (And he clearly didn't know of Rouse's announcement pull-in, in advance.)

- Horns 247 has a similar take, and favors Texas slightly, based on recent feedback.

- Earlier today, on the OTF livestream, Gerry echoed that sentiment (none of the schools have been informed), and said he believed that Rouse himself may not have made a decision (at least as of yesterday or this AM).

- And Fong's take above, where he too references Texas' recent "buzz", and sources leaning Texas.  (May have been a Texas-specific note, but still.)

So yeah, this really could be up in the air, and we may have a real chance.  Which qualifies as good news, of late.

 

 

Gerry has mentioned it a few times, but it sounds like a family member (I’m assuming the dad) favors Tennessee but Rouse himself may favor Texas.

Posted

Given how deep Texas is in the secondary, the Matthews recruitment just has a feeling akin to the WR position this cycle. What I mean is that SCar will be more desperate to sign the guy than Texas, they’ll bump up their offer into a range in which Texas has to change theirs, and Texas chooses to stand pat. Then, suddenly, darn it, no Matthews to Texas. 

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Posted
51 minutes ago, texifornia said:

You can really feel the ChatGPT in those responses from Atkinson and Matthews


This is what happens when 98% of the “reporting” is just texting a kid incessantly. Hardly anyone’s talking to these kids in person or even over the phone anymore.

Posted
10 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Given how deep Texas is in the secondary, the Matthews recruitment just has a feeling akin to the WR position this cycle. What I mean is that SCar will be more desperate to sign the guy than Texas, they’ll bump up their offer into a range in which Texas has to change theirs, and Texas chooses to stand pat. Then, suddenly, darn it, no Matthews to Texas. 

Sounds like a quick way to not be deep in the secondary anymore.

Posted
2 minutes ago, Teryor said:

Vaguely spoiling incoming commitments is probably the most annoying thing Hayes does. Really don't get what On3 gets out of employing him.

He does photoshops for free so recruits tell him a lot of stuff. Really seems like AI will/should put him out of business in pretty short order, though.

Posted
Just now, tokamak said:

He does photoshops for free so recruits tell him a lot of stuff. Really seems like AI will/should put him out of business in pretty short order, though.

It's very easy to compare him to Joe Tipton who was his basketball counterpart except Joe actually turned it into writing recruiting articles for them while this is Hayes's "evolution"

Posted
1 minute ago, tokamak said:

He does photoshops for free so recruits tell him a lot of stuff. Really seems like AI will/should put him out of business in pretty short order, though.

Are we sure "Hayes Fawcett" isn't an AI bot?

Posted
8 minutes ago, Teryor said:

Vaguely spoiling incoming commitments is probably the most annoying thing Hayes does. Really don't get what On3 gets out of employing him.

Normally when he does stuff like that it isn’t for a same-day announcement. 

Last time he did that for Texas was a few weeks back and he did a “x2” and I’m pretty sure one was Guervil.

Posted
19 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Updated this guy

image.png.4cbb58cb8ec2f2b8007737cb388f5e84.png

We're still in it for Rouse (not listed), Matthews, and Kent but none is a guarantee. Fun little early summer there, for sure.

Posted
40 minutes ago, tokamak said:

He does photoshops for free so recruits tell him a lot of stuff. Really seems like AI will/should put him out of business in pretty short order, though.

Hayes Fawcett photoshops might be an adversarial training set that drives AI models insane

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, MirrOlure said:

...and consistently wrong.

I don't think Fong is ill-intentioned, but I think we're seeing the maturation of "highest bidder wins" with top players and I think he's probably a little surprised that Texas is showing this degree of restraint coming off two CFP appearances.  

 

30 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Updated this guy

image.png.4cbb58cb8ec2f2b8007737cb388f5e84.png

Probably more useful as the players we'll circle back to in November depending on how much might be available.  

Edited by LCHorn
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Posted
3 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

I don't think Fong is ill-intentioned, but I think we're seeing the maturation of "highest bidder wins" with top players and I think he's probably a little surprised that Texas is showing this degree of restraint coming off two CFP appearances.  

 

Probably more useful as the players we'll circle back to in November depending on how much might be available.  

Assuming they haven't already signed their deals with the teams they have committed to. No NLI anymore, which basically means no NSD which could potentially mean there won't be as many flips as previous years. Especially if schools are using revenue share funds to sign these kids. 

Posted

I wonder if trying to go with a more national presence with the current approach of letting others blow their load will still work. Seems the last few cycles we’ve stuck to a few key regions with most of it being in or around texas and we were fighting off the same handful of teams mostly, so if they went overboard on a couple guys then they’d handcuff themselves for the rest of the class. It feels like this cycle we’ve seen more/different teams involved than we normally see (South Carolina for example) on guys we want and a lot of them are desperate in their own ways and we let them make their ridiculous offers. But if there are more teams to go against for different guys, then that’s more dumb offers to try and compete against on one off guys and maybe we spent time/resources in an area that could’ve been better spent on another guy. Idk I also don’t know shit.  

Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, texifornia said:

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Does Hayes keep his commitment info away from other On3 guys? If he does, I’m not sure what the purpose of his employment is.

Edited by Lonestar88
Posted

Who do we want at our last WR spot - No one, Lott, Finley, Mack? It kind of seems like we want to wait and evaluate. That might only be because we have no other choice, though.

Posted
Who do we want at our last WR spot - No one, Lott, Finley, Mack? It kind of seems like we want to wait and evaluate. That might only be because we have no other choice, though.

