In what would prove to be a pay cut for the current members of the Big 12, it appears the conference will grow to 11 members with the additions of West Virginia and Louisville, a key source with knowledge of the situation told Orangebloods.com Thursday.
The Big 12 presidents are expected to meet Monday to vote on the proposal, which appears to have enough support for formal approval, the source said.
It is being called a compromise by Big 12 sources because the eight current members of the league who plan to stay (excluding Texas A&M and Missouri) were split on whether to simply vote for West Virginia or add Louisville as well.
But Monday's vote could also be the death knell for the Big East, possibly allowing West Virginia and Louisville to get out of their current conference without having to pay exit fees or endure a waiting period. The Big East would be down to four football members (UConn, Rutgers, South Florida and Cincinnati), putting its survival as an automatic qualifying conference in serious jeopardy.
If there's not a conference left to collect exit fees and enforce a 27-month waiting period, then West Virginia and Louisville might bolt for the Big 12 in 2012-13 and take their legal chances, sources said. But those decisions haven't yet been made, sources said.
If the Big 12 had remained at 10 schools (after Missouri leaves for the SEC), the TV revenue payout per school would have been roughly $18 million. But that payout will drop to roughly $16.5 million per school in an 11-team league.
While many BYU fans are hoping to join the Big 12, there does not appear to be an interest in adding a 12th full-membership school at the current time, sources said. The Big 12 is hoping Notre Dame will decide in January to move its non-football sports from the Big East into the Big 12 and agree to play up to six football games against Big 12 schools in the future.
Stay tuned. (BROWN)
******
One of the more interesting unofficial visits to keep an eye on this weekend comes from East Texas, as Tatum athlete/quarterback Jalen Overstreet makes his way to Austin for his first trip to the 40 Acres.
There are about three levels of fascination in regards to his visit.
No.1: At 6-2, 205 pounds, Overstreet brings a ton of raw talent to the field and he’s the kind of athlete that could project at a number of positions at the next level, including quarterback, a position that has earned him offers from Baylor, Texas tech and Houston.
No.2: Bloodlines. Overstreet's father (Anthony) was a running back at Baylor, his uncle (David) was one of the state's top prep runner in history at Big Sandy, while one cousin (Stephen Hodge) was a recent standout at TCU and another at Missouri (David Overstreet Jr.).
No.3: Texas is recruiting him as a quarterback.
Additional offers are in hand from the likes of Arkansas, Michigan and Missouri.
As far as a list of favorites is concerned, Overstreet came across like a guy that’s pretty open. When I asked about thoughts on Texas, he took a total wait and see attitude.
“I don’t know yet, I guess we’ll see soon,” he joked.
Obviously, the discussion of a second quarterback in this class remains a major point of interest for the 2012 class and the fact that the Longhorns are showing at least some interest in Overstreet (no offer, but he’s making the trip in) as a quarterback and not as an athlete makes his visit one to watch. (Ketch)
******
Texas has extended a verbal offer to Elk Grove (CA) Pleasant Grove Arik Armstead and Armstead's father said early in the week that Texas would get a visit in the near future.
The family talked about things this week, and Armstead said it looks like the weekend of November 19, when Texas plays Kansas State, will "probably work out the best. But we're still trying to work out the visits. Nothing's for sure yet."
Armstead does want to try his hand at playing both football and basketball in college. UT hoops assistant coach Russ Sprinmann called this week to talk to the Armsteads about the basketball side of things. He also talked to UT defensive ends coach Oscar Giles on Wednesday.
"He was telling me about Texas, asking me what I knew, was telling me it's a special place and how they could use me on their defensive line," said Armstead. "He said I fit the mold of some of their guys and was telling me about their scheme."
Armstead has made it very clear that he wants to play defense at the next level.
"He has a preference for the d-line. He doesn't back down on that," said Armstead's father, Gus. "Everybody that is dealing with him, they know he could be a great offensive linemen too, but he's just made up with his mind and that (defense) is what he wants to do."
