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If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, when would Micah Hudson commit to the good guys?...
Wait, isn’t this a carbon copy of your question from a couple weeks ago?
Nothing has really changed for me. It’s pretty close to a coin toss for me whether or not Texas will land 5-star wide receiver Micah Hudson, but as it stands right now I’d put my money on the field.
In order for the Longhorns to win out in this one, they’ll need to get him on campus a couple more times, possibly three or four. I expect Hudson will probably visit this spring and Texas should get an official visit, but nothing is lined up just yet. Ohio State is a school that should make Texas fans nervous in this one. Texas Tech is a legitimate threat. This will be a national recruitment and Hudson will be able to literally pick up the phone and commit to any program he wants, so the competition is going to be fierce.
New wide receivers coach Chris Jackson has some skins on the wall that should catch Hudson’s eye, but he’ll have to catch up on other coaches who have recruited Hudson longer on developing a relationship. Obviously, those likely campus visits, assuming they happen, will help in that department. I mentioned it a couple weeks ago, but Texas also needs to do a good job of recruiting the people close to Hudson and that’s an area that could be improved upon.
Who would you view as an early must get as a pied piper to help recruit others for the class?
Micah Hudson would seem to be the obvious choice on offense and while landing him would certainly generate some buzz, Hudson kind of marches to the beat of his own drum and I’m not sure he’s the type that’s going to aggressively recruit other prospects.
Colin Simmons, on the other hand, carries a similar recruiting profile in that he’s a 5-star talent, he comes from one of the state’s top overall programs and he’s a bit more active behind the scenes in recruiting other prospects.
Linebacker Dylan Williams, who will take a Texas official visit in June, could help with players out West and Jerrick Gibson is a player who help open some doors in Florida.
Right now, on which side of 5th Place would you predict our next 'cruiting class is?
You’re not going to like this answer, but right now I’d predict outside of the top five with this recruiting class. Somewhere around 10-15 seems more likely as things stand right now. That being said, this staff has shown that it has a tremendous ability to recruit so I could be underselling UT’s chances overall, but in order to get into that top-5 range you’ve got to land a 5-star or two, or a few top 50 national prospects and I’m not sure Texas is in the position to do that right now.
There’s certainly a path to get into that top-5, including landing guys I’ve already mentioned in this Q&A, and winning games in the fall would obviously help. A top-5 class is certainly possible, but if I’m forced to pick right now I think Texas falls outside of that range.
1. To me, the biggest concerns based on current and eventual roster limitations are the Tight End position and the Safety position.
2. Considering that Ja'Tavion Sanders will surely turn pro after this upcoming season, Texas has absolutely no current or projected player on the roster that is close to replacing Sanders. To me, there are two types of Tight Ends, those with the potential to be complete dominant Tight Ends, and then all the others. I know Texas has offered scholarships to seven Tight Ends, that are all national recruits. Are any of these recruits potential replacements for Sanders, with potential talent similar to Sanders?
3. I think Texas has some good Safeties with experience and some good young Safeties without experience. My concern is the Longhorns having fast Safeties that can cover from sideline to sideline, make plays on the ball, tackle in space, and run with fast Receivers down the field. I think Corian Gipson has all of those abilities. I think Jordan Rubell is close to having all of those abilities. What would you say the likelihood is of Texas getting both Gipson and Rubell?
"Hook Em"
First off, you win the award for most thorough questions. Keep them coming!
I do tend to agree with you that tight end recruiting is a bit worrisome once Ja’Tavion Sanders leaves. Replacing him is going to be very difficult simply because he’s a unique talent, but it doesn’t seem to me like Texas has been able to bring in someone that is close to matching his skill set.
Spencer Shannon was more of a blocking tight end in high school and while he does have some receiving skills, he’s not going to be confused with JT Sanders. William Randle is coming off a knee injury and he’s not in the same class as Sanders either. That’s no knock on those guys … Sanders is just a unique talent. Texas didn’t even bring in a tight end in the 2022 class, which feels like a misstep in looking back. Obviously, adding Duce Robinson to the 2023 class would be huge but you have the tiny little issue of (a) winning out in that recruitment and (b) hoping he doesn’t skip college football altogether.
In this year’s class, take a look below at the film of Jaden Redell, which shows some real quickness and an ability to break things open after the catch. He’s a guy I really like and I’ve been trying to connect with him for the past couple weeks for an update, but he’s been tough to pin down.
Ryner Swanson is an intriguing player who will be on campus for a visit this weekend. His plan is to play one year of college ball before going on a Mormon mission trip, so he’s probably not the answer for a quick plug-and-play guy. Colton Heinrich will be in Austin for the spring game next month and he’s a guy that’s highly coveted by the likes of Alabama, Georgia and the in-state schools in Florida.
