The answer is Anthony Davis.
If you've ever found yourself wondering about Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood's love affair with massive human beings, you'll probably need to go back to his early years at Rutgers to fully understand his obsession.
In his second season at Rutgers, Flood put himself on the map as a recruiter by landing a man-mountain in Davis, who not only tipped the scales at 6-5 and 341 pounds, but was a super-blue chip prospect who ranked No. 68 in the Rivals100 back in the Class of 2007. After previously coaching at Hofstra and Delaware from 1997-2004, Flood had never signed a player who was remotely close to Davis' blue chip pedigree.
That Davis ended up being an all-American and a first-round draft pick in 2010 is far from insignificant.
For months, I've wanted to comb through Flood's history at Rutgers to look for trends that might help explain his love affair with massive offensive line prospects that possess the kind of profile that he seems hell bent on building the foundation of future Texas offensive lines with. Following the commitment of Payton Kirkland this weekend, it felt like the perfect time to do so.
So, what were the main takeaways?
* The average size of the 33 offensive line prospects that Flood signed in his career at Rutgers was 6-5 1/4, 294 pounds.
* 42.4% of the linemen he signed were 6-6 or taller.
* 6 of the 33 were at least 6-5, 315 pounds. Of those six, three turned into multi-year starters at tackle.
* Flood's very first commitment as the offensive line coach at Rutgers in 2005 came from a player that tipped the scales at 6-6, 351 pounds.
* Flood signed only 4 four-star offensive line prospects during his time at Rutgers, including Davis, and three of the four emerged as multi-year starters for the Scarlet Knights and earned Big 10 honors.
In grading Flood's career of developing offensive linemen at Rutgers, you have to use an entirely different set of expectations than you would at a school like Texas because the overwhelming majority of prospects that he found himself working with were either two- or three-stars in the Rivals database. Yet, when he did get his hands on an elevated prospect ... they never totally missed.
The worst of the four-stars that he signed at Rutgers was probably J.J. Denman from the Class of 2012, a player that started at right tackle in his final two seasons.
Yet, most of his career at Rutgers was spent making wine out of water. It was all about taking players completely outside the national recruiting radar and turning them into serviceable players. Amazingly, Davis was the only player he worked with that was drafted by an NFL team during his time at Rutgers, but very few of the kids he signed ended up being total busts. When you consider what he was working with, it's pretty damn impressive.
The secret to his success seemed to be targeting a certain type of physical profile ... large humans.
What we're seeing right now with Flood at Texas isn't an accident. It's him being able to project his developmental ethos at a level that allows him to target the highest quality of massive humans that he can possibly find without the brand of his school holding him back.
Come hell or high water, Flood is going to find his next Anthony Davis.
Or two. Or three. Or four ...
No. 2 - Flood's class-by-class recruiting breakdown...
2006
Neither of his first two recruits at Rutgers emerged as notable players during his time at Rutgers, but it's hard to ignore that his first very commit was from Lange, who showed up in the Rivals database at 6-6, 351 pounds.
2007
We've discussed the importance of Davis in Flood's career, but Stapleton was also a very good player, while Ruch was a starter as a senior, which means that Flood was able to create starters out of 75 percent of the class.
2008
Forst was the second four-star prospect of Flood's career and he ended up becoming one of only six Rutgers offensive linemen to win first-team All-Big East honors in the first 21 years of being in the conference.
2009
Neither player made a real impact in their careers with Rutgers and both eventually transferred to other schools.
2010
Outside of Bujari, who started for three seasons at guard and center, this ended up being a pretty empty bunch for Flood.
2011
Flood hit pretty big on two out of three from this class, as Lumpkin was a three-year starter at left tackle and Johnson started 50 games at left guard/center. Johnson wasn't drafted, but he did spend 12 days on the active roster for the Ravens in 2015 and was on several practice squads over the course of the next three seasons.
2012
Flood cranked out another productive class with this group, as three of the five ended up being multiple-year starters along the offensive line, while a fourth (Arcidiacono) was a multiple-year starter at tight end for the Scarlet Knights.
2013
The only player in the 2013 class started 34 games in his career for Rutgers at left guard and was an honorable mention All-Big 10 player.
2014
Although this wasn't a group that Flood had a chance to coach all the way through the end of their careers, Cole turned out to be 34-game starter for the Scarlet Knights at left tackle.
2015
Flood's last class at Rutgers featured one of the best players that he recruited, even though Flood didn't get a chance to develop him. Jackson was a multi-year starter who ended up transferring to Ohio State for his senior year and was drafted in the third round by the Detroit Lions in 2020.
No. 3 - Ranking a combined 2022 and 23 recruiting class ...
