Earlier on Thursday, I posted a primer on the top national tight end prospects available to the Longhorns in 2012 recruiting should they have a desire to look for an out of state prospect in a year when the in-state talent available is atrociously bad.
With eight scholarship tight ends/H-backs on the roster going into the season, there’s been a lot of speculation about what the staff might do at the position and in following up with several of the top prospects on the list, I stumbled across a couple of interesting nuggets.
First, Land O’Lakes, Florida tight end Kent Taylor is a guy that the Longhorns were communicating with within the last month. At 6-5, 220 pounds, Taylor has offers from basically everyone in the nation. As far as I can tell there’s not a tight end in the nation with more offers.
Yet in conversations with Texas tight end coach Bruce Chambers and Mack Brown three weeks ago, Taylor was told that the Longhorns will not be taking a tight end in the 2012 class.
“They said they aren’t taking a tight end, so I don’t think they are interested, “ Taylor said.
As far as the tight end position is concerned, that might be that. If they aren’t interested in Taylor, who is looking everywhere, then it’s doubtful they will suddenly change their minds on the others. Yet if they do, they’ll have some targets that would love to hear from them.
Outside of Taylor, I also spoke with Tallahassee (Florida) Godby’s Laith Harlow and Warminster (Pennsylvania) Archbishop Wood Catholic’s Colin Thompson, with both players telling me that they hadn’t heard from the Longhorns, yet also expressing hope that the fact changes at some point.
“I would love for Texas to be interested in me,” Thompson said.
“I haven’t heard from them, but I hope so. They would have a shot, easily,” Harlow said.
As you can see the Longhorns have options if they want them, but at the moment they appear content with the position after evaluating it in the first two weeks of camp. (Ketch)
****************************
This week hasn’t been quite as excitement as last week was, with the Horns picking up a couple big commitments and hosting a handful of uncommitted prospects for the UT spring game.
The biggest news, of course, was the commitments by Brenham standouts Tim Cole.
The news came as a pleasant surprise, depending on who you were listening to or how closely you were paying attention, but the signs were there for a while that Texas was in good shape. And the smoke really began to swirl in the week before the big news became public on Sunday.
Remember back when Tim Cole visited UT for the Horns’ first junior day in early February. Though he played things close to the vest throughout the recruiting process, the word we heard then was that Cole’s trip to Austin made a strong impression on him, and equally important, his parents. In fact, Cole told people after that visit that the Texas visit was his best one yet, and his parents had it atop their list.
The repeated UT visits, and Cole’s comments a few weeks ago that he was pretty much down to Texas and OU, were a pretty good indication that the Horns were in a solid position.
The more interesting storyline centers on Brown. The blue-chip d-tackle was long believed to be a strong Texas A&M lean, but things began to change a couple weeks ago. Immediately after visiting Oklahoma and TCU two weekends ago (and not making a scheduled trip to Texas A&M), Brown began to tell people close to him that Texas A&M had been eliminated. Even Brenham teammates who are set to play college football at A&M were informed that the Aggies had fallen out of the picture.
Then, last week, Brown told multiple people that he was leaning heavily towards committing to Texas on Sunday (he confirmed on Monday that his mind was all but made up after the TCU visit). The only question during the week is whether or not Brown would get cold feet and decide to hold off. He did not, and Texas scored one of its biggest commitments of the class.
Brown told people after visiting Texas for the Horns’ second junior day that the idea of playing in the Longhorns’ 4-3 (vs. A&M’s 3-4 alignment) was weighing heavily in UT’s favor. As the weeks wore on, and as Brown talked over his options with his family, the schemes carried more and more weight.
Credit Oscar Giles and Bo Davis for playing this one perfectly. They didn’t apply too much pressure, they were persistent and they remained patient, even when it looked like Texas was tailing.
