Are we done at Running back?
Texas currently has one running back commitment – and a good one – from Buford (GA) standout Derrian Brown. The staff does continue to work on other guys, most notably five-star Trey Sanders and Rivals100 member Noah Cain.
Is Texas done? Hard to say. On one hand, I think the Longhorns are within striking distance for either Sanders or Cain, but I’m not sure I’d put Texas in the pole position for either. The staff would love to bring in one more, but I’m just not sure who that would be if they don’t land either of the guys mentioned above.
Landing only one back in this class wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but if you’re looking at the running back roster beyond this year, things could get a little interesting. Trey Watson, is a senior. Kirk Johnson is a junior who has had injury issues his entire career. Tristian Houston has been rumored as a transfer candidate for a while now and has never factored into the running back rotation. With Kyle Porter considering redshirting, you have to think a transfer is a possibility there. Who knows what Toneil Carter’s future holds beyond this year?
Basically, the only known commodities for the 2019 season are Keaontay Ingram, Daniel Young and Brown, who would be a true freshman. With that in mind, bringing in a second back makes a ton of sense, and it could be a heck of a sales pitch the staff could use on a guy like Sanders.
Do you think Texas will have an easier time recruiting the 2020 class (in state) than this ‘19 class?
The short answer is yes, I do.
In-state recruiting for the 2019 class has been tough sledding for a number of reasons. For one, Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M have done a good job, as expected in Fisher’s first year. We’ll see if they can maintain the in-state momentum they’ve built if they struggle on the field this year. Oklahoma is recruiting well and will always be a factor in the state when the Sooners are playing as well as they have in 2017 and 2018.
Texas has done just fine in landing some key in-state prospects, but a variety of circumstances have made it where the Longhorns aren’t dominating the way they did last year. The bottom line is if Texas continues to win, 2020 recruiting in the state will be more fruitful. UT is still the flagship university in the state, it still has a ton to sell, and this staff of coaches and support staff do a tremendous job in their recruiting efforts. Pile up the wins and show recruits that Texas can play at a championship level and in-state recruiting will take off. A four-game winning streak is helping … now the team needs to build on that.
Who in the 2020 class should Texas feel good about?
It’s awfully early to make bold predictions on the 2020 guys, but some players that the Longhorns are in a good spot with at this early stage:
QB Hudson Card – Going out on a limb here. Looks like Texas got itself a really good one here. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him move towards the Rivals100 in the next rankings.
RB Zachary Evans – Don’t get too excited seeing his name on the list. UT will have some tough competition, including A&M, but Texas is in as good a spot as anyone at this point.
OL Chad Lindberg – He likes UT a lot, has visited multiple times, and his brother is a student at Texas. This one just makes sense.
OL Jaylen Garth – A teammate of Roschon Johnson’s. When I talked to him about his visit for the TCU game, he had great things to say about Texas.
Alfred Collins – A new offer (happened the day of the USC game), he’s saying he’s open, but he’s from Bastrop, has visited for the last two home games and his mom played hoops at Texas. This one makes sense as well.
Bryson Washington – When I’ve talked to him, he’s said he’s pretty open, but he does like Texas quite a bit.
Is Texas in fact building momentum in the 2019 class and 2020 class?
You bet. I know it’s oversimplifying things, but winning helps everything and with Texas on a four-game win streak, recruits have taken notice. If the Longhorns can win this weekend, this thing could really take off.
Lewis Cine … is your gut Georgia since he’s commuting next week?
My gut does say Georgia, but not necessarily due to the timing of the commitment. Cine told me a couple weeks ago, after he visited UT for the TCU game, that he would visit Georgia and Florida and then make a decision. So he’s sticking to that plan.
That being said, this one has felt like Georgia was the team to beat for a while, and with him coming off a UGA official visit last weekend, the signs seem to be pointing that direction. Cine will announce his decision on October 10, a week from today.
Of our current commits, who will earn Rivals upgrades to 4 stars status ... as if it matters?
It does matter some. For one, it’s a nice feather in the cap for the young men. Secondly, if it boosts UT’s team recruiting ranking, that’s always a good thing and means more media mentions from the talking heads on National Signing Day.