This thing breaks down into tiers from my perspective.
Five stars
1. DJ Campbell
2. Kelvin Banks
High 4 stars
3. Neto Umeozulu
Mid Four-Stars
4. Cam Williams
Low Four Stars
(Note: You can pretty much rank this group in any order)
5-10
Jaydon Chatman
Connor Stroh
Trevor Goosby
Cole Hutson
Payton Kirkland
Malik Agbo
High Three stars
Connor Robertson
Andre Cojoe
No. 4 - This and That (recruiting thoughts) ...
... With Christian Jones and junior Angilau leaving after this season, the Longhorns are currently scheduled to have 19 offensive linemen on campus going into the 2023 season if you include the five current commitments. Of those 19, 12 are from the last two recruiting classes and recruited specifically by Flood. It makes me think that the attrition in the next 12 months is going to come from recruits that were in the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes.
... Before completely freaking out over the portal rule changes that might be coming to college football, did you know that 19 of 24 NCAA sports allow for players to transfer whenever they want without having to sit out a year?
... Is it me or is TJ Shanahan trying to recruit his way into this Texas class?
... Meanwhile, the new kid is already getting his recruiting on. Sounds like Arch told him to get to work.
... Jalen Hale on Instagram after Texas landed Kirkland.
No. 5 - Quinn Ewers ...
At this point, I'm all for him growing all of the hair out as far as he can until he's mistaken for Captain Caveman.
Signed,
Bald Man
No. 6 - Updated Texas Scholarship Board...
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Buy) These coaches aren't turning away a super blue OL prospect.
(Sell) I'd guess between 15-20.
(Buy) Nothing has changed from my perspective.
(Buy) I don't think Sark is in the Show Friends business. It's a big year for PK.
(Buy) See you on Tuesday night. You better get a question in.
(Sell) I don't think $25K is enough money to buy happiness for most college kids. That being said, the Pancake Factory at Texas could test whether $50K is a different animal when we look for OL attrition in the next 13 months. You bring up a very good point, but I'm not sure that I know the number that truly makes it problematic.
(Sell) I don't think we'll see a trap door for any of the kids in the 2023 class, but it has to loom as a possibility after what happened last year.
(Buy) That would establish a baseline of 24 super-blue chip players on the roster after a first four-year cycle, which would rank third in the nation right now. Mix in some big-time out of state talent and you're definitely cooking with grease.
(Sell) I keep expecting more.
(Buy) Typically, recruiting sites come in real handy for coaches as they travel out of state. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've taken a call from a coach that wants to know how to best map out a travel plan that allows for them to see as many kids as possible, while sneaking in some golf at the same time.
(Buy) That's very possible, but it's going to require the kids in the 2023 class to show more patience than we mostly see in college football in this day and age.
(Sell) Top 40? Yes.
(Sell) Shawn Watson has to be on the list. So, does Larry Mac Duff. Koening probably has to be on the list because he was on the staff for less than a year before being fired by Charlie Strong. That leaves only one space. I might have Bobby Jack Wright on the list, just for his one season as defensive coordinator in 1997. That's probably not fair to Wright, who was a good coach and recruiter before he was promoted to defensive coordinator, but the decision by John Mackovic to hire him basically cost Mackovic his job 11 months later.
No. 8 - Scattershooting ...
... Here comes NFL training camps! The dead season is almost over.
... Get better and stay strong, John Metchie. We're all with you.
... Is this the most memorable play from the entire 2022 MLB season?
... Really could have done without the Cubs sweeping the Phillies this weekend.
... Watched The Gray Man this weekend. Feels like it tried very hard to be John Wick and comes up just short. Still it's one hit of dopamine after another for anyone that likes a John Wick-ish movie. I don't know if I will ever watch it again, but it was worth my two hours.
... Paddy Pimblett got me to turn into the UFC London event this weekend. It had been too long. I might be back in the game.
... We're less than two weeks away from the start of the Premier League season. My predicted top four finish ... 1. Liverpool. 2. Man City. 3. Tottenham 4. Chelsea.
... I've had a very quiet 2022 on the card collecting market, but consider me very happy to have added this to my collection this week:
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 MCU Movies ...
There have been 29 Marvel Comic movies with the recent release of Thor: Love and Thunder.
I thought this week I'd take a stab at ranking the best of the best.
10. Doctor Strange (2016)
9. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
8. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
7. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
6. Iron Man (2008)
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
4. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
3. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
2. Black Panther (2018)
1. Avengers: End Game (2019)
No. 10 - And Finally ...
Came across this photo and thought it was the perfect way to end this week's column.
Oh, how I would love to have been able to seen him play in person. Would love to see these as a throwback uniform in an upcoming season.