Armstead visited Notre Dame last week and he'll visit Alabama next week. He said he'll likely lock down the Texas visit and make decisions on possible other visits in the next week or so. (Suchomel)
******
We mentioned in last week's War Room that Texas had reached out to Northwest Mississippi Community College offensive lineman Donald Hawkins. Stacy Searels attended Hawkins' game on Saturday and later that night extended a verbal scholarship offer.
Hawkins told us this week that he'll either visit Texas for the Texas Tech or Kansas State game, with the date depending on whether NWCC wins this week and qualifies for the playoffs.
The 6-5, 320-pound Hawkins has been committed to Oklahoma State since August, but he's pretty well wide open at this point now that a number of other programs have begun to show interest.
In talking to Hawkins, I get the feeling that his interest in Texas is definitely genuine, but it does sound like people might have already been in his ear about how difficult Texas is academically. It's an issue the UT coaches will probably need to address, which shouldn't be a problem once Hawkins gets on campus and sees the academic resources that would be at his disposal.
Speaking of JUCO players, I did check with the coach of standout JUCO DE Denico Autry. He reported that he had been in recent contact with Bo Davis, but Texas is in a holding pattern for right now. (Suchomel)
******
Texas continues to show a strong interest in Mineral Wells safety Adrian Colbert, a soft Baylor commitment.
As of Thursday night, the Longhorns had not yet talked to Colbert about bringing him in for an unofficial or official visit, but Duane Akina will be at Colbert's game on Friday night to get an up-close look.
We'll follow up with Colbert this weekend. (Suchomel)
******
The nation's top prospect, wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham reiterated on Thursday night that he has no official visits scheduled. He also said he has no timetable for any sorts of decisions.
Green-Beckham's father, John Beckham, said earlier in the week that the family has "tentative" visit plans set up for Texas (Nov. 19) and Auburn (Nov. 24), but those trips obviously are very much up in the air. It still looks like a lock that Green-Beckham will visit Texas, it's just a matter of when.
Of note, Green-Beckham went into Thursday night's game needing 62 yards to set the national prep receiving yardage mark. He finished the night with 305 yards, and broke the record on an 80-yard TD catch in which he broke several tackles. (Suchomel)
******
Longhorn co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin was on hand to watch Henderson QB Del Barnes last week. As of Thursday night, Barnes had yet to hear the reviews from the Texas staff on where he stands.
Barnes said although it wasn't his best performance, he felt pretty good about his showing.
"I think I showed him I could make big plays when we needed them. I had a bunch of completed passes on fourth downs to keep drives alive so I thought I showed him different aspects of my game," Barnes said.
Barnes finished last week's game with a statline of 15-21 for 203 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. (Suchomel)
******
Pflugerville Hendrickson athlete Daje Johnson talked to Bryan Harsin on Thursday and will make another appearance at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this weekend for the Kansas game.
The speedster playmaker said Harsin told him the coaches will likely wait until after UT's regular season is over before they make any recruiting decisions.
"I think they're going to take things pretty slow until December. He said they're trying to get back on their winning streak," Johnson said. (Suchomel)
******
A few quick team notes worth mentioning ...
The coaches have said the QB reps were being divided equally this week. We're told that both QBs are indeed getting work, but one source said David Ash has "definitely" received most of the work. One person we talked to said he believes Ash will get most of the snaps on Saturday, although he does expect McCoy to play.
Major Applewhite said this week that Traylon Shead was doing some work with the tight ends in an h -back role. We're hearing he's been spending the overwhelming majority of his time with the tight ends and it's been that way pretty much all year.
Call it unconfirmed news, but we heard that linebacker Demarco Cobbs was able to get his cast removed this week and he's expected to play on Saturday.
A couple other injury notes ... we're told Adrian Phillips is being held out mostly for precautionary reasons to make sure he's healthy for next week's game against Texas Tech. Also, no word on a possible John Harris return date. A couple people we talked to think he's done for the year, one other said there's a chance Harris could make it back towards the end of the season. (Suchomel)
******
A few weeks ago reports surfaced that Brenham defensive tackle and Texas commit Malcom Brown may be looking to take a visit. It did not take long for Brenham head coach Glen West to set the record straight.