For those wonder if Brown and Cole were sure about their decisions … they’ve told people all week that they’re happy to have the recruiting process behind them and they’ve said they have no intentions of looking around. They also showed up to school on Monday wearing Mack Brown Texas Football t-shirts.
These commitments seems rock solid right now, but don’t expect A&M to just throw in the towel. It will surprise nobody if rumors pop up at some point of A&M making inroads (not necessarily legit rumors, mind you), but the guess here is that Texas picked up two huge commitments that will stick. (Suchomel)
******
The Horns may have taken a huge step towards securing a commitment from top offensive line prospect Kennedy Estelle during Estelle’s visit for the UT spring game on Sunday.
Estelle himself reported to Orangebloods on Sunday night that Texas was his top school, but he wasn’t quite yet ready to pull the trigger on a commitment. Equally important, Estelle’s mother was extremely impressed on her first visit to Texas (she was unable to make it with Kennedy for the junior day visit).
Estelle’s mom gave Texas high praises in every single element, and she went out of her way to let it be known that she really liked what she saw from the UT staff and program. “Be sure to put that in (the story), that I’m very impressed,” Mrs. Estelle said when we spoke with her on Sunday night.
Estelle told us on Wednesday night that he is expecting to be in Austin for the Texas Relays, but his mom confirmed on Thursday morning that there will not be a meeting with the Texas coaches.
Estelle also mentioned that he may visit either Auburn or Florida State in the next couple weeks. (Suchomel)
******
Athens athlete Kendall Sanders made his way in for UT’s spring game, but he left town without an offer.
Sanders hasn’t said much about the visit other than to tell OstateIllustrated.com that he came with a friend and the visit was “alright.”
We talked to Athens head coach Paul Essary this week to get a quick update on Sanders, who is still an Oklahoma State commitment. According to Essary, he hasn’t heard anything this week that would seem to indicate Sanders will be having a change of heart.
“As far as I know, he’s still going to Oklahoma State,” Essary said.
We’ll continue to check around on this one to see if anything heats up, but right now things are very qiet on this one. (Suchomel)
*********************
Texarkana Texas High offensive tackle John Michael McGee is one of the top offensive linemen in Texas and holds offers from a number of different programs. He camped at Texas last summer and last weekend he made the trip to watch the Texas spring game.
His camp experience at Texas wasn’t exactly the visit he was hoping for, and he hoped the trip over the weekend would be better. On his way back home it was pretty apparent McGee did not have the experience he was hoping and said he didn’t feel a connection as he returned home Sunday evening.
After collecting his thoughts from the weekend, McGee answered a few questions on Monday. I asked if the recent visit to Texas pretty much ended it with the Longhorns. He responded, “You could say that.”
So where does he go from here as far as future visits? A commitment?
“I’m still trying to decide, but I would like to make it out to Stillwater next for their spring game,” he said. “As far as committing…no time soon. Sometime this Fall though.”
It looks like McGee and Texas are pretty much through after the visit, and Oklahoma is in prime position for a really good one. (Howell)
**************************
Brenham defensive duo Timothy Cole made waves in the recruiting world when they pledged to the Longhorns on Sunday morning.
It was a tough process for both as they sorted through all the schools but they were both excited to reach a decision.
“It got real tough. Like I said I was with A&M the whole time, going to A&M games, basketball games, and touring the campus and stuff. And I took my girlfriend and all that so everyone thought I was going down there,” Brown said. “But as I said after I got out and started looking around my whole thing changed. I went to Oklahoma, Texas, and TCU and it all changed. I saw Texas for the first time and that made it hard and then I went to Oklahoma and that made it hard.
“So basically I had to sit down and talk to the coaches and Coach Davis just sat there and showed me what he was going to do with me and how he was going to develop me. I liked it and my uncle liked it. I liked the defense and my uncle liked the defense, and my uncle is a big fan of Texas so it all worked out.”
