Who is the next big name to commit to Texas?
Some of the players that were still possibilities this time last week are now off the board and with Texas at 27 signees in this year’s group, numbers are going to be very limited moving forward. Larry Turner-Gooden could announce for Texas at the Adidas All-American Bowl. Omari Abor is a strong possibility to announce his commitment at the Under Armour All-American Game on January 2, but I’m still not fully convinced he’ll wind up at Texas. Devon Campbell seems like the safest pick, but he won’t announce until February 2. The answer might come from the 2023 class.
Who is Coach Sark recruiting for WR Coach?
Pitt wide receiver coach Brennan Marion has received the most buzz, but there could be other candidates as well. Malcolm Kelly from TCU is a guy that would be an intriguing hire, as would Ra’Shaad Samples. Still not sure which direction this one will go.
There is a surprise (4-5 star) commitment from the HS 22 class?
I’m not really expecting any surprises that haven’t been discussed. So my answer would be no. If we’re considering someone like Omari Abor or Earnest Greene a surprise, I’d still lean no but one of those two certainly isn’t out of the question.
Who are the top 5 must-get recruits from the state of Texas from the 2023 class?
You can pretty much just take the top five guys in the Rivals rankings because they all play at need positions … DE David Hicks, OL TJ Shanahan, LB Anthony Hill, CB Javien Toviano and RB Rueben Owens.
How do the junior classes at some of the bigger schools we got kids from (Duncanville, Westlake) look?
Those programs are always going to have talent and 2023 will be no different, although Duncanville doesn’t have the type of heavy hitters we’ve seen in recent years. OL TJ Shanahan at Westlake is a five-star player. WR/TE Jaden Greathouse of Westlake has been on UT’s radar for years. Westlake DL Colton Vasek sure looks like a take to these eyes. At Duncanville you have a guy like DB Deldrick Madison, who was at a UT recruiting event over the summer. If we’re talking specifically about schools from which Texas took 2022 players, programs like Arlington Martin (Javien Toviano), Denton Ryan (Anthony Hill) and North Shore (Jacoby Davis) would be schools to watch.
Name one portal recruit and one HS recruit with a guaranteed spot if they choose TX.
The top 9 players on @Ketch’s list from a couple weeks ago are all committed elsewhere or have withdrawn their name from the portal, so some of the elite talent has come off the board. Linebacker Terrence Lewis, a former five-star player, is still out there. He’s a bit of a wildcard after missing the 2021 season with an ACL injury but if he’s healthy by 2022, as expected, he could have some value.
Best guess on who (or numbers and positions) we finish with including portal?
Man, I’m not even sure what the number is. We’ve heard Sark mention 33 but then last week I think he mentioned going up to 34. Maybe that includes the addition of Quinn Ewers. Texas is currently at 27 commitments/signees but we’ll bump that down to 26 with the uncertainty of Ronald Lewis’ status. We’ll go with 33 as the max number, meaning there could be up to seven spots left. Devon Campbell is a definite take and I still think the staff needs to take at least one veteran out of the portal, so there are two gone. A couple wide receivers from either the high school rank or the portal wouldn’t be a bad decision, and then the coaches could still take three players at each level of the defense.
Brooks back story - when did you hear rumblings and when did it seem legitimate that he would flip?
Texas had stayed in communication with Terrance Brooks throughout his recruitment but I always had him pegged to stick with Ohio State, even with the reassignment of Kerry Coombs. Brooks said he actually made his mind up to flip a couple weeks prior to him signing with Texas, but we got word on Sunday (I think) from multiple sources that it was likely going to happen. That set the wheels in motion for us to have a story written and to make sure @Cole Patterson was at Brooks’ signing ceremony. I thought it was interesting that Ryan Day said after Brooks signed with Texas that OSU was surprised and still expected to get him.
Your level of confidence in Arch committing to the good guys?
Probably down from where it was a couple months ago, but I still think Texas has a good chance there. Landing Quinn Ewers should have no bearing on Manning’s decision since there will be a couple years of separation there and it could even allow Manning to redshirt. If anything, going 5-7 is probably the biggest obstacle Texas will have to overcome. People close to Arch have said that UT’s record in 2021 wasn’t a deterrent, but I’m a bit skeptical of that when you have programs like Alabama and Georgia continuing to play at a high level.