“I purely think the only thing he was saying at all is that he is a kid and he enjoys watching football,” West said. “I don’t think he has any desire to visit another campus and go to a school. He certainly did not mean for that to come out the way it did. He has no desire to look at another school and play football for anyone else.
“I think one thing that is making it a little bit uncomfortable is right now his total focus is on Brenham and it needs to be. Just like anybody that is playing football at the University of Texas right now does not need to be thinking about the NFL and it’s no different. If one of the senior athletes was coming in and already knew he was drafted in the first round and was going to eventually be with another team that can be a problem.
“Our team took the approach going into the year that we’re going to focus on Brenham. In the spring and summer we focused on what college we wanted to go to. We put all that beside us and we’re focused totally on what we’re trying to accomplish. They don’t get these days back. He’ll never be in high school again.”
Brown has not said too much in the media over the course of the season and like West pointed out has been focused solely on his senior season at Brenham.
“When he committed the reason he committed early was so he wouldn’t have to be thinking about it,” West said. “That’s one of the things he said to me is he said ‘Coach, I didn’t think I would have to be talking about this because that’s why we did it in the spring.’ That’s kind of the way he feels.
“He is not interested at all in changing his commitment. Not even a little bit. He doesn’t even have an interest in anyone else.”
On the season, both Brown and Brenham teammate and fellow Texas commitment Timothy Cole have been playing roles on both sides of the ball, and Coach West and the Brenham coaching staff are trying to enjoy every moment they have with the dynamic playmaking duo.
“He’s doing an outstanding job,” West said of Brown. “Probably the thing I’ve been the most surprised about to this point has been his conditioning. The one real concern we all had was how it would affect him as a defensive player because for us to be successful he has to be a totally dominant defensive player and when you go both ways that affects you. Really I have not seen it affect him much. He has played well defensively and him playing offense I can’t see having a big enough affect on his performance to outweigh all the good things he brings to us defensively.”
“The evidence I have to say how much we’re going to miss him is Tim is playing offense too,” West said of Cole. “In our biggest ball game of the year to this point against Montgomery we were on the one-foot line and we had to go 99 yards or hoped to and in that series Tim carried the ball 7 times for like 49 yards. We didn’t go 99 yards, we ended up turning the ball over on a fumble on the quarterback exchange on about the 25, but we went from the half-yard line to their 25 and ate a lot of time and Tim was an integral part of that drive. So he is also helping us on that side of the ball.” (Howell)
******
Texas got a look at Mesquite Horn tight end Vincent Hobbs against DeSoto and Orangebloods.com has learned Hobbs plans to make his ways to Austin for the Texas/Kansas game.
We mentioned the other day in a message board post that Hobbs is not a complete unknown to Texas since he did camp at Texas as a sophomore. He currently holds an offer from Louisiana-Monroe with interest from the likes of Baylor, Iowa St., Kansas, and Colorado. He did not attend any camps this summer because he was playing AAU basketball.
There really is not much information out there on Hobbs, but he is the leading receiver for Horn and after talking to a few people and a few coaches it is clear the word on Hobbs is beginning to circulate.
One high school coach told me he felt Hobbs was a definite Big 12/BCS quality player, and he was surprised he only had one offer on the table. Hobbs is described as a really physical player with a bit of a mean streak (in a good way). I even had one person tell me he thought Hobbs could be a defensive end.
Hobbs is an intriguing prospect and a guy to keep an eye on. (Howell)
******
DeSoto running back Dontre Wilson is one of the top prospects in the 2013 class and one of the most explosive players in the country. He has been a touchdown threat for the Eagles over the last two years out of the backfield running and catching the ball, and as a return man for both punts and kickoffs.
He attended the Texas/Oklahoma game and the Texas/Oklahoma St. game and has been keeping in touch with Texas running back coach and co-offensive coordinator Major Applewhite.
This morning we were able to catch up with the standout running back. He named a top five of Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Notre Dame.
“It’s really all of the offenses they run,” Wilson said. “They’re all fast tempo offenses. They put a lot running backs in the league and Oregon is just having a lot of success right now and I just want to be a part of that right now.”
On his recent visit to Austin, he was able to get a look at the campus and likes what he has seen out of the new Texas offense.
