It was April 2013, coming off of an encouraging Alamo Bowl win, Texas had recruiting momentum securing their 13th commitment of the class from OLB Otaro Alaka. Less than nine months later, Texas found itself replacing legendary coach Mack Brown with Charlie Strong. Shortly thereafter days before the 2014 National Signing Day, Alaka spurned the 'Horns to flip his commitment to the aggys.
This one stung, however there was another uber-talented OLB in the 2015 class that would be highly sought after by both the burnt orange and maroon; Mesquite Poteet's finest, Malik Jefferson. Along with his teammate WR Deandre McNeal (now with FAU), they delivered a crushing blow to the aggys hopes by committing to the good guys in December 2014.
So, for this OLB edition of Recruit Lookback let's take a closer look at Malik Jefferson versus Otaro Olaka. The stats you see in BOLD are those where that particular prospect did better.
Malik Jefferson
5-Star OLB, 6.1 Rivals Rank, 28th National Rank, 2nd State Rank, 1st Positional Rank
Career Stats (Three years):
Otaro Alaka
4-Star OLB, 5.9 Rivals Rank, 138th National Rank, 16th State Rank, 8th Positional Rank
Career Stats (4 years; including 3 game Med. RS):
Maybe this isn't much of a comparison, more than it is a confirmation that although Texas lost out on a top OLB recruit one year, they responded really well by landing an even better one the following year. For all of the drama Malik went through, this goes to show he met expectations (maybe not exceeded them). On the other hand, I struggled to find any achievements for Otaro. His career has been injury plagued and underwhelming.
What say you, did Malik's time on the 40 Acres alleviate the sting of losing out on Alaka?
For reference, here are other Recruit Lookback's I've done:
Eno Benjamin vs. Toneil Carter
Charlie Brewer vs. Sam Ehlinger
This one stung, however there was another uber-talented OLB in the 2015 class that would be highly sought after by both the burnt orange and maroon; Mesquite Poteet's finest, Malik Jefferson. Along with his teammate WR Deandre McNeal (now with FAU), they delivered a crushing blow to the aggys hopes by committing to the good guys in December 2014.
So, for this OLB edition of Recruit Lookback let's take a closer look at Malik Jefferson versus Otaro Olaka. The stats you see in BOLD are those where that particular prospect did better.
Malik Jefferson
5-Star OLB, 6.1 Rivals Rank, 28th National Rank, 2nd State Rank, 1st Positional Rank
Career Stats (Three years):
- Solo Tackles: 160
- Assisted Tackles: 71
- Total Tackles: 231
- Tackles for Loss: 26
- Sacks: 13.0
- Pass Deflections: 5
- Fumbles Recovered: 1 (26 yards; 1 TD)
- Forced Fumbles: 2
- NFL Draft: 2018 / Round 3 / Pick: 78
- Second-team All-American (2017)
- Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year (2017)
- First-team All-Big 12 (2017)
- Freshman All-American (2015)
- Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year (2015)
- High School Butkus Award (2014)
- USA Today All-American (2014)
Otaro Alaka
4-Star OLB, 5.9 Rivals Rank, 138th National Rank, 16th State Rank, 8th Positional Rank
Career Stats (4 years; including 3 game Med. RS):
- Solo Tackles: 78
- Assisted Tackles: 103
- Total Tackles: 181
- Tackles for Loss: 22
- Sacks: 6.5
- Pass Deflections: 4
- Fumbles Recovered: 0
- Forced Fumbles: 4
- Butkus Award Watch List (2018)
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl Defensive MVP (2015)
Maybe this isn't much of a comparison, more than it is a confirmation that although Texas lost out on a top OLB recruit one year, they responded really well by landing an even better one the following year. For all of the drama Malik went through, this goes to show he met expectations (maybe not exceeded them). On the other hand, I struggled to find any achievements for Otaro. His career has been injury plagued and underwhelming.
What say you, did Malik's time on the 40 Acres alleviate the sting of losing out on Alaka?
For reference, here are other Recruit Lookback's I've done:
Eno Benjamin vs. Toneil Carter
Charlie Brewer vs. Sam Ehlinger