Based on the recent class – what are the top 3 biggest need positions for 2023? It’s still pass rushers for me.
I tend to agree with you, unless some of these young pups come in and blow up as true freshmen. Wide receiver would be another position that Texas needs to load up on after not taking big groups in the 2021 or 2022 classes. For the last, I’d probably go with linebacker thanks to the addition of Terrance Brooks to this year’s class.
Are Cook and Owens waiting on Manning to decide? When do you think he makes a commitment?
I don’t necessarily think they’re waiting specifically on Manning, I just don’t think either is ready to shut down his recruitment. But yes, if Manning was to decide early, it might speed up their processes. The only thing we’ve been told about Manning is that he and his family continue to take things slowly. Best guess, he makes a somewhat early move, meaning he commits late in the spring or maybe in the summer.
How many Letters of Intent did Texas receive last Friday evening?
Which 2023 Texas recruits would you call leans to Texas?
I’m going with 27 LOIs, but it wouldn’t shock me if the number was right at the 26 that have been made public. There are a couple guys that we were watching to see if they’d sign early (and then announce in early January), and the guess here is that one of them is in the bag. I just don’t know for sure who it is. I’ve got a hunch, but nobody has completely confirmed it.
On your second question, I think there are some have Texas high on their list, but most guys are going to play things close to the vest for at least a little while. Pay attention to which guys have shown up on campus as regular visitors … players like Andre Cojoe, Connor Stroh, Lafayette Kaiuway, Jaden Greathouse, Johntay Cook, Ashton Porter, Anthony Hill and Vernon Glover.
Junior Day potential commits? 23 Recruiting Board?
Who is better, Banks or Campbell?
The plan is to start working on the 2023 recruiting board next week. As far as potential commitments, I referenced a few guys worth watching in the question above. I think most will take a bit more time than that, but Ashton Porter is a player who shows up to what feels like every UT recruiting event.
Obviously you can’t go wrong with either Kelvin Banks or Devon Campbell, but I’ll take Banks. I think he’s a rare talent – maybe the best overall player in the state – and with him being more of a pure tackled whereas Campbell is likely an interior guy, that tips the scales in his favor.
The DE Omari Abor do we have any chance of getting him?
Texas definitely has a chance with Omari Abor, but I don’t have a clear read on handicapping that one yet. On one hand, Texas has always been down his list and has been playing catch-up to programs like Ohio State. On the other hand, Abor’s been unable to pull the trigger on an Ohio State commitment for some reason and him showing up to the state championship game last weekend wearing Longhorn gloves was obviously no accident. Is he playing games and just building suspense, or is the interest real? I’d be mildly surprised at this point if he was part of the class, but it’s certainly not out of the question.
Scale of 1-10, how bullish are you on Campbell in burnt Orange next year?
Probably a 6.5. My confidence in him to Texas isn’t quite as high as it once was despite it now being a two-team race, but I still like the Longhorns’ chances there. The key to me will be if he goes back to Oklahoma for another visit under a revised staff. If he does, things are going to get very interesting. If not, Texas should be able to win out.
Greathouse will sign with Texas?
Every time I talk to Jaden Greathouse, he maintains that he’s very open and doesn’t have any true leaders. But yes, Texas is in a good spot with him and it just makes a lot of sense with him being a Westlake kid. This is one in which I just feel Greathouse needs a little more time to connect with the current staff but once they’ve built that bond up, Texas should have a great shot.
Anything on Ryan Watts?
I need to follow up on Watts. When I checked last Thursday afternoon, I was told it was a two-team race between Texas and Baylor. The Longhorns were the clear leaders when Watts first entered the portal, but Baylor is now making it a close race. He does want to decide by Christmas, so we should have an answer this week.
Campbell and Abor are Horns come February?
I’ll give that a soft sell. Not out of the question, but more likely Texas splits those two than lands both of them.
Why has Texas not offered Colton Vasek?
I would have thought Vasek’s offer sheet would be blowing up after his state title game performance, but he’s still sitting at four offers with Texas Tech and Indiana being his biggest ones. Maybe the Texas coaches – and others – want to get him on campus for an in-person meeting first.
Such, in all your communications with recruits, parents & coaches, what are they telling you are the primary differences between Texas and the ags?