“The way they’re getting Fozzy Whittaker the ball,” he said. “What he is at Texas that’s me at DeSoto. The way they’re getting him the ball is pretty good.” (Howell)
******
Dallas Kimball defensive tackle Justin Manning continues to see the offers roll in with Oregon St. the latest to extend an offer.
His first offer came from Texas A&M and the Aggies along with Texas and Oklahoma are sending the most handwritten letters according to Manning with Florida St. sending the most mail. The letters are coming from across the country, but the one coach he talks to most is Oklahoma’s Jackie Shipp.
As the brother of Demarcus Granger, Manning has gotten to know both Shipp and the Sooner program over the years.
“I grew up watching Oklahoma, since the fifth grade,” Manning siad. “I took that visit with my brother. I fell in love from day 1. It’s been like a slow ride because I didn’t hear from that as much. You never know.”
The standout defensive tackle mentioned Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, and Nebraska among his top schools stating that each are great programs with winning traditions.
It is still early in the process and while he does not quite know exactly what he is looking for on the academic side, he knows what he is looking for on the football side of a program.
“I don’t know as far as what I want to major in,” the junior prospect said. “As far as football I just want to go where I can win and where I have to earn my position instead of having it given to me and just keep working hard and stay humble.”
Right now Manning is trying to get back on the field after suffering an injury, which should happen in the next week or so, and is enjoying the recruiting process.
“It’s a blessing to know,” Manning said of the recruiting process. “I’m still working hard and still going strong. It’s going to take a long time for me to figure out where I’m going to go and I’ll have to be patient and see what comes through.”
Manning has not taken any unofficial visits and plans to attend the Under Armour combine in Florida soon. (Howell)
******
Aledo running back Johnathan Gray plans to visit Texas for the Texas/Texas Tech game next weekend.
DeSoto athlete and Texas commits Bryson Echols do not expect to be in attendance at the Texas/Kansas game this week. They have a short week next week with a match-up with Longview coming up on Thursday.
Whitehouse receiver Dylan Cantrell plans to be in attendance for the Texas/Texas Tech game next weekend. (Howell)
This post was edited on 10/27 11:29 PM by Suchomel
The Big 12 presidents are expected to meet Monday to vote on the proposal, which appears to have enough support for formal approval, the source said.
It is being called a compromise by Big 12 sources because the eight current members of the league who plan to stay (excluding Texas A&M and Missouri) were split on whether to simply vote for West Virginia or add Louisville as well.
But Monday's vote could also be the death knell for the Big East, possibly allowing West Virginia and Louisville to get out of their current conference without having to pay exit fees or endure a waiting period. The Big East would be down to four football members (UConn, Rutgers, South Florida and Cincinnati), putting its survival as an automatic qualifying conference in serious jeopardy.
If there's not a conference left to collect exit fees and enforce a 27-month waiting period, then West Virginia and Louisville might bolt for the Big 12 in 2012-13 and take their legal chances, sources said. But those decisions haven't yet been made, sources said.
If the Big 12 had remained at 10 schools (after Missouri leaves for the SEC), the TV revenue payout per school would have been roughly $18 million. But that payout will drop to roughly $16.5 million per school in an 11-team league.
While many BYU fans are hoping to join the Big 12, there does not appear to be an interest in adding a 12th full-membership school at the current time, sources said. The Big 12 is hoping Notre Dame will decide in January to move its non-football sports from the Big East into the Big 12 and agree to play up to six football games against Big 12 schools in the future.
Stay tuned. (BROWN)
******
One of the more interesting unofficial visits to keep an eye on this weekend comes from East Texas, as Tatum athlete/quarterback Jalen Overstreet makes his way to Austin for his first trip to the 40 Acres.
There are about three levels of fascination in regards to his visit.
No.1: At 6-2, 205 pounds, Overstreet brings a ton of raw talent to the field and he’s the kind of athlete that could project at a number of positions at the next level, including quarterback, a position that has earned him offers from Baylor, Texas tech and Houston.