As of now what would you rate our chances with the following DB recruits:
Gipson
Bridges
Rubell
Conley
Black
Cleveland
Is Modden a db or wr at Texas?
My plan is to do the recruiting board soon, possibly even next week, so I’ll get into more specific percentages when I do that. For this question, I’ll answer in one of four groups … <25%, 25-50%, 51-75% and >75%.
Corian Gipson 51-75%
Selman Bridges 25-50%
Jordon Johnson-Rubell 51-75%
Braylon Conley 25-50%
Kobe Black 51-75%
Landyn Cleveland <25%
As for Moddon, the early thought was that he’d be a WR but I’m now leaning more towards defensive back, if he sticks as part of the class.
Are we going to land a top tier interior DL or Edge in this cycle? We don’t seem to have a lot of momentum with anyone outside of January and even that’s not as locked in as some thought.
DT Alex January is not a slam dunk for Texas, but I would predict him in the class if I was forced to make a pick right now. Him coming in this weekend is another positive indicator for the Longhorns.
As far as other guys, Texas will certainly try to load up, but when you say “top tier,” I’m going to limit that to players that are currently on the Rivals100. The most realistic options that would fall in that criteria would be guys like Colin Simmons, Kamarion Franklin, Nigel Smith, Xadavien Sims, Kamarion Franklin, D'antre Robinson and Terrance Hibbler. Of that group, I’m not sure I could honestly call Texas the outright leader for any of them. Keep an eye on Robinson though … he’s a guy that REALLY likes Texas a lot. Obviously, getting Colin Simmons on campus this weekend is a nice development, but teams like LSU are still going to make that one difficult. In the day of NIL, anything is possible so don’t count Texas out with any of those guys I listed, including Simmons.
We going 2 for 2 at IMG? Rubell and Gibson.
On the surface it would seem like a longshot that Texas would land both RB Jerrick Gibson and safety Jordon Johnson-Rubell, but I’m going with a buy on this one. I like UT’s chances quite a bit with both players.
When do you expect most recruits to start committing in this 2024 class?
I think there’s a slight possibility you could see an uptick in action this spring, but most likely, we won’t see a lot of fireworks until later in the summer, after the June official visits. It was the same last year, but this year I’m not sure we’ll see a crazy run of commitments in June and July. You could very well see a good portion of this class fill up in the fall.
Will coach Bo finally land a top-tier interior DL this year?
He’s certainly in the mix for some guys. Now he just needs to find a way to close on a guy like Colin Simmons. It’s been one area in which criticism is fair … Davis has landed some really good players and he’s taken some large numbers in some classes, but he hasn’t really been able to land that one guy who is almost a guaranteed plus player at the collegiate level. You need those guys to be competitive in the SEC and him having the change of conferences as a selling point should help.
Does Colin Simmons's lack of height move him inside eventually?
Not at all. Probably the opposite, if anything. Ketch equated him to Von Miller recently and that’s a solid comparison. Both are listed at 6-3, for what it’s worth.
How do you make first contact with a recruit in order to get contact information to stay in touch through the recruiting process? Through the coach at the high school, parents or at a Rivals event? Thanks.
Good question. It’s a little bit of everything, but the game has definitely changed. We used to almost always get it from high school coaches, who would fill out recruiting sheets on their top prospects, or collect them at various recruiting events, including Rivals camps. Now, the easiest way is to just ask them through social media. We then enter them into a Rivals database so that certainly helps.
With the Longhorns currently not as high with the elite (Top 10) 2024 Texas recruits, how many OOS recruits do you see Texas taking this year?
I feel like we have seen this before with Herman in 2019, am I the only one who is having deja vu?
P.S. That class, ranked #4 overall, was a DUD!!! 14 OOS commits, with Bru McCoy the only real legit player from that group. Wow.
I could see it being much like last year, when Texas took 10 players from out of state (by comparison, that 2019 group took 14 out-of-state guys, but 4 were JUCO players). The foundation of UT’s classes are always going to be built on in-state talent, but this staff does have ties to certain parts of the region and guys in the state are keeping a very open mind. Because of that, I would think this year could once again approach double digits.
In your opinion, who’s the most under rated offensive skill player of the 2024 class? Who is the most underrated O-lineman? Who is the most underrated Dlineman? Who is the most underrated defensive skill player?
Offensive skill - Gekyle Baker – Rivals250 guy but should be in the Rivals100 IMO.
OL - Ory Williams – Love his potential upside
DL - Alex January – Ranked as a 3-star but I think that changes
Defensive skill - Braylon Conley – Tough one because most of the guys UT is after are highly rated, but Conley might be a tad low.