“This whole experience has been a blessing,” Cole said. “It’s been a bumpy road and had it’s ups and downs but it’s something I never thought I would be in the situation I was in. But it’s a blessing and I thank God everyday and my parents and helping me become this football player.”
They both watched the spring game closely and for Cole that meant paying close attention to the middle linebackers. Cole and Brown also soaked in the environment and were very much blown away on Sunday.
“It’s something I’m really looking forward to,” Cole said.” I’m just trying to picture myself playing linebacker there and I just enjoyed the whole game and how the coaches coached the players.”
With their decisions made they are both ready to focus on the 2011 season and a title run at Brenham. Both are viewed as leaders in the Cub program and both take that responsibility very seriously as they help set an example for their teammates.
“It’s very important because most of these guys look up to me ? how did he make it, where did he come from. Most people don’t know I quit my freshman year and came back because I knew football was for me. I love football, it runs in my blood,” Brown said. “I’ve been playing football forever, since I was in the fourth grade. I love it. It’s fun for me.”
Cole and Brown are joined as division commits on the Brenham squad by Adrian Bellard who are both headed to Texas A&M. Their future college destinations has created an interesting and friendly rivalry among the teammates.
“Oh yeah it’s just a little friendly competition with the offense vs. the defense ? o-line, running back and d-line, linebacker,” Cole said. “When we play against each other we’re going to talk a lot of trash.” (Howell)
-------------------------------------------------------------
I was able to catch up briefly with IMG Academy's AAU coach Andy Borman for a brief update on five-star DeAndre Daniels. As I posted in the war room a couple of weeks back, Daniels and Texas have still been in contact. Here is what Borman said via e-mail about the 6-8 small forward:
"DeAndre is doing great," Borman stated. "Our season is over, so he is here lifting, gaining weight, and continuing to develop his overall game. I would imagine that they will be working on their decision sometime in the near future because he will have used all 5 of his official visits. He has an official visit scheduled at Duke on April 15. There is no pressure on our end to rush his decision. Our goal is for DeAndre to continue to improve and to make his decision when he is comfortable and 100% confident in the school he wants to attend."
Duke is a serious player here, and that can't be understated. Borman was a former player at Duke, and the Blue Devils are going to get the last crack at Daniels on his official visit. Also, IMG's director of basketball operations is Greg Spatola, and his brother holds the same position at Duke while also being Coach K's son-in-law. If that wasn't enough, in a teleconference today Kyrie Irving even mentioned Daniels by name as an "addition" to the Duke recruiting class. With that being said, don't take this as me suggesting IMG pushed Daniels one way. There was no shady play. Throughout the process Coach Borman has been on the outside because the Daniels family keeps everything to themselves. However, Duke got into this for a reason, and if it didn't have a chance, it wouldn't have entered the race.
Even though he's been in contact with Texas, I think he would have already made another commitment to UT if the Horns were his choice. However, as we've learned with this recruitment, you can never eliminate any possibility. But Duke feels like a true leader right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, the Horns checked in on L.J. Rose (2012 point guard Westbury Christian HS) and 2013 stud Julius Randle (Prestonwood Christian Academy). Texas continues to remain in good shape with Rose, and Randle still feels like a Texas/Kansas battle. As for the 2012 class, I think it could be shaping up to be a five man class. Keep an eye on Winston Shepard once again. In addition to commitment Cameron Ridley, I could see a class of Shaquille Cleare, Shephard, and Rose. That would allow Texas to go after an elite OOS shooting guard and keep its options open with another big man if it wanted one. Jelon Hornbeak (2012 shooting guard from Arlington Grace Prep) is a name I've heard tagged to Texas recently, but I don't think UT is actively pursuing him at this point. I know a lot of people have asked about Marcus Smart, but he's another one that seems to be in limbo right now because I don't think Texas has really recruited him heavily yet.