As far as guys I think could see bumps …
DB Tyler Owens – His measurable are impressive, as is his film. I’m not sure I’d move him as high as others have, but I could certainly see him getting to four-star territory.
TE Jared Wiley – I’ve been a bigger fan of Wiley’s talents than most ever since Texas offered and I started paying more attention. With his size and speed, he could be a real weapon for the UT offense, and I like that he’s talented enough to be very successful at multiple sports and multiple positions on the football field. The lack of senior tight end tape could hurt his chances to move up though, even though he’s excelling as a QB.
T'Vondre Sweat – I like his frame and upside, but Sweat’s a tough guy to evaluate because he never made it out for any camps and most of the evaluations are from highlight clips.
Can Texas pull off the shocker late and land Elijah Higgins?
Can they? Sure. But I still think Stanford and Florida are the odds-on favorites there. Texas’ chances have likely gone up in recent weeks with him visiting for the USC game and UT winning, but those other programs have been sitting pretty for a while so I’m not ready to proclaim Texas any sort of leader just yet. It’s a little thing, but I always go back to Higgins showing up at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge sporting a Florida hat. Maybe it’s nothing, but often-times those can be little signs.
@Suchomel Can you compare our current WR commits skill set to current players on the team? Do the commits bring anything to the table that the UT WR Corp lacks currently? (Include the 2019 Missouri WR for fun please). Thanks in advance!
This is a good question and a tough one to answer well.
Texas doesn’t really have a receiver like Jordan Whittington on its roster. Whittington looks as much like a LB as he does a receiver with his body. He and Lil’Jordan Humphrey are both big-bodied guys who can play in the slot, but even their bodies are different. Maybe a mix of LJH and Al’Vonte Woodard, but even that’s reaching a bit.
Jake Smith has some similarities to Joshua Moore and D’Shawn Jamison in his speed/quickness, and he’s similar to Jamison in that he can impact the game as a slot WR, on jet sweeps and in special teams. He is bigger than Jamison though and more in line with Moore from a physical standpoint.
Demariyon Houston is another tough one to compare. He’s expected to be an outside receiver for Texas but isn’t a big guy, so it’s hard to find a similar receiver. He does have good speed though so there’s so John Burt there, although Houston’s straight-line speed probably isn’t up to what Burt brings to the table, and he’s not nearly as big.
As for Marcus Washington, who will decide later this month, he has some Brennan Eagles to his game. He’s not quite as big as Eagles and while both run well enough, neither is what I’d call a burner. Where they’re both great is going up in man coverage and making contested catches over defenders.
Do you think Texas gets DeMarvin Leal back on campus for a game or has he shut down the recruiting process?
I’ve always thought the odds of flipping Leal were lower than others were projecting. Texas will continue to work on him until the end so getting him back on campus is always a possibility, but everything I’ve heard from Leal (and from people I’ve talked to who have spoken to him recently), he maintains that he’s locked into his A&M decision.
@Suchomel when are Trey Sanders, Bru McCoy, and Ishmael Sopsher committing to Texas?
Second Tuesday of next week.
After we win this weekend will there be any croots that jump on the train?
I wouldn’t expect any windfall of immediate commitments, but a win this weekend would certainly pay dividends over the next few months and in the 2020 class.
Ole Hamm says Shepherd will flip.... what do you say?
Pinning down what Shepherd is doing from day to day is never easy, so projecting his long-term decisions is damn near impossible. That being said, I think he sticks. Texas has done a great job of building that relationship over the long haul and the staff has stuck with him despite a minor hiccup a couple weeks ago … that should count for something.
Any word on Peyton Powell? He took a TCU OV last week, I bet they laid it on thick.
Powell’s a tough dude to track down. I’m wasn't even 100 percent sure he visited TCU until I confirmed that with a source today.
As for Texas, Powell told OB and another Rivals reporter three consecutive weeks that he was planning to take official visits to Texas for the Tulsa, USC and TCU games. None of those happened. I think it’s pretty safe to say this one isn’t happening.
One Ohio State reporter I know told me last week his hunch was that OSU was going to land him, but I’m not sure if that was anything more than an educated guess.
