…the more we can appreciate the fact that he’s building a talent monster that rivals any the 40 Acres has ever seen. I realize that, for many long-time OB’s, it’s heresy to even suggest that Sark is anywhere close to Mack’s level as a recruiter. However, if (and I realize it’s a big IF), but if Dominick McKinley flips to the good guys and signs with Texas Wednesday (as Fong hinted tonight could happen), and if the currently committed 5-star players all sign, Sark will have the following skins on the recruiting wall:
- This year’s class would include five 5-star players in the composite rankings (Colin Simmons, Ryan Wingo, Brandon Baker, Dominick McKinley, Xavier Filsaime). In Mack’s 16 classes as the Texas head coach, he only pulled that feat off twice - 2002 (Vincent Young, Rodrique Wright, Justin Blalock, Marquis Johnson, Bryan Pickryl) and 2010 (Jackson Jeffcoat, Jordan Hicks, Mike Davis, Reggie Wilson, Darius White).
- Not even counting signing Quinn Ewers (the #1 overall player in the 2021 composite rankings) from the portal, Sark will have signed 11 composite five-star players in his first three full recruiting classes (2022 - DJ Campbell, Kelvin Banks; 2023 - Arch Manning, Anthony Hill, CJ Baxter, Johntay Cook; 2024 - the five players I mentioned previously).
First, the unsurprising (and pathetic) stat: This would mean that, in just his first three full classes, Sark will have signed more composite 5-star players than Texas signed in the previous 10 classes COMBINED under Mack, Strong and Herman (2012 - Johnathan Gray, Malcom Brown; 2013 - Darius James; 2015 - Malik Jefferson; 2018 - Caden Stearn, BJ Foster; 2019 - Bru McCoy 😳, Jordan Whittington; 2020 - Bijan Robinson; 2021 - Ja’Tavion Sanders).
Next, the stat that really blew me away…this would also mean that Sark will have brought more composite five-star players to Texas than in any other three-year stretch in history (as Mack’s best three-year stretch - 2000-2002 - came one short of that figure with 10 composite 5-star players: 2000 - BJ Johnson, Chance Mock, Roy Williams, Sloan Thomas; 2001 - Cedric Benson; 2002 - the VY class I listed earlier that included five composite 5-stars).
Simply put, Sark and his staff came here to kick ass and chew gum, and they’ve been out of gum for a while now.