Also, in your opinion why are so many of the ‘elite’ recruits seemingly leaning towards them as opposed to the good guys?
Some Texas fans will want to tell you that A&M is only recruiting well because they’re throwing bags of cash at every single recruit. I don’t fully buy that. Jimbo Fisher is a good recruiter. He has good recruiters at assistant coaches. Recruits see progress (a top-five finish last year) and they see that A&M has stacked multiple top-five recruiting classes on top of each other so they can see progress on the horizon. You can point to things like A&M not getting its receivers huge numbers but there are always counterpoints to those arguments (back-up QB, not having a WR like Evan Stewart on their roster, etc). Like it or not, the Aggies are a trendy pick for recruits right now with a lot of momentum. Texas needs to worry about itself and not A&M. If the Longhorns can show progress this year and bounce back from 5-7 to play at a high level, all that stuff will take care of itself.
As UT keeps building a more physical SEC type roster, who are some of the top LB in 2023 that Sark will be after?
Texas will have a large need at the linebacker spot, but so far this year we haven’t seen the staff throw out a ton of offers at that position. Anthony Hill is the headliner. Jaiden Ausberry is a top national talent that really likes Texas. Derion Gullette is a guy that the Longhorns should have a good shot of landing. The staff has a few other offers out as well, both in-state and out-of-state. Landing Hill would be a great place to start because it’s not an incredibly deep year at that position in 2023.
Did you see the WR coach as a position we needed to strengthen from your conversations with recruits?
Curious at what you heard on the recruiting trail on perception of Coleman and why Sark’s offense wasn’t more attractive.
I never like seeing anyone lose a job, but yes, the truth is that Texas needed some fresh blood at the wide receiver coaching position. For whatever reason, Coleman just wasn’t the type of closer that Texas needs in that spot. Kids and parents seemed to like and respect him, but he just doesn’t have that aggressive recruiting personality that the great ones seem to have. About this time last year, Evan Stewart told us that he really hadn’t been hearing from Coleman at all. Sarkisian changed that and got involved, but to have a lull in your contact with a player of Stewart’s talent should never happen. Like you said, selling wide receivers on playing in Sark’s offense should be fairly easy, yet Texas struggled to recruit the position in the last two cycles.
Some of the players that were still possibilities this time last week are now off the board and with Texas at 27 signees in this year’s group, numbers are going to be very limited moving forward. Larry Turner-Gooden could announce for Texas at the Adidas All-American Bowl. Omari Abor is a strong possibility to announce his commitment at the Under Armour All-American Game on January 2, but I’m still not fully convinced he’ll wind up at Texas. Devon Campbell seems like the safest pick, but he won’t announce until February 2. The answer might come from the 2023 class.
Who is Coach Sark recruiting for WR Coach?
Pitt wide receiver coach Brennan Marion has received the most buzz, but there could be other candidates as well. Malcolm Kelly from TCU is a guy that would be an intriguing hire, as would Ra’Shaad Samples. Still not sure which direction this one will go.
There is a surprise (4-5 star) commitment from the HS 22 class?
I’m not really expecting any surprises that haven’t been discussed. So my answer would be no. If we’re considering someone like Omari Abor or Earnest Greene a surprise, I’d still lean no but one of those two certainly isn’t out of the question.
Who are the top 5 must-get recruits from the state of Texas from the 2023 class?
You can pretty much just take the top five guys in the Rivals rankings because they all play at need positions … DE David Hicks, OL TJ Shanahan, LB Anthony Hill, CB Javien Toviano and RB Rueben Owens.
How do the junior classes at some of the bigger schools we got kids from (Duncanville, Westlake) look?
Those programs are always going to have talent and 2023 will be no different, although Duncanville doesn’t have the type of heavy hitters we’ve seen in recent years. OL TJ Shanahan at Westlake is a five-star player. WR/TE Jaden Greathouse of Westlake has been on UT’s radar for years. Westlake DL Colton Vasek sure looks like a take to these eyes. At Duncanville you have a guy like DB Deldrick Madison, who was at a UT recruiting event over the summer. If we’re talking specifically about schools from which Texas took 2022 players, programs like Arlington Martin (Javien Toviano), Denton Ryan (Anthony Hill) and North Shore (Jacoby Davis) would be schools to watch.
Name one portal recruit and one HS recruit with a guaranteed spot if they choose TX.