What is the staff doing to address the lack of recruiting in the DFW area? Is this something they look at as a priority and recognize their deficiencies?
That’s a good question. Texas certainly needs to be better in the Metroplex, but when asked this week if a game like Texas-OU could impact those efforts, Tom Herman kind of downplayed it and said every game Texas plays is a chance for UT to showcase to recruits in DFW (and the entire state).
I do agree with him there, but I, like most others, also think the Longhorns have to find a way to be consistently better in that area. I haven’t heard that any major changes are coming, but I’m sure it’s something this staff knows it can improve on. Once again though, win more games, starting with this weekend, and all that stuff will take care of itself.
If you pulled a Hamm, which recruit would you most like to hang out with at a water park? Where is the strangest place you interviewed a recruit?
I’m not even crazy about hanging out with my own kids at water parks, yet I somehow get dragged to Typhoon Texas once a year.
Good question on the strangest place I’ve interviewed a recruit. I honestly can’t think of anything that crazy, other than outside a hotel when one was in town for an unofficial visit years ago. I’ve done phone interviews with recruits while I was out of the country, if that counts for anything. As you all know, I play things pretty much by the book.
Do we have any interest in any transfer QB?
I haven’t heard that topic come up at all. With four on the current roster and Roschon Johnson set to come in, that would shock me. The QBs on campus right now are all young and talented, so with any luck the transfer stuff won’t be an issue anymore.
What do you know about the current crop of JUCO OL and DL? It doesn’t feel like we’re going to make a move on any in state players and we haven’t heard the names of any out of state guys yet. Shouldn’t these positions be our top priority?
There hasn’t been a ton of chatter on JUCO targets on either line, but in looking at the Rivals.com JUCO rankings, there are a handful of uncommitted guys still on the market.
I wouldn’t give up on Texas finding some in-state guys just yet. Remember, just last year, the Longhorns closed with a flourish on some late offers/commitments from guys like Mike Williams, Christian Jones and Moro Ojomo. It is interesting that there hasn’t been much public movement there, but if there’s one thing you can trust about this staff it’s that it has a recruiting plan. Let’s see how this thing shapes up over the next six weeks or so.
Texas currently has one running back commitment – and a good one – from Buford (GA) standout Derrian Brown. The staff does continue to work on other guys, most notably five-star Trey Sanders and Rivals100 member Noah Cain.
Is Texas done? Hard to say. On one hand, I think the Longhorns are within striking distance for either Sanders or Cain, but I’m not sure I’d put Texas in the pole position for either. The staff would love to bring in one more, but I’m just not sure who that would be if they don’t land either of the guys mentioned above.
Landing only one back in this class wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but if you’re looking at the running back roster beyond this year, things could get a little interesting. Trey Watson, is a senior. Kirk Johnson is a junior who has had injury issues his entire career. Tristian Houston has been rumored as a transfer candidate for a while now and has never factored into the running back rotation. With Kyle Porter considering redshirting, you have to think a transfer is a possibility there. Who knows what Toneil Carter’s future holds beyond this year?
Basically, the only known commodities for the 2019 season are Keaontay Ingram, Daniel Young and Brown, who would be a true freshman. With that in mind, bringing in a second back makes a ton of sense, and it could be a heck of a sales pitch the staff could use on a guy like Sanders.
Do you think Texas will have an easier time recruiting the 2020 class (in state) than this ‘19 class?
The short answer is yes, I do.
In-state recruiting for the 2019 class has been tough sledding for a number of reasons. For one, Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M have done a good job, as expected in Fisher’s first year. We’ll see if they can maintain the in-state momentum they’ve built if they struggle on the field this year. Oklahoma is recruiting well and will always be a factor in the state when the Sooners are playing as well as they have in 2017 and 2018.
Texas has done just fine in landing some key in-state prospects, but a variety of circumstances have made it where the Longhorns aren’t dominating the way they did last year. The bottom line is if Texas continues to win, 2020 recruiting in the state will be more fruitful. UT is still the flagship university in the state, it still has a ton to sell, and this staff of coaches and support staff do a tremendous job in their recruiting efforts. Pile up the wins and show recruits that Texas can play at a championship level and in-state recruiting will take off. A four-game winning streak is helping … now the team needs to build on that.