Considering our haul last year, and what we do in the portal, I’m fine with standing pat with these three for now. If a Wingo or Ffrench type drops in our lap then yeah sure.
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Posted

The Lotts are as bad, or even fucking worse, to be honest, than the Brocks. They've benefited from being Texas alums, and the program is currently maximizing all talent and developing it for the NFL at an unprecedented level since I've been following Texas football. At least when the Brocks laughed at Texas, Texas fucking sucked and weren't developing fucking shit at his position group. Of course, no one else developed the Brocks either, but the point here is that Lott can get all the way fucked, and so can his kid. But pretty sure if the dad had pushed him to go to Texas, he would have...

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Posted
4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

The Lotts are as bad, or even fucking worse, to be honest, than the Brocks. They've benefited from being Texas alums, and the program is currently maximizing all talent and developing it for the NFL at an unprecedented level since I've been following Texas football. At least when the Brocks laughed at Texas, Texas fucking sucked and weren't developing fucking shit at his position group. Of course, no one else developed the Brocks either, but the point here is that Lott can get all the way fucked, and so can his kid. But pretty sure if the dad had pushed him to go to Texas, he would have...

On a rational level, you're probably right. The Brocks looked at a program in disarray and made a defensible business decision.

But on an emotional level, I've always felt like the anger directed toward them was exactly because they chose to kick us when we were really, really down. Really down. And they did it with a smile on their face. Every single person here knows that we'll survive without Jalen Lott. It did not feel that way at the time with the Brocks.

In summary: fuck them.

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Posted

Obviously Sark is not wanting to pay what it takes for these guys. Is it because of what's already on campus and not knowing if guys like Goosby, Baxter, Wisner, or Moore will play themselves into the draft or come back? Is it because of the potential new rules for budgets for CFB teams? Would like to know the thought process here, but it has to be something along those lines. Sark and this staff have proven they aren't ones to lose out of these recruitments if they're going all in. So the question is what reasoning are they using for not going all in? 

Is this a transition class after going all in on the 2025 class? I trust they know what they're doing, they've proven that to this point. But it's a changing climate and difficult position to be in. 

Posted
7 minutes ago, Red Five said:


Considering our haul last year, and what we do in the portal, I’m fine with standing pat with these three for now. If a Wingo or Ffrench type drops in our lap then yeah sure.

At WR, they're having to account for retaining: Wingo, Lockett, Ffrench, Terry, McCutcheon, and Mosley for the 2026 season. They have 3 WRs that they like already in the fold. If McJaggerson, Niblett, Butler, any, some or all, also turn out to truly be contributors, that's 1-3 more guys on the payroll. 

Paying a premium for a 4th guy who is very, very unlikely to contribute as a freshman with that lot in front of them, just doesn't make any sense. I see the logic with putting a defensible offer forward and standing on it. If a legacy can't make that work because they need to grab another $500k elsewhere, fuck'em and move on. 

Honestly, I'm not sure putting as much of a commitment on the last cycle's signees at WR makes a ton of sense either, but they got into a feeding frenzy. 

Another thing of note is that Moore, McJaggerson, and McCutcheon were the cheapest guys signed in each cycle. We know Moore is a starter who was a big contributor last year. We all know we're being told that Jaggy is about to be a surprise contributor. The staff is telling everyone who will listen that McCutcheon is the most likely freshman to play and contribute early at this point. 

It's just not clear right now that focusing massive NIL is smart at the HS WR recruit level. I don't think it can be said that is stupid to do so, either. I am glad we were aggressive with Wingo and the haul from last year, of course. Still, I am sure the assessment of this strategy is ongoing.

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Posted

I root against everyone who had a chance to go to Texas but chose to go elsewhere regardless of the reasons. It’s different when they didn’t get the opportunity, but I enjoy being petty.

There’s a lot of making fun of the 9.95ers on this thread, but I feel like I’ve been steered correctly on my expectations for pretty much every recruitment this cycle outside of maybe KJ Edwards. I know some people are disgruntled because we apparently led at some point with a lot of targets, but once the bigger NIL deals started rolling in the 9.95ers adjusted accordingly. Him declaring for Oregon surprised no one who follows On Texas Football.

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Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

At WR, they're having to account for retaining: Wingo, Lockett, Ffrench, Terry, McCutcheon, and Mosley for the 2026 season. They have 3 WRs that they like already in the fold. When McJaggerson also turns out to truly be a contributor, that's 1 more guy on the payroll. 

FIFY

 

Quote

It's just not clear right now that focusing massive NIL is smart at the HS WR recruit level. I don't think it can be said that is stupid to do so, either. I am glad we were aggressive with Wingo and the haul from last year, of course. Still, I am sure the assessment of this strategy is ongoing.

IMO there are only probably 1-2 guys a year from the HS level that warrant ultra premium NIL at WR out of HS. Those are your DK Moore, Ryan Williams, Jeremiah Smith, Luther Burden types. Hell some years there may not even be one guy worth that type of pay. 

Edited by BurntOrange&White
Posted
4 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I root against everyone who had a chance to go to Texas but chose to go elsewhere regardless of the reasons. It’s different when they didn’t get the opportunity, but I enjoy being petty.

There’s a lot of making fun of the 9.95ers on this thread, but I feel like I’ve been steered correctly on my expectations for pretty much every recruitment this cycle outside of maybe KJ Edwards. I know some people are disgruntled because we apparently led at some point with a lot of targets, but once the bigger NIL deals started rolling in the 9.95ers adjusted accordingly. Him declaring for Oregon surprised no one who follows On Texas Football.

I love a guy like Spence and Moore who have to settle for a lesser team and shows us that they are coming to Texas and will not be denied.

Posted
30 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Who do we want at our last WR spot - No one, Lott, Finley, Mack? It kind of seems like we want to wait and evaluate. That might only be because we have no other choice, though.

Jeremiah Smith

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