No. 2 – If Texas wins 9+ games this season...
This is going to sound like a broken record for a number of you, but when a football program lives in a holding pattern like it has this entire decade, you're going to hear a few broken records.
With the acknowledgement out of the way that you've heard this before, it seems borderline obvious that the Longhorns are on the verge of a monster recruiting class if Tom Herman and Co. can lift this team to at least 8-9 wins this season.
You can sense that Tom Herman's 2018 #RevolUTion is thiiiiiiis close to going down.
Here's a very realistic look at how this recruiting class could look if the coaches get the team over 8-9 win hump and decide to take a full class, which it absolutely should be able to do after 15+ more months of natural program attrition.
Quarterbacks (2)
Cameron Rising (Newbury Park, Ca.) - 4 stars (No.52 overall, No.3 pro-style, No.6 in California)
Casey Thompson (Moore, Oklahoma) - 4 stars (No.244 overall, No.9 dual-threat, No.4 in Oklahoma)
Running Backs (1)
Keontay Ingram (Carthage, Texas) - 3 stars (No.22 running back, No.58 in Texas)
Wide Receivers (4)
Justin Watkins (Ocala, Florida) - 4 stars (No.60 overall, No.3 athlete, No.20 in Florida)
Brennan Eagles (Alief Taylor) - 4 stars (No.33 overall, No.7 wide receiver, No.3 in Texas)
Al'Vonte Woodard (Houston Lamar) - 4 stars (No.34 overall, No.8 wide receiver, No.4 in Texas)
Jaylen Waddle (Houston Episcopal) - 4 stars (No.229 overall, No.45 wide receiver, No.26 in Texas)
Jaquayln Crawford (Rockdale) - 3 stars (No.35 wide receiver, No.65 in Texas)
Tight Ends (2)
Mustapha Muhammad (FB Ridge Point, Texas) - 4 stars (No.14 tight end, No.27 in Texas)
Malcolm Epps (Spring Dekaney - 4 stars (No.181 overall, No.8 tight end, No.19 in Texas)
Offensive Linemen (3)
Reese Moore (Seminole, Texas) - 3 stars (No.18 tight end, No.40 in Texas)
Rafiti Ghirmai (Frisco Wakeland) - 3 stars (No.47 offensive tackle, No.96 in Texas)
Barton Clement (Fort Bend Marshall) - 4 stars (No.226 overall, No.9 guard, No.25 in Texas)
Defensive Linemen (2)
Keondre Coburn (Spring Westfield) - 4 stars (No.195 overall, No.13 defensive tackle, No.21 in Texas)
Bobby Brown (Arlington Lamar) - 4 stars (No.165 overall, No.6 strong-side defensive end, No.17 in Texas)
Linebackers (3)
Byron Hobbs (FW Eastern Hills) - 3 stars (No.36 outside linebacker, No.72 in Texas)
Alson Orji (Rockwall) - 4 stars (No.90 overall, No.6 outside linebacker, No.8 in Texas)
DeMarvion Overshown (Arp) - 3 stars (No.28 safety, No.57 in Texas)
Defensive Backs (5)
Anthony Cook (Houston Lamar) - 5 stars (No.20 overall, No.2 cornerback, No.1 in Texas)
B.J.Foster (Angelton) - 4 stars (No.27 overall, No.2 safety, No.2 in Texas)
Leon O'Neal (Cy Springs) - 4 stars ((No.163 overall, No.13 safety, No.15 in Texas)
D'Shawn Jamison (Houston Lamar) - 4 stars (No.22 cornerback, No.28 in Texas)
Jalen Green (Houston Heights) - 4 stars (No.125 overall, No.14 cornerback , No.10 in Texas)
That's 23 right there and none of those projections feel forced outside of the possible Barton Clement projection, as he is probably a slight A&M lean at the moment, but the Aggies might take themselves out of contention if its season goes like most think it will, which is sideways at best. Throw in a couple of added defensive linemen (hard to project who those names will be) and a extra wildcard and you've got a class that will rank as one of the best in the country.
As it stands, we're talking one five-star, 16 four-stars and a sprinkling of high three-star prospects, which would have made it a borderline top five class a season ago. If a couple of those very high four stars get their fifth star before February, we could be talking about a top three class.
It feels like it's thiiiiis close to happening. There's just two things left to do... win and close the deal.