THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. It was a successful weekend of junior days for the Longhorns
If you’ve been following recruiting for a long time, you’ve probably had to re-train your brain in order to get an accurate gauge of what constitutes a successful junior day event.
Gone are the days when players are beating down the door to commit. The days of Mack Brown using each cycle’s first junior day to accumulate a windfall of pledges are a thing of the past … probably forever.
Last weekend, Texas hosted two junior day events on Saturday and Sunday. As expected, they weren’t events filled with fireworks – only a few new offers went out and zero commitments were gained – but that doesn’t mean the weekend wasn’t a resounding success. This was more about Texas laying the groundwork and pouring the foundation for what should be another highly-successful recruiting class, and the staff did just that without any hitches.
In talking to about 30 prospects who made their way to campus, as well as some parents who accompanied their kids, there wasn’t a negative word mentioned. From the time spent with the coaches, to the facilities, to getting questions answered from a UT player panel, to parents having a chance to interact and pick the brains of parents of the 2018 signees, it was a productive weekend overall and Texas seemed to hit its mark on every single element.
Take, for instance, top targets Marcus Banks and Garrett Wilson. Banks was accompanied by his mother and Wilson brought in both parents. Both parties spent extensive time in the football facilities getting one-on-one time with the coaches, including Tom Herman, and both said their parents really enjoyed everything they saw during the junior day. You can’t win key recruitments without winning over the prospect’s support system, and Texas knocked that aspect out of the park this weekend.
The messages delivered by the coaches – keeping talent in state, the opportunities that the University of Texas presents after football, position-specific pitches like showing corners and safeties how Texas runs a lot of 6-DB sets – all seemed to connect, and the Longhorns helped their stance with key players like DeMarvin Leal, De’Gabriel Floyd, Marcus Stripling, Erick Young, Garrett Wilson, Elijah Higgins and 2020 RB Zachary Evans, to name a few. There were a couple notable no-shows, guys like Tyler Johnson and Demani Richardson, but things went very well overall and the two junior day events could pay off in the long run.
2. The Texas support staff continues to excel
The Texas coaches – led by Tom Herman – get most of the accolades for UT’s recruiting success, which is understandable. Those coaches deserve credit for what they’re building, but Herman mentioned repeatedly in his National Signing Day press conference that Texas couldn’t experience the success it has without the help of so many others, and last weekend was another great example of that.
Every time Texas has had a recruiting event under the new staff, every person who has attended has raved about the experience. Perhaps the single biggest recurring complement is the organization of the events, the attention to detail and the thoroughness of the presentations to the recruits and their families. The junior days on Saturday and Sunday were no different.
Guys like Derek Chang, Bryan Carrington, Jake Langi and Ra’Shaad Samples were all heavily involved, both behind the scenes and in more direct ways with some of the recruits themselves.
Chang’s name is consistently brought up when recruits mention which UT staff members they’re in contact with, and he’s a bit of a do-everything guy for the Longhorns’ recruiting efforts, helping identify and evaluate talent, organizing visits and coming up with creative recruiting ideas to help Texas stay ahead of the curve (For an interesting podcast listen, Chang recently joined Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman … the interview starts at about the 27:15 mark).
Carrington’s role and impact has been widely-discussed, and he was front and center again this weekend, spending a lot of time with the prospects and their parents behind closed doors and often-times being the final point of contact as he walked people out once their visits had concluded. Langi and Samples played a similar role, as both assistants continue to see their responsibilities increase. Samples is already heavily involved in 2020 DB Chris Thompson Jr. Langi was a key component in Texas landing 2018 signee Junior Angilau and is already actively involved in the recruitments of several 2019 prospects, including offensive lineman Stacey Wilkins, who visited UT on Saturday.
3. Texas social media department continues to knock it out of the park
I mentioned it above, but Texas’ entire support staff deserves some credit for the recruiting machine the Longhorns have built up in the last 18 months, and the graphics department is a huge part of that success.
The staff’s attention to detail for each specific recruit and ability to tailor a specific pitch for each recruit has been pretty impressive. Throw in an aggressive an innovative approach from the social media department and it’s a recipe for success that Texas has been able to tap into.
A perfect example would be this graphic for top national defensive back prospect Kenyatta Watson, who will actually be in Austin this weekend for an unofficial visit.
Hell, even UT’s announcement for its Orange-White game was done in an eye-catching way. In the past, the official time/date may have been released in a generic press release. On Tuesday, Texas made the announcement on Twitter with another appealing graphic, which will certainly resonate with recruits.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. Can Texas reel in De’Gabriel Floyd?
Rivals100 linebacker De’Gabriel Floyd (Westlake Villa, CA) spent the weekend in Austin for what amounted to a three-day visit, and while it’s too early to say how this one might shake out (Floyd wants to take his time with the process), it does sound like Texas is at or very near the top of Floyd’s list.
In talking to him on Saturday, after spending several hours on the UT campus as part of the junior day, Floyd couldn’t wipe the smile on his face. After that, he spent time on campus Saturday night with UT players and was back again on Sunday for some one-on-one time with Tom Herman.
Floyd told us Texas was “really high” on his list and he couldn’t even put into words how he felt about UT.
“Just the atmosphere of me coming down here, it was just really comfortable,” Floyd said. “I didn’t feel out of place. I felt like I was at home.”
Texas likes Floyd as an outside linebacker/rover position. He’d been to Austin a few times prior to last weekend, but this trip was the first time he’d spent time on the Texas campus since Texas recently offered. As luck would have it for Texas, Floyd has some ties to the city of Austin.
“My old coach from Pop Warner, me and him have a great relationship. He took the role of my father, kind of in a sense. He stays in Austin, lives out here,” Floyd said. “That’s who I’ve been staying with. We’re just family, it’s comforting.”
Floyd also has a previous friendship with Texas freshman quarterback Cameron Rising, another California native.
“I connected with him today and yesterday. I talked to him in the locker room, and a few other players. Cameron Rising – me and him have a pretty good relationship because he’s from California and we played 7-on-7 against each other,” Floyd said. “We know each other pretty well. He gave me a cool rundown of how things go out here.”
We’ll follow this one closely over the coming months, but based off last weekend’s visit, I fully expect Texas to be in the hunt until the very end.
2. Should I be impressed with the hoops win in Norman?
In this column last week, I basically discounted the impact of Texas having a players-only meeting after the loss at home to Baylor. The next time the Longhorns hit the court, they responded with a convincing win over Oklahoma that had Sooners fans heading to the exits early.
Initially, I found myself wondering if that meeting might have actually lit some sort of fire under the Texas team, but after stepping back a few days later and re-assessing the win, it’s going to take a bit more before I’m ready to buy in to the idea of this team turning the corner this late in the season.
Yes, the win in Norman was nice, and it’s extra satisfying for the team to sweep the Sooners, but this is an OU team that’s now lost nine of its last 11, including a 30-point drubbing at the hands of Kansas on Monday. Texas will have another chance to take a big step forward with a road win over Kansas State on Wednesday. Do that, and the Longhorns inch closer to the NCAA Tournament. Lay an egg in Manhattan and it’ll look like more of the same from a Texas team that has struggled with consistency issues all year.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands Marcus Banks in the near future
Spring Dekaney defensive back Marcus Banks had planned to announce his final decision on March 3, but he announced on Sunday night he’d be pushing things back to take a little more time.
When we spoke with Banks last week, he mentioned that he’s still considering about eight schools, but it felt like Texas had the clear edge. After speaking to Banks as he was leaving the UT campus this weekend, this one feels more like a matter of when than if.