(McComas)
This post was edited on 4/7 10:22 PM by DustinMcComas
This post was edited on 4/7 10:23 PM by DustinMcComas
This post was edited on 4/7 10:39 PM by DustinMcComas
With eight scholarship tight ends/H-backs on the roster going into the season, there’s been a lot of speculation about what the staff might do at the position and in following up with several of the top prospects on the list, I stumbled across a couple of interesting nuggets.
First, Land O’Lakes, Florida tight end Kent Taylor is a guy that the Longhorns were communicating with within the last month. At 6-5, 220 pounds, Taylor has offers from basically everyone in the nation. As far as I can tell there’s not a tight end in the nation with more offers.
Yet in conversations with Texas tight end coach Bruce Chambers and Mack Brown three weeks ago, Taylor was told that the Longhorns will not be taking a tight end in the 2012 class.
“They said they aren’t taking a tight end, so I don’t think they are interested, “ Taylor said.
As far as the tight end position is concerned, that might be that. If they aren’t interested in Taylor, who is looking everywhere, then it’s doubtful they will suddenly change their minds on the others. Yet if they do, they’ll have some targets that would love to hear from them.
Outside of Taylor, I also spoke with Tallahassee (Florida) Godby’s Laith Harlow and Warminster (Pennsylvania) Archbishop Wood Catholic’s Colin Thompson, with both players telling me that they hadn’t heard from the Longhorns, yet also expressing hope that the fact changes at some point.
“I would love for Texas to be interested in me,” Thompson said.
“I haven’t heard from them, but I hope so. They would have a shot, easily,” Harlow said.
As you can see the Longhorns have options if they want them, but at the moment they appear content with the position after evaluating it in the first two weeks of camp. (Ketch)
****************************
This week hasn’t been quite as excitement as last week was, with the Horns picking up a couple big commitments and hosting a handful of uncommitted prospects for the UT spring game.
The biggest news, of course, was the commitments by Brenham standouts Tim Cole.
The news came as a pleasant surprise, depending on who you were listening to or how closely you were paying attention, but the signs were there for a while that Texas was in good shape. And the smoke really began to swirl in the week before the big news became public on Sunday.
Remember back when Tim Cole visited UT for the Horns’ first junior day in early February. Though he played things close to the vest throughout the recruiting process, the word we heard then was that Cole’s trip to Austin made a strong impression on him, and equally important, his parents. In fact, Cole told people after that visit that the Texas visit was his best one yet, and his parents had it atop their list.
The repeated UT visits, and Cole’s comments a few weeks ago that he was pretty much down to Texas and OU, were a pretty good indication that the Horns were in a solid position.
The more interesting storyline centers on Brown. The blue-chip d-tackle was long believed to be a strong Texas A&M lean, but things began to change a couple weeks ago. Immediately after visiting Oklahoma and TCU two weekends ago (and not making a scheduled trip to Texas A&M), Brown began to tell people close to him that Texas A&M had been eliminated. Even Brenham teammates who are set to play college football at A&M were informed that the Aggies had fallen out of the picture.
Then, last week, Brown told multiple people that he was leaning heavily towards committing to Texas on Sunday (he confirmed on Monday that his mind was all but made up after the TCU visit). The only question during the week is whether or not Brown would get cold feet and decide to hold off. He did not, and Texas scored one of its biggest commitments of the class.
Brown told people after visiting Texas for the Horns’ second junior day that the idea of playing in the Longhorns’ 4-3 (vs. A&M’s 3-4 alignment) was weighing heavily in UT’s favor. As the weeks wore on, and as Brown talked over his options with his family, the schemes carried more and more weight.
Credit Oscar Giles and Bo Davis for playing this one perfectly. They didn’t apply too much pressure, they were persistent and they remained patient, even when it looked like Texas was tailing.
For those wonder if Brown and Cole were sure about their decisions … they’ve told people all week that they’re happy to have the recruiting process behind them and they’ve said they have no intentions of looking around. They also showed up to school on Monday wearing Mack Brown Texas Football t-shirts.