The top 9 players on @Ketch’s list from a couple weeks ago are all committed elsewhere or have withdrawn their name from the portal, so some of the elite talent has come off the board. Linebacker Terrence Lewis, a former five-star player, is still out there. He’s a bit of a wildcard after missing the 2021 season with an ACL injury but if he’s healthy by 2022, as expected, he could have some value.
Best guess on who (or numbers and positions) we finish with including portal?
Man, I’m not even sure what the number is. We’ve heard Sark mention 33 but then last week I think he mentioned going up to 34. Maybe that includes the addition of Quinn Ewers. Texas is currently at 27 commitments/signees but we’ll bump that down to 26 with the uncertainty of Ronald Lewis’ status. We’ll go with 33 as the max number, meaning there could be up to seven spots left. Devon Campbell is a definite take and I still think the staff needs to take at least one veteran out of the portal, so there are two gone. A couple wide receivers from either the high school rank or the portal wouldn’t be a bad decision, and then the coaches could still take three players at each level of the defense.
Brooks back story - when did you hear rumblings and when did it seem legitimate that he would flip?
Texas had stayed in communication with Terrance Brooks throughout his recruitment but I always had him pegged to stick with Ohio State, even with the reassignment of Kerry Coombs. Brooks said he actually made his mind up to flip a couple weeks prior to him signing with Texas, but we got word on Sunday (I think) from multiple sources that it was likely going to happen. That set the wheels in motion for us to have a story written and to make sure @Cole Patterson was at Brooks’ signing ceremony. I thought it was interesting that Ryan Day said after Brooks signed with Texas that OSU was surprised and still expected to get him.
Your level of confidence in Arch committing to the good guys?
Probably down from where it was a couple months ago, but I still think Texas has a good chance there. Landing Quinn Ewers should have no bearing on Manning’s decision since there will be a couple years of separation there and it could even allow Manning to redshirt. If anything, going 5-7 is probably the biggest obstacle Texas will have to overcome. People close to Arch have said that UT’s record in 2021 wasn’t a deterrent, but I’m a bit skeptical of that when you have programs like Alabama and Georgia continuing to play at a high level.
Based on the recent class – what are the top 3 biggest need positions for 2023? It’s still pass rushers for me.
I tend to agree with you, unless some of these young pups come in and blow up as true freshmen. Wide receiver would be another position that Texas needs to load up on after not taking big groups in the 2021 or 2022 classes. For the last, I’d probably go with linebacker thanks to the addition of Terrance Brooks to this year’s class.
Are Cook and Owens waiting on Manning to decide? When do you think he makes a commitment?
I don’t necessarily think they’re waiting specifically on Manning, I just don’t think either is ready to shut down his recruitment. But yes, if Manning was to decide early, it might speed up their processes. The only thing we’ve been told about Manning is that he and his family continue to take things slowly. Best guess, he makes a somewhat early move, meaning he commits late in the spring or maybe in the summer.
How many Letters of Intent did Texas receive last Friday evening?
Which 2023 Texas recruits would you call leans to Texas?
I’m going with 27 LOIs, but it wouldn’t shock me if the number was right at the 26 that have been made public. There are a couple guys that we were watching to see if they’d sign early (and then announce in early January), and the guess here is that one of them is in the bag. I just don’t know for sure who it is. I’ve got a hunch, but nobody has completely confirmed it.
On your second question, I think there are some have Texas high on their list, but most guys are going to play things close to the vest for at least a little while. Pay attention to which guys have shown up on campus as regular visitors … players like Andre Cojoe, Connor Stroh, Lafayette Kaiuway, Jaden Greathouse, Johntay Cook, Ashton Porter, Anthony Hill and Vernon Glover.
Junior Day potential commits? 23 Recruiting Board?
Who is better, Banks or Campbell?
The plan is to start working on the 2023 recruiting board next week. As far as potential commitments, I referenced a few guys worth watching in the question above. I think most will take a bit more time than that, but Ashton Porter is a player who shows up to what feels like every UT recruiting event.
Obviously you can’t go wrong with either Kelvin Banks or Devon Campbell, but I’ll take Banks. I think he’s a rare talent – maybe the best overall player in the state – and with him being more of a pure tackled whereas Campbell is likely an interior guy, that tips the scales in his favor.