No.2: Bloodlines. Overstreet's father (Anthony) was a running back at Baylor, his uncle (David) was one of the state's top prep runner in history at Big Sandy, while one cousin (Stephen Hodge) was a recent standout at TCU and another at Missouri (David Overstreet Jr.).
No.3: Texas is recruiting him as a quarterback.
Additional offers are in hand from the likes of Arkansas, Michigan and Missouri.
As far as a list of favorites is concerned, Overstreet came across like a guy that’s pretty open. When I asked about thoughts on Texas, he took a total wait and see attitude.
“I don’t know yet, I guess we’ll see soon,” he joked.
Obviously, the discussion of a second quarterback in this class remains a major point of interest for the 2012 class and the fact that the Longhorns are showing at least some interest in Overstreet (no offer, but he’s making the trip in) as a quarterback and not as an athlete makes his visit one to watch. (Ketch)
******
Texas has extended a verbal offer to Elk Grove (CA) Pleasant Grove Arik Armstead and Armstead's father said early in the week that Texas would get a visit in the near future.
The family talked about things this week, and Armstead said it looks like the weekend of November 19, when Texas plays Kansas State, will "probably work out the best. But we're still trying to work out the visits. Nothing's for sure yet."
Armstead does want to try his hand at playing both football and basketball in college. UT hoops assistant coach Russ Sprinmann called this week to talk to the Armsteads about the basketball side of things. He also talked to UT defensive ends coach Oscar Giles on Wednesday.
"He was telling me about Texas, asking me what I knew, was telling me it's a special place and how they could use me on their defensive line," said Armstead. "He said I fit the mold of some of their guys and was telling me about their scheme."
Armstead has made it very clear that he wants to play defense at the next level.
"He has a preference for the d-line. He doesn't back down on that," said Armstead's father, Gus. "Everybody that is dealing with him, they know he could be a great offensive linemen too, but he's just made up with his mind and that (defense) is what he wants to do."
Armstead visited Notre Dame last week and he'll visit Alabama next week. He said he'll likely lock down the Texas visit and make decisions on possible other visits in the next week or so. (Suchomel)
******
We mentioned in last week's War Room that Texas had reached out to Northwest Mississippi Community College offensive lineman Donald Hawkins. Stacy Searels attended Hawkins' game on Saturday and later that night extended a verbal scholarship offer.
Hawkins told us this week that he'll either visit Texas for the Texas Tech or Kansas State game, with the date depending on whether NWCC wins this week and qualifies for the playoffs.
The 6-5, 320-pound Hawkins has been committed to Oklahoma State since August, but he's pretty well wide open at this point now that a number of other programs have begun to show interest.
In talking to Hawkins, I get the feeling that his interest in Texas is definitely genuine, but it does sound like people might have already been in his ear about how difficult Texas is academically. It's an issue the UT coaches will probably need to address, which shouldn't be a problem once Hawkins gets on campus and sees the academic resources that would be at his disposal.
Speaking of JUCO players, I did check with the coach of standout JUCO DE Denico Autry. He reported that he had been in recent contact with Bo Davis, but Texas is in a holding pattern for right now. (Suchomel)
******
Texas continues to show a strong interest in Mineral Wells safety Adrian Colbert, a soft Baylor commitment.
As of Thursday night, the Longhorns had not yet talked to Colbert about bringing him in for an unofficial or official visit, but Duane Akina will be at Colbert's game on Friday night to get an up-close look.
We'll follow up with Colbert this weekend. (Suchomel)
******
The nation's top prospect, wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham reiterated on Thursday night that he has no official visits scheduled. He also said he has no timetable for any sorts of decisions.
Green-Beckham's father, John Beckham, said earlier in the week that the family has "tentative" visit plans set up for Texas (Nov. 19) and Auburn (Nov. 24), but those trips obviously are very much up in the air. It still looks like a lock that Green-Beckham will visit Texas, it's just a matter of when.
Of note, Green-Beckham went into Thursday night's game needing 62 yards to set the national prep receiving yardage mark. He finished the night with 305 yards, and broke the record on an 80-yard TD catch in which he broke several tackles. (Suchomel)
******
Longhorn co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin was on hand to watch Henderson QB Del Barnes last week. As of Thursday night, Barnes had yet to hear the reviews from the Texas staff on where he stands.