Who in the 2020 class should Texas feel good about?
It’s awfully early to make bold predictions on the 2020 guys, but some players that the Longhorns are in a good spot with at this early stage:
QB Hudson Card – Going out on a limb here. Looks like Texas got itself a really good one here. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him move towards the Rivals100 in the next rankings.
RB Zachary Evans – Don’t get too excited seeing his name on the list. UT will have some tough competition, including A&M, but Texas is in as good a spot as anyone at this point.
OL Chad Lindberg – He likes UT a lot, has visited multiple times, and his brother is a student at Texas. This one just makes sense.
OL Jaylen Garth – A teammate of Roschon Johnson’s. When I talked to him about his visit for the TCU game, he had great things to say about Texas.
Alfred Collins – A new offer (happened the day of the USC game), he’s saying he’s open, but he’s from Bastrop, has visited for the last two home games and his mom played hoops at Texas. This one makes sense as well.
Bryson Washington – When I’ve talked to him, he’s said he’s pretty open, but he does like Texas quite a bit.
Is Texas in fact building momentum in the 2019 class and 2020 class?
You bet. I know it’s oversimplifying things, but winning helps everything and with Texas on a four-game win streak, recruits have taken notice. If the Longhorns can win this weekend, this thing could really take off.
Lewis Cine … is your gut Georgia since he’s commuting next week?
My gut does say Georgia, but not necessarily due to the timing of the commitment. Cine told me a couple weeks ago, after he visited UT for the TCU game, that he would visit Georgia and Florida and then make a decision. So he’s sticking to that plan.
That being said, this one has felt like Georgia was the team to beat for a while, and with him coming off a UGA official visit last weekend, the signs seem to be pointing that direction. Cine will announce his decision on October 10, a week from today.
Of our current commits, who will earn Rivals upgrades to 4 stars status ... as if it matters?
It does matter some. For one, it’s a nice feather in the cap for the young men. Secondly, if it boosts UT’s team recruiting ranking, that’s always a good thing and means more media mentions from the talking heads on National Signing Day.
As far as guys I think could see bumps …
DB Tyler Owens – His measurable are impressive, as is his film. I’m not sure I’d move him as high as others have, but I could certainly see him getting to four-star territory.
TE Jared Wiley – I’ve been a bigger fan of Wiley’s talents than most ever since Texas offered and I started paying more attention. With his size and speed, he could be a real weapon for the UT offense, and I like that he’s talented enough to be very successful at multiple sports and multiple positions on the football field. The lack of senior tight end tape could hurt his chances to move up though, even though he’s excelling as a QB.
T'Vondre Sweat – I like his frame and upside, but Sweat’s a tough guy to evaluate because he never made it out for any camps and most of the evaluations are from highlight clips.
Can Texas pull off the shocker late and land Elijah Higgins?
Can they? Sure. But I still think Stanford and Florida are the odds-on favorites there. Texas’ chances have likely gone up in recent weeks with him visiting for the USC game and UT winning, but those other programs have been sitting pretty for a while so I’m not ready to proclaim Texas any sort of leader just yet. It’s a little thing, but I always go back to Higgins showing up at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge sporting a Florida hat. Maybe it’s nothing, but often-times those can be little signs.
@Suchomel Can you compare our current WR commits skill set to current players on the team? Do the commits bring anything to the table that the UT WR Corp lacks currently? (Include the 2019 Missouri WR for fun please). Thanks in advance!
This is a good question and a tough one to answer well.
Texas doesn’t really have a receiver like Jordan Whittington on its roster. Whittington looks as much like a LB as he does a receiver with his body. He and Lil’Jordan Humphrey are both big-bodied guys who can play in the slot, but even their bodies are different. Maybe a mix of LJH and Al’Vonte Woodard, but even that’s reaching a bit.
Jake Smith has some similarities to Joshua Moore and D’Shawn Jamison in his speed/quickness, and he’s similar to Jamison in that he can impact the game as a slot WR, on jet sweeps and in special teams. He is bigger than Jamison though and more in line with Moore from a physical standpoint.