These commitments seems rock solid right now, but don’t expect A&M to just throw in the towel. It will surprise nobody if rumors pop up at some point of A&M making inroads (not necessarily legit rumors, mind you), but the guess here is that Texas picked up two huge commitments that will stick. (Suchomel)
******
The Horns may have taken a huge step towards securing a commitment from top offensive line prospect Kennedy Estelle during Estelle’s visit for the UT spring game on Sunday.
Estelle himself reported to Orangebloods on Sunday night that Texas was his top school, but he wasn’t quite yet ready to pull the trigger on a commitment. Equally important, Estelle’s mother was extremely impressed on her first visit to Texas (she was unable to make it with Kennedy for the junior day visit).
Estelle’s mom gave Texas high praises in every single element, and she went out of her way to let it be known that she really liked what she saw from the UT staff and program. “Be sure to put that in (the story), that I’m very impressed,” Mrs. Estelle said when we spoke with her on Sunday night.
Estelle told us on Wednesday night that he is expecting to be in Austin for the Texas Relays, but his mom confirmed on Thursday morning that there will not be a meeting with the Texas coaches.
Estelle also mentioned that he may visit either Auburn or Florida State in the next couple weeks. (Suchomel)
******
Athens athlete Kendall Sanders made his way in for UT’s spring game, but he left town without an offer.
Sanders hasn’t said much about the visit other than to tell OstateIllustrated.com that he came with a friend and the visit was “alright.”
We talked to Athens head coach Paul Essary this week to get a quick update on Sanders, who is still an Oklahoma State commitment. According to Essary, he hasn’t heard anything this week that would seem to indicate Sanders will be having a change of heart.
“As far as I know, he’s still going to Oklahoma State,” Essary said.
We’ll continue to check around on this one to see if anything heats up, but right now things are very qiet on this one. (Suchomel)
*********************
Texarkana Texas High offensive tackle John Michael McGee is one of the top offensive linemen in Texas and holds offers from a number of different programs. He camped at Texas last summer and last weekend he made the trip to watch the Texas spring game.
His camp experience at Texas wasn’t exactly the visit he was hoping for, and he hoped the trip over the weekend would be better. On his way back home it was pretty apparent McGee did not have the experience he was hoping and said he didn’t feel a connection as he returned home Sunday evening.
After collecting his thoughts from the weekend, McGee answered a few questions on Monday. I asked if the recent visit to Texas pretty much ended it with the Longhorns. He responded, “You could say that.”
So where does he go from here as far as future visits? A commitment?
“I’m still trying to decide, but I would like to make it out to Stillwater next for their spring game,” he said. “As far as committing…no time soon. Sometime this Fall though.”
It looks like McGee and Texas are pretty much through after the visit, and Oklahoma is in prime position for a really good one. (Howell)
**************************
Brenham defensive duo Timothy Cole made waves in the recruiting world when they pledged to the Longhorns on Sunday morning.
It was a tough process for both as they sorted through all the schools but they were both excited to reach a decision.
“It got real tough. Like I said I was with A&M the whole time, going to A&M games, basketball games, and touring the campus and stuff. And I took my girlfriend and all that so everyone thought I was going down there,” Brown said. “But as I said after I got out and started looking around my whole thing changed. I went to Oklahoma, Texas, and TCU and it all changed. I saw Texas for the first time and that made it hard and then I went to Oklahoma and that made it hard.
“So basically I had to sit down and talk to the coaches and Coach Davis just sat there and showed me what he was going to do with me and how he was going to develop me. I liked it and my uncle liked it. I liked the defense and my uncle liked the defense, and my uncle is a big fan of Texas so it all worked out.”
“This whole experience has been a blessing,” Cole said. “It’s been a bumpy road and had it’s ups and downs but it’s something I never thought I would be in the situation I was in. But it’s a blessing and I thank God everyday and my parents and helping me become this football player.”
