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The most difficult part about getting older is the realization that you are ... getting older.
Nowadays, I find myself clinging to the music I listened to in my younger days because this generation of musicians does not speak to me. Their music is not horrible. Every older generation makes that claim. However, I could not tell you the difference between Bad Bunny and Bhad Bhabie, and that is perfectly fine with me. I have learned how to adjust and adapt.
My kids play games that I do not understand. I have not figured out why they spend hours playing Roblox. As a person who grew up in arcades, that game looks boring. Again, like music, it appeals to the younger generation. All I know is if I ever meet the person who invented in-game purchases, that person will receive a throat punch from me.
And as we adjust and accept today’s generation, the same rules can be applied to our recruiting perspective.
The majority of us have placed a huge emphasis on in-state recruiting for decades. We judged coaches on their ability to keep players within their respective states. Kids from Texas were expected to remain here. Kids from Florida were expected to remain in the Sunshine State. The same rules applied to recruits from California.
Every coach talked about putting a wall around their respective states to prevent players from leaving. If a player committed to an out-of-state school, it was viewed as a loss by recruiting websites and fans. The message has always been clear – win the in-state recruiting battles. Losing a kid to Oklahoma was bad, but somewhat acceptable because of that school’s proximity to Texas. Losing a kid to Florida, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, or Missouri? That was a huge blow.
Losing those battles is one of the reasons why Texas fired Tom Herman. A Longhorn coach was not supposed to lose Quinn Ewers to Ohio State, the Brockermeyer twins to Alabama, or any of the other big-time recruits from Texas that went elsewhere. Longhorn officials followed recruiting and grew tired of losing elite recruits from Texas to out-of-state programs. The hiring of Steve Sarkisian was supposed to bring Texas back to the days of Mack Brown dominating in-state recruiting.
However, that era of recruiting might be fading away like our hairlines.
Sarkisian finished with the No.2 ranked recruiting class this past week, according to Rivals. Sarkisian’s 2023 class was ranked No. 3. The Longhorns’ 2022 class was ranked No.5.
The most interesting aspect about those classes is the amount of out of state players Texas has signed compared to around 20 years ago. Nearly 50 percent of the 2024 Longhorn class are players from outside of Texas. If you view that number from an early 2000s recruiting lens, it would be easy to walk away saying Texas needs to improve in-state recruiting with the 2025 class.
However, if you are willing to adjust, we might be witnessing a trend of recruits who have expanded their horizons and are more open to playing for programs in different states than players in previous eras and think more globally.
“Without question,” Sarkisian said when I asked him about this topic on signing day. “I think kids from Texas are going other places more than they ever have. I think kids in California are going places more than they ever have. I think kids in Florida are going places more than they ever have, and so on and so forth. I think 7-on-7 has played a factor in that that guys are traveling now. They're going to play in other places. I think social media and the Internet has provided that opportunity because more schools are seeing these kids more so than just the local schools that are getting their tape and know the high school coach.
“I also think summer visits have changed that because now guys are having the ability and have the time to take visits in the spring and in the summer, as opposed to just in the fall. It's difficult when you live in California and I want to take a visit to Texas and I play Friday night and we have an 11 a.m. kick the next day. You got to try to get on a plane, get here, and then for us to spend really quality time with them and then they have to turn around and fly back. Well, when they come in June, I get 48 hours with them and I really get to spend time with them and they're not rushed and we can forge those relationships. But that's the same for the kid that's here in Texas and when he goes to visit somewhere else around the country. I think all of those things have added up to you seeing more kids travel.”
I researched the most recent Longhorn recruiting classes to find the out-of-state recruiting numbers. The sample size is small but there is enough meat on the bone to acknowledge there might be a trend occurring in real time.
Let us begin by looking at the most recent Longhorn out-of-state recruiting numbers.
Texas
2024 – 11 of 23 players were OOS (48 percent)
2023 – 10 of 25 (40 percent)
2022 – 8 of 28 (29 percent)
2021 – 7 of 22 (32 percent)
2020 – 1 of 20 (0.5 percent/Bijan Robinson)
Out of curiosity, I checked the 2019 class and 14 of the 26 commitments were out of state (54 percent). That makes the 2020 class an anomaly.
