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When @Ketchum sends me a grip of players to do evaluations on, it's usually for a reason.
Here are four overviews of high school prospects. On Thursday, I'm going to write up new Texas commits CB Santana Wilson and WR Freddie Dubose Jr., now that they are on board in order to evaluate how they fit and what their places are on the current roster looking ahead.
These four, though, are presumably of at least some interest to the program, and players we might want to be keeping an eye on as recruiting continues to kick into gear ahead of the biggest weekend of the summer from an official-visit standpoint.
S Myles Davis - Converse Judson
With safeties, looking for the traits that make you excited is easy. I always sit down before I watch one of these players and write down the following "boxes" to check:
Size/Range - You typically don't want smaller, short-armed safeties, those types of guys usually end up being better options in the nickel.
Check - he's 6-1 which is plenty big and even at only a listed 185 he almost looks like a slimmer linebacker back there.
Closing speed - Clearly, as the last line of defense, you need the ability to close on the football and bring your pads. Davis has outstanding closing speed on the football.
Check - He's fast as hell. Closing speed is actually one of his best attributes outside of pure instincts.
Lateral pursuit speed - You can also be the last line of defense as a defender on a downfield pursuit angle.
Check - Again, very scientific stuff here. He's fast as hell.
Ability to win coming downhill, knifing off the edge, and in run-support - The Earl Thomas portion of the skillset.
Check - go to the play at 3:06. sheesh.
Read/React - This is not only in reacting to coverage keys (some of which I admittedly still struggle to understand) but also in reaction of recognizing receivers' and TEs' stems at the top of their routes to make plays on the football ... especially on option routes versus shiftier slot wide receivers.
Check - he finds himself in such opportunistic situations because he sees the field very well. He can also turn and flip his hips; he can run with receivers even in more of a man-corner-type of role.
Instincts - the "Right place in the right time" gene.
Check - his instincts are his best attribute. Davis has this for sure, the highlights above are littered with nice interceptions where Davis flows to the action and gets his nose right in it. Sometimes it results in a PBU instead of a pick, which is also a win for the defense.
So, Myles Davis checks all the boxes. Great prospect.
TE Jordan Washington - Langham Creek
Texas could go from having a relative surplus of TE talent on the roster and in the cupboard to looking pretty thin at the position in short order, assuming that Ja'Tavion Sanders (already being widely speculated as the TE2 in the 2024 NFL draft behind Georgia's Brock Bowers) does in fact leave after the 2023 season. Gunnar Helm has been a good role-player as Texas' preferred inline/attached option while Juan Davis -- while clearly talented based on what we've seen in practices -- has been kept of the field in part due to continued injuries. While Davis is a relative unknown at this point, the only other two TEs in the pipe are from the 2023 class in Spencer Shannon and Arch Manning's high school teammate Will Randle who wasn't very highly regarded as a recruit and who enters Texas coming off injury.
Slim and long, Washington looks more of the Sanders/Davis mold than the Gunnar Helm "traditional" inline-mold, as he's used a ton in high school as both an H-back and a slot receiver. He makes his job look simple much of the time, and that job is to stretch the seam and get vertical separation on 9-routes, deep posts and wheels. They really do just let him go get it. As a receiver, he lacks game-breaking speed, but it is adequate and fine for what he's asked to do. His feel for finding open space to separate is terrific as is his ability to win in contested-catch situations. Very confident player. Confident with the ball in his hands as a runner. His body control is excellent and his overall coordination is apparent in the way he addresses, frames and makes his play on the football while in motion. Very good body control and spatial awareness.
As a blocker from the H-back/sniffer alignment, he stalks defenders and engages with confidence in free space. He does not overwhelm you as a smothering monster, but he's effective and Langham Creek clearly has no problem running right behind him. EDIT: I don't ever look at these players' recruiting profiles before I write them up, because I don't want their star rankings to cause bias. This is one where I was actually really surprised, though. He's only listed as a three-star player on both Rivals and 247, whereas I would have been sure we're talking about a 4-star type of player here. Very good player. Texas could use him.
OG Eugene Brooks - Sierra Canyon (CA)
You aren't going to find many close comparables to this guy. At 6-2 and listed at 375 pounds (although he's reportedly down about 30 pounds from that currently), Brooks just doesn't have a body type that you're typically used to seeing in the kinds of prospects that get national attention. Generally, those kinds of measurables indicate a slovenly type of player who can't move and doesn't possess the ability to fill out any further. Brooks certainly breaks this mold and is a genuinely good player in his own right.
CHECK OUT THESE YOUTUBE SHORTS FROM CAMP
You can see in the camp clips above that he has better feet than you would expect and the balance of a tree trunk. He can be "grabby" but he keeps his elbows inside and fires his punches through his triceps to punch targets that won't get him called for holding often. These camp drills are not easy and the offensive lineman is at a natural disadvantage, but Brooks' mass makes him really hard for edge guys to bend around -- and it sure doesn't appear easy to go through him instead. It's hard to tell how he's going to develop because he appears to already be at his fulling carrying capacity and then some, which makes him a slightly risky take despite the surprising and better-than-expected highlights and camp reps.
OL Brandon Baker - Mater Dei (CA)
Clearly a blue-chip prospect by any measure. He has the textbook, dictionary-like definition of the kind of frame a college coach most desires in a pure, developing tackle. That much is easy. The highlights of Baker's skill set are his excellent play-strength, natural athleticism, motor and violent finishing ability. His pad level can be too high at times coming into contact when viewing his highlights, and this is perhaps more noticeable when he's asked to run pulls and traps. His whole body needs to be more oriented straight down the line of scrimmage in these setups, from his feet, to his hips, to his center of gravity. It's not surprising that a tall, long dude like Baker can sometimes get overextended, but, at times, he can. His natural balance is fine. He's built proportionally. But, he's an explosive guy who can, for lack of a better term, get a little ahead of himself at times and become vulnerable.
Even without the benefit of proper technique to hone in, though, he's a very effective blocker in open space once he gets into engagement. His play-side leverage in these clips is always excellent and the explosion he brings through his hips into contact is truly exceptional. If his arms weren't so long, I would guarantee you he has the team record at Mater Dei for power cleans in the weight room. You can even see a different manifestation of the hip explosion in the clip around 1:42 in the first HUDL reel above in Baker's initial kick of his pass set as he gets set to mirror in the second phase. The clip was clearly meant to highlight that attribute alone, because Baker doesn't even make contact with the defender on the rep. Whether or not he develops to his full eventual potential, he's the type of prospect you're going to have to fight the rest of the nation to get on your squad.