Barnes said although it wasn't his best performance, he felt pretty good about his showing.
"I think I showed him I could make big plays when we needed them. I had a bunch of completed passes on fourth downs to keep drives alive so I thought I showed him different aspects of my game," Barnes said.
Barnes finished last week's game with a statline of 15-21 for 203 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. (Suchomel)
******
Pflugerville Hendrickson athlete Daje Johnson talked to Bryan Harsin on Thursday and will make another appearance at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this weekend for the Kansas game.
The speedster playmaker said Harsin told him the coaches will likely wait until after UT's regular season is over before they make any recruiting decisions.
"I think they're going to take things pretty slow until December. He said they're trying to get back on their winning streak," Johnson said. (Suchomel)
******
A few quick team notes worth mentioning ...
The coaches have said the QB reps were being divided equally this week. We're told that both QBs are indeed getting work, but one source said David Ash has "definitely" received most of the work. One person we talked to said he believes Ash will get most of the snaps on Saturday, although he does expect McCoy to play.
Major Applewhite said this week that Traylon Shead was doing some work with the tight ends in an h -back role. We're hearing he's been spending the overwhelming majority of his time with the tight ends and it's been that way pretty much all year.
Call it unconfirmed news, but we heard that linebacker Demarco Cobbs was able to get his cast removed this week and he's expected to play on Saturday.
A couple other injury notes ... we're told Adrian Phillips is being held out mostly for precautionary reasons to make sure he's healthy for next week's game against Texas Tech. Also, no word on a possible John Harris return date. A couple people we talked to think he's done for the year, one other said there's a chance Harris could make it back towards the end of the season. (Suchomel)
******
A few weeks ago reports surfaced that Brenham defensive tackle and Texas commit Malcom Brown may be looking to take a visit. It did not take long for Brenham head coach Glen West to set the record straight.
“I purely think the only thing he was saying at all is that he is a kid and he enjoys watching football,” West said. “I don’t think he has any desire to visit another campus and go to a school. He certainly did not mean for that to come out the way it did. He has no desire to look at another school and play football for anyone else.
“I think one thing that is making it a little bit uncomfortable is right now his total focus is on Brenham and it needs to be. Just like anybody that is playing football at the University of Texas right now does not need to be thinking about the NFL and it’s no different. If one of the senior athletes was coming in and already knew he was drafted in the first round and was going to eventually be with another team that can be a problem.
“Our team took the approach going into the year that we’re going to focus on Brenham. In the spring and summer we focused on what college we wanted to go to. We put all that beside us and we’re focused totally on what we’re trying to accomplish. They don’t get these days back. He’ll never be in high school again.”
Brown has not said too much in the media over the course of the season and like West pointed out has been focused solely on his senior season at Brenham.
“When he committed the reason he committed early was so he wouldn’t have to be thinking about it,” West said. “That’s one of the things he said to me is he said ‘Coach, I didn’t think I would have to be talking about this because that’s why we did it in the spring.’ That’s kind of the way he feels.
“He is not interested at all in changing his commitment. Not even a little bit. He doesn’t even have an interest in anyone else.”
On the season, both Brown and Brenham teammate and fellow Texas commitment Timothy Cole have been playing roles on both sides of the ball, and Coach West and the Brenham coaching staff are trying to enjoy every moment they have with the dynamic playmaking duo.
“He’s doing an outstanding job,” West said of Brown. “Probably the thing I’ve been the most surprised about to this point has been his conditioning. The one real concern we all had was how it would affect him as a defensive player because for us to be successful he has to be a totally dominant defensive player and when you go both ways that affects you. Really I have not seen it affect him much. He has played well defensively and him playing offense I can’t see having a big enough affect on his performance to outweigh all the good things he brings to us defensively.”