Demariyon Houston is another tough one to compare. He’s expected to be an outside receiver for Texas but isn’t a big guy, so it’s hard to find a similar receiver. He does have good speed though so there’s so John Burt there, although Houston’s straight-line speed probably isn’t up to what Burt brings to the table, and he’s not nearly as big.
As for Marcus Washington, who will decide later this month, he has some Brennan Eagles to his game. He’s not quite as big as Eagles and while both run well enough, neither is what I’d call a burner. Where they’re both great is going up in man coverage and making contested catches over defenders.
Do you think Texas gets DeMarvin Leal back on campus for a game or has he shut down the recruiting process?
I’ve always thought the odds of flipping Leal were lower than others were projecting. Texas will continue to work on him until the end so getting him back on campus is always a possibility, but everything I’ve heard from Leal (and from people I’ve talked to who have spoken to him recently), he maintains that he’s locked into his A&M decision.
@Suchomel when are Trey Sanders, Bru McCoy, and Ishmael Sopsher committing to Texas?
Second Tuesday of next week.
After we win this weekend will there be any croots that jump on the train?
I wouldn’t expect any windfall of immediate commitments, but a win this weekend would certainly pay dividends over the next few months and in the 2020 class.
Ole Hamm says Shepherd will flip.... what do you say?
Pinning down what Shepherd is doing from day to day is never easy, so projecting his long-term decisions is damn near impossible. That being said, I think he sticks. Texas has done a great job of building that relationship over the long haul and the staff has stuck with him despite a minor hiccup a couple weeks ago … that should count for something.
Any word on Peyton Powell? He took a TCU OV last week, I bet they laid it on thick.
Powell’s a tough dude to track down. I’m wasn't even 100 percent sure he visited TCU until I confirmed that with a source today.
As for Texas, Powell told OB and another Rivals reporter three consecutive weeks that he was planning to take official visits to Texas for the Tulsa, USC and TCU games. None of those happened. I think it’s pretty safe to say this one isn’t happening.
One Ohio State reporter I know told me last week his hunch was that OSU was going to land him, but I’m not sure if that was anything more than an educated guess.
What is the staff doing to address the lack of recruiting in the DFW area? Is this something they look at as a priority and recognize their deficiencies?
That’s a good question. Texas certainly needs to be better in the Metroplex, but when asked this week if a game like Texas-OU could impact those efforts, Tom Herman kind of downplayed it and said every game Texas plays is a chance for UT to showcase to recruits in DFW (and the entire state).
I do agree with him there, but I, like most others, also think the Longhorns have to find a way to be consistently better in that area. I haven’t heard that any major changes are coming, but I’m sure it’s something this staff knows it can improve on. Once again though, win more games, starting with this weekend, and all that stuff will take care of itself.
If you pulled a Hamm, which recruit would you most like to hang out with at a water park? Where is the strangest place you interviewed a recruit?
I’m not even crazy about hanging out with my own kids at water parks, yet I somehow get dragged to Typhoon Texas once a year.
Good question on the strangest place I’ve interviewed a recruit. I honestly can’t think of anything that crazy, other than outside a hotel when one was in town for an unofficial visit years ago. I’ve done phone interviews with recruits while I was out of the country, if that counts for anything. As you all know, I play things pretty much by the book.
Do we have any interest in any transfer QB?
I haven’t heard that topic come up at all. With four on the current roster and Roschon Johnson set to come in, that would shock me. The QBs on campus right now are all young and talented, so with any luck the transfer stuff won’t be an issue anymore.
What do you know about the current crop of JUCO OL and DL? It doesn’t feel like we’re going to make a move on any in state players and we haven’t heard the names of any out of state guys yet. Shouldn’t these positions be our top priority?
There hasn’t been a ton of chatter on JUCO targets on either line, but in looking at the Rivals.com JUCO rankings, there are a handful of uncommitted guys still on the market.
I wouldn’t give up on Texas finding some in-state guys just yet. Remember, just last year, the Longhorns closed with a flourish on some late offers/commitments from guys like Mike Williams, Christian Jones and Moro Ojomo. It is interesting that there hasn’t been much public movement there, but if there’s one thing you can trust about this staff it’s that it has a recruiting plan. Let’s see how this thing shapes up over the next six weeks or so.