They both watched the spring game closely and for Cole that meant paying close attention to the middle linebackers. Cole and Brown also soaked in the environment and were very much blown away on Sunday.
“It’s something I’m really looking forward to,” Cole said.” I’m just trying to picture myself playing linebacker there and I just enjoyed the whole game and how the coaches coached the players.”
With their decisions made they are both ready to focus on the 2011 season and a title run at Brenham. Both are viewed as leaders in the Cub program and both take that responsibility very seriously as they help set an example for their teammates.
“It’s very important because most of these guys look up to me ? how did he make it, where did he come from. Most people don’t know I quit my freshman year and came back because I knew football was for me. I love football, it runs in my blood,” Brown said. “I’ve been playing football forever, since I was in the fourth grade. I love it. It’s fun for me.”
Cole and Brown are joined as division commits on the Brenham squad by Adrian Bellard who are both headed to Texas A&M. Their future college destinations has created an interesting and friendly rivalry among the teammates.
“Oh yeah it’s just a little friendly competition with the offense vs. the defense ? o-line, running back and d-line, linebacker,” Cole said. “When we play against each other we’re going to talk a lot of trash.” (Howell)
-------------------------------------------------------------
I was able to catch up briefly with IMG Academy's AAU coach Andy Borman for a brief update on five-star DeAndre Daniels. As I posted in the war room a couple of weeks back, Daniels and Texas have still been in contact. Here is what Borman said via e-mail about the 6-8 small forward:
"DeAndre is doing great," Borman stated. "Our season is over, so he is here lifting, gaining weight, and continuing to develop his overall game. I would imagine that they will be working on their decision sometime in the near future because he will have used all 5 of his official visits. He has an official visit scheduled at Duke on April 15. There is no pressure on our end to rush his decision. Our goal is for DeAndre to continue to improve and to make his decision when he is comfortable and 100% confident in the school he wants to attend."
Duke is a serious player here, and that can't be understated. Borman was a former player at Duke, and the Blue Devils are going to get the last crack at Daniels on his official visit. Also, IMG's director of basketball operations is Greg Spatola, and his brother holds the same position at Duke while also being Coach K's son-in-law. If that wasn't enough, in a teleconference today Kyrie Irving even mentioned Daniels by name as an "addition" to the Duke recruiting class. With that being said, don't take this as me suggesting IMG pushed Daniels one way. There was no shady play. Throughout the process Coach Borman has been on the outside because the Daniels family keeps everything to themselves. However, Duke got into this for a reason, and if it didn't have a chance, it wouldn't have entered the race.
Even though he's been in contact with Texas, I think he would have already made another commitment to UT if the Horns were his choice. However, as we've learned with this recruitment, you can never eliminate any possibility. But Duke feels like a true leader right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, the Horns checked in on L.J. Rose (2012 point guard Westbury Christian HS) and 2013 stud Julius Randle (Prestonwood Christian Academy). Texas continues to remain in good shape with Rose, and Randle still feels like a Texas/Kansas battle. As for the 2012 class, I think it could be shaping up to be a five man class. Keep an eye on Winston Shepard once again. In addition to commitment Cameron Ridley, I could see a class of Shaquille Cleare, Shephard, and Rose. That would allow Texas to go after an elite OOS shooting guard and keep its options open with another big man if it wanted one. Jelon Hornbeak (2012 shooting guard from Arlington Grace Prep) is a name I've heard tagged to Texas recently, but I don't think UT is actively pursuing him at this point. I know a lot of people have asked about Marcus Smart, but he's another one that seems to be in limbo right now because I don't think Texas has really recruited him heavily yet.
(McComas)
This post was edited on 4/7 10:22 PM by DustinMcComas
This post was edited on 4/7 10:23 PM by DustinMcComas
This post was edited on 4/7 10:39 PM by DustinMcComas