“The evidence I have to say how much we’re going to miss him is Tim is playing offense too,” West said of Cole. “In our biggest ball game of the year to this point against Montgomery we were on the one-foot line and we had to go 99 yards or hoped to and in that series Tim carried the ball 7 times for like 49 yards. We didn’t go 99 yards, we ended up turning the ball over on a fumble on the quarterback exchange on about the 25, but we went from the half-yard line to their 25 and ate a lot of time and Tim was an integral part of that drive. So he is also helping us on that side of the ball.” (Howell)
******
Texas got a look at Mesquite Horn tight end Vincent Hobbs against DeSoto and Orangebloods.com has learned Hobbs plans to make his ways to Austin for the Texas/Kansas game.
We mentioned the other day in a message board post that Hobbs is not a complete unknown to Texas since he did camp at Texas as a sophomore. He currently holds an offer from Louisiana-Monroe with interest from the likes of Baylor, Iowa St., Kansas, and Colorado. He did not attend any camps this summer because he was playing AAU basketball.
There really is not much information out there on Hobbs, but he is the leading receiver for Horn and after talking to a few people and a few coaches it is clear the word on Hobbs is beginning to circulate.
One high school coach told me he felt Hobbs was a definite Big 12/BCS quality player, and he was surprised he only had one offer on the table. Hobbs is described as a really physical player with a bit of a mean streak (in a good way). I even had one person tell me he thought Hobbs could be a defensive end.
Hobbs is an intriguing prospect and a guy to keep an eye on. (Howell)
******
DeSoto running back Dontre Wilson is one of the top prospects in the 2013 class and one of the most explosive players in the country. He has been a touchdown threat for the Eagles over the last two years out of the backfield running and catching the ball, and as a return man for both punts and kickoffs.
He attended the Texas/Oklahoma game and the Texas/Oklahoma St. game and has been keeping in touch with Texas running back coach and co-offensive coordinator Major Applewhite.
This morning we were able to catch up with the standout running back. He named a top five of Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Notre Dame.
“It’s really all of the offenses they run,” Wilson said. “They’re all fast tempo offenses. They put a lot running backs in the league and Oregon is just having a lot of success right now and I just want to be a part of that right now.”
On his recent visit to Austin, he was able to get a look at the campus and likes what he has seen out of the new Texas offense.
“The way they’re getting Fozzy Whittaker the ball,” he said. “What he is at Texas that’s me at DeSoto. The way they’re getting him the ball is pretty good.” (Howell)
******
Dallas Kimball defensive tackle Justin Manning continues to see the offers roll in with Oregon St. the latest to extend an offer.
His first offer came from Texas A&M and the Aggies along with Texas and Oklahoma are sending the most handwritten letters according to Manning with Florida St. sending the most mail. The letters are coming from across the country, but the one coach he talks to most is Oklahoma’s Jackie Shipp.
As the brother of Demarcus Granger, Manning has gotten to know both Shipp and the Sooner program over the years.
“I grew up watching Oklahoma, since the fifth grade,” Manning siad. “I took that visit with my brother. I fell in love from day 1. It’s been like a slow ride because I didn’t hear from that as much. You never know.”
The standout defensive tackle mentioned Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, and Nebraska among his top schools stating that each are great programs with winning traditions.
It is still early in the process and while he does not quite know exactly what he is looking for on the academic side, he knows what he is looking for on the football side of a program.
“I don’t know as far as what I want to major in,” the junior prospect said. “As far as football I just want to go where I can win and where I have to earn my position instead of having it given to me and just keep working hard and stay humble.”
Right now Manning is trying to get back on the field after suffering an injury, which should happen in the next week or so, and is enjoying the recruiting process.
“It’s a blessing to know,” Manning said of the recruiting process. “I’m still working hard and still going strong. It’s going to take a long time for me to figure out where I’m going to go and I’ll have to be patient and see what comes through.”
Manning has not taken any unofficial visits and plans to attend the Under Armour combine in Florida soon. (Howell)
******
Aledo running back Johnathan Gray plans to visit Texas for the Texas/Texas Tech game next weekend.
DeSoto athlete and Texas commits Bryson Echols do not expect to be in attendance at the Texas/Kansas game this week. They have a short week next week with a match-up with Longview coming up on Thursday.
Whitehouse receiver Dylan Cantrell plans to be in attendance for the Texas/Texas Tech game next weekend. (Howell)
This post was edited on 10/27 11:29 PM by Suchomel