The DE Omari Abor do we have any chance of getting him?
Texas definitely has a chance with Omari Abor, but I don’t have a clear read on handicapping that one yet. On one hand, Texas has always been down his list and has been playing catch-up to programs like Ohio State. On the other hand, Abor’s been unable to pull the trigger on an Ohio State commitment for some reason and him showing up to the state championship game last weekend wearing Longhorn gloves was obviously no accident. Is he playing games and just building suspense, or is the interest real? I’d be mildly surprised at this point if he was part of the class, but it’s certainly not out of the question.
Scale of 1-10, how bullish are you on Campbell in burnt Orange next year?
Probably a 6.5. My confidence in him to Texas isn’t quite as high as it once was despite it now being a two-team race, but I still like the Longhorns’ chances there. The key to me will be if he goes back to Oklahoma for another visit under a revised staff. If he does, things are going to get very interesting. If not, Texas should be able to win out.
Greathouse will sign with Texas?
Every time I talk to Jaden Greathouse, he maintains that he’s very open and doesn’t have any true leaders. But yes, Texas is in a good spot with him and it just makes a lot of sense with him being a Westlake kid. This is one in which I just feel Greathouse needs a little more time to connect with the current staff but once they’ve built that bond up, Texas should have a great shot.
Anything on Ryan Watts?
I need to follow up on Watts. When I checked last Thursday afternoon, I was told it was a two-team race between Texas and Baylor. The Longhorns were the clear leaders when Watts first entered the portal, but Baylor is now making it a close race. He does want to decide by Christmas, so we should have an answer this week.
Campbell and Abor are Horns come February?
I’ll give that a soft sell. Not out of the question, but more likely Texas splits those two than lands both of them.
Why has Texas not offered Colton Vasek?
I would have thought Vasek’s offer sheet would be blowing up after his state title game performance, but he’s still sitting at four offers with Texas Tech and Indiana being his biggest ones. Maybe the Texas coaches – and others – want to get him on campus for an in-person meeting first.
Such, in all your communications with recruits, parents & coaches, what are they telling you are the primary differences between Texas and the ags?
Also, in your opinion why are so many of the ‘elite’ recruits seemingly leaning towards them as opposed to the good guys?
Some Texas fans will want to tell you that A&M is only recruiting well because they’re throwing bags of cash at every single recruit. I don’t fully buy that. Jimbo Fisher is a good recruiter. He has good recruiters at assistant coaches. Recruits see progress (a top-five finish last year) and they see that A&M has stacked multiple top-five recruiting classes on top of each other so they can see progress on the horizon. You can point to things like A&M not getting its receivers huge numbers but there are always counterpoints to those arguments (back-up QB, not having a WR like Evan Stewart on their roster, etc). Like it or not, the Aggies are a trendy pick for recruits right now with a lot of momentum. Texas needs to worry about itself and not A&M. If the Longhorns can show progress this year and bounce back from 5-7 to play at a high level, all that stuff will take care of itself.
As UT keeps building a more physical SEC type roster, who are some of the top LB in 2023 that Sark will be after?
Texas will have a large need at the linebacker spot, but so far this year we haven’t seen the staff throw out a ton of offers at that position. Anthony Hill is the headliner. Jaiden Ausberry is a top national talent that really likes Texas. Derion Gullette is a guy that the Longhorns should have a good shot of landing. The staff has a few other offers out as well, both in-state and out-of-state. Landing Hill would be a great place to start because it’s not an incredibly deep year at that position in 2023.
Did you see the WR coach as a position we needed to strengthen from your conversations with recruits?
Curious at what you heard on the recruiting trail on perception of Coleman and why Sark’s offense wasn’t more attractive.
I never like seeing anyone lose a job, but yes, the truth is that Texas needed some fresh blood at the wide receiver coaching position. For whatever reason, Coleman just wasn’t the type of closer that Texas needs in that spot. Kids and parents seemed to like and respect him, but he just doesn’t have that aggressive recruiting personality that the great ones seem to have. About this time last year, Evan Stewart told us that he really hadn’t been hearing from Coleman at all. Sarkisian changed that and got involved, but to have a lull in your contact with a player of Stewart’s talent should never happen. Like you said, selling wide receivers on playing in Sark’s offense should be fairly easy, yet Texas struggled to recruit the position in the last two cycles.