Now, let us check the previous OOS recruiting numbers.
2002 – 5 of 28 (18 percent)
2003 – 0 of 18 (0 percent)
2004 – 0 of 20 (0 percent)
2005 – 2 of 14 (14 percent)
2006 – 2 of 25 (0.08 percent)
- There have been no less than 29 percent of OOS players in five of the past six recruiting classes.
- There were no less than 40 percent of OOS players in three classes.
- Texas never had more than 18 percent of OOS players between 2002 and 2006.
- Texas had two classes without any OOS players between 2002 and 2006.
I looked at Texas A&M and the numbers were similar.
Texas A&M
2024 – 10 of 16 (63 percent)
2023 – 5 of 19 (26 percent)
2022 – 14 of 30 (47 percent)
2021 – 9 of 23 (39 percent)
2020 – 14 of 26 (54 percent)
Previously
2002 – 1 of 23 (0.04 percent)
2003 – 0 of 24 (0 percent)
2004 – 7 of 28 (25 percent)
2005 – 4 of 25 (16 percent)
2006 – 5 of 23 (22 percent)
In addition, I looked at USC and Florida, two flagship schools in their respective states (sorry FSU and UCLA fans).
USC’s out-of-state numbers have increased but I did not notice a huge difference with Florida.
USC
2024 – 14 of 20 (70 percent)
2023 – 12 of 22 (55 percent)
2022 – 6 of 11 (55 percent)
2021 – 9 of 22 (41 percent)
2020 – 5 of 12 (42 percent)
Previously
2002 – 4 of 21 (19 percent)
2003 – 3 of 28 (11 percent)
2004 – 5 of 19 (26 percent)
2005 – 5 of 19 (26 percent)
2006 – 8 of 27 (30 percent)
Florida
2024 – 12 of 18 (67 percent)
2023 – 7 of 21 (34 percent)
2022 – 13 of 19 (68 percent)
2021 – 9 of 22 (41 percent)
2020 – 9 of 25 (36 percent)
Previously
2002 – 8 of 23 (35 percent)
2003 – 11 of 26 (42 percent)
2004 – 8 of 23 (35 percent)
2005 – 7 of 18 (39 percent)
2006 – 9 of 27 (33 percent)
Overall, today’s generation of players are seemingly not as fixated on making sure momma only has to drive a few hours to see her son play. Today’s mom has compiled airline and hotel points, she has plenty of direct flight options to watch her baby play, and her son has enough NIL money to fly her across the country if necessary.
Just ask Maalik Murphy, a California recruit who transferred from Texas to Duke.
“You're seeing more parents comfortable with allowing their kids to travel,” Sarkisian said. “That doesn't mean that man, we're not trying to sign every great player in the state of Texas. But unfortunately, we're not getting them all the way maybe we would like right now. We're going to continue to bang that drum and to try to make that happen, but we have to be flexible enough to reach beyond. We have to make sure that they understand when they come here, the best players play in our program that do things the right way. It's not about necessarily where you're from. It's about making sure that you're doing things the right way and that you earn your opportunities. I think that we're following through with that and guys are having success in our program.”
We have to adjust and accept the perspective of today’s generation of recruits.
Do not worry.
We still have our music.
And what’s left of our hairline.
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
This guy is a living legend
He nailed each one
In the battle of wits, she lost
@Ketchum , help your man
We are getting older
Sports On A Dime
1. While the out-of-state high school recruiting landscape has changed, Texas football Steve Sarkisian has perfected the art of acquiring in-state players through the transfer portal. The addition of UTSA’s Trey Moore, a Texas kid, was huge this weekend. He previously acquired Clemson transfer Andrew Mukuba (Texas kid), and Houston’s Matthew Golden (Texas kid). Previously, Sarkisian acquired Adonai Mitchell (Texas kid), Jalen Catalon (Texas kid), and … Quinn Ewers (Texas kid). Convincing kids to come home might be the new in-state recruiting frontier.
2. Texas linebacker Jaylon Ford’s response when asked about going from the lowest-rated prospect in the 2020 Longhorn class to an NFL prospect: “Maybe those reporters got it wrong? No, seriously, I always tell (Jeff) Choate, credit to him for sticking it out with me and helping me develop. He'll tell me it was always there or that’s not the case. But I truly believe having coaches like Sark, Choate, and PK (Pete Kwiatkowski), guys that took the time and developed their players. We had the right scheme. And for me, I was just so hungry to get on the field and make a name for myself. All the pieces just kind of fell in the right place. I just saw the success and that goes along with everybody else out there, including Sweat. I think the key message is just trusting the process, and you'll definitely get what you want.”
3. Ford on this staff’s ability to develop players: “I think it just says that we're living proof of that Sark is doing like it's developing players. What these coaches are doing is developing players. Just to see that guys like us with 3-stars and look at us now. All of us are balling. That's just kind of shows that these guys that come in, you might not play right away, you might not see the playing time you want, you might not get the success you want to start off. But if you really see it through and you kind of you know trust the process, and you keep grinding, eventually you'll reap the rewards and enjoy the fruits of your labor.”
4. Texas safety Michael Taaffe on the defense playing tighter coverage after the TCU game: “I think it's a weird concept to know that when you have such a good run-stop defense, it makes an offense one-dimensional. When you make an offense one-dimensional, it's really good for us. But also, they got scholarship guys too, and they're going to complete passes. It’s all right if they catch a deep ball or they catch a couple of balls because they're not running the ball. I don't really look at the stats. I don't care about what they're doing. All I care about is winning and when you’re winning, that means that our score is higher than theirs, however it takes we're gonna get it done. It really helps that we make these offenses one-dimensional. As far as after the TCU game, just little corrections on your tendencies that the offenses have. Then also looking back on what we've been doing wrong and trying to correct our own mistakes.”
5. Taffee on the growth of Arch Manning: “He's very intentional with his work. When Quinn's up, or when Maalik was up, he's standing over there, ‘It's this-this-this. I'm gonna go here when it's this coverage. I'm gonna go here when it's that coverage, and kind of mimicking what the other quarterbacks do, and asking a bunch of questions. He's really understanding his role of being a redshirt freshman knowing that your potential is very not much reached yet. And so, do everything you can to keep reaching that potential, and he's doing an outstanding job of that. Just understanding that he's got a lot of work to do. That’s really athletic and really good already. It’s going to be crazy to see what he can do continuing forward.”
6. Texas safety Jerrin Thompson on Washington’s receivers: “I feel like they have a real good connection. They have a really good quarterback that can put the ball anywhere so pretty much. You got guys that can run pretty good routes. Just pretty much completing passes.”
7. Thompson on his comfort level with the Longhorns secondary against Washington’s passing attack: “I'm always going into the game confident. I'm always expecting myself to play at the standard that we expect to play here. Confidence is very huge, especially in games like this. It's not just a regular game to us. The moment is never too big for us. We played in a lot of big games before.”
8. Texas offensive lineman Christian Jones on what makes coach Kyle Flood so good at his job: “I'll say his mathematical background. He used to be a teacher back in 19-none of your business. The way that he goes about film is the same way. I mean it's not just watching film. It's like football, a high-level course, a 400-level course. It’s great man. He knows how to get through to every single guy and how they respond. I'll just say that's a credit to him being a great coach and his teaching background.”
9. Jones’ response when asked what is on his Christmas list: “I don't really have any. I'm kind of pushing that age now where I got to get Christmas gifts for people. I’m not really receiving them anymore. I asked my little sister. She's 12. She said she wanted a Stanley Cup. She said she wants some Jordans. And she wanted a Hellcat. Like, seriously? That's kind of where I'm at.”
10. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin gets it. He understood the importance of the transfer portal and adapted.
The Big 5-0
This will be a monumental week for me because I am about to hit a milestone.
Hello, 50 years old.
I will turn 50 on Saturday. Years ago, I was worried about this day a few ago. I thought it would freak me out. However, I am excited about it. I have two amazing boys who are keeping me young, great friends, people who I love, and ... the crazy OB crew. You guys have a fantastic chapter in my life.
Okay, I am looking for advice from the 50-plus crowd.
What do I need to know? My friend signed me up for AARP as an early present (my request, actually). What kind of practical and/or life advice do you have for me as I join you for dinner at 4:30 p.m. at Del Boca Vista?
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