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Can you give us any feedback you've personally heard from recruits or their families about perceptions concerning Sark and his staff, maybe compared to previous regimes?
If there’s one thing I’ve heard repeatedly about Sarkisian, it’s that he’s relatable, to both parents and recruits. If you’ve ever seen Sark in a press conference setting, he’s pretty at ease and is a good communicator. It’s the same way in recruiting. Parents I’ve talked to really like his personality. When talking to recruits, he has a natural way of sort of disarming them to make them not feel nervous. Some coaches try to create this bigger-than-life persona but that’s not really Sark’s style. He’s very involved, very accessible and both recruits and parents are able to connect with him.
As for the staff as a whole, I’m not going to sit here and say Texas has always been perfect and there haven’t been a couple missteps with a player her or there, but by and large this group does a very good job. Jeff Banks is known to be a very good recruiter and that has carried over at Texas, including his hand in helping land Colin Simmons. Tashard Choice is obviously a rock star that kid (and parents) love with a combination of his personality, his coaching/playing experience and the way he’s able to develop a bit of a mentor role to the kids he recruits. Directory of recruiting Brandon Harris has drawn very positive reviews from parents I’ve talked to.
This staff isn’t filled with what I’d call hired guns or recruiting rainmakers across the board, but Texas does things above board and every coach on the staff is in the range of pretty solid to great.
We get a commit on or before 9/1.
I think so. I had Dominick McKinley at 60% on my recruiting board last week, which means I’m expecting Texas to land him with some cautious optimism. McKinley is set to announce on September 1, so he’d make it under the wire … barely.
There’s always a chance that another prospect could pull the trigger on a decision earlier than expected, maybe someone like Joshua Lair, but McKinley is probably the most likely one to meet your criteria.
@Suchomel If you were in charge of UT Football recruiting, what big event would you add that we don't already have? (i.e. pool party, bbq, etc)
Good question. Texas has done away with the big night time summer camp that Charlie Strong had some success with, but I’m not sure those types of events carry the type of juice they once did.
No team is really reinventing the wheel at this point and pool parties/barbecues are pretty common. The pool parties Texas hosts make sense because they have nice facilities to show off at nearby Gregory Gym. I’m sure there are rules to having those gatherings off campus, but if the staff could somehow incorporate the lakes around Austin (maybe have one ringleader recruit set that up), that would be something a lot of schools couldn’t offer.
Any update on the Oregon WR commit Jordan Anderson communicating with Texas?
I’m still kicking the tires on this one but according to his father as recently as Monday evening, wide receiver Jordan Anderson hasn’t been talking to anyone at Texas (or any other school). My internal lie detector went off a little bit, and in checking with another West Coast source, I was told that this person wouldn’t be surprised if there was least some amount of communication. I’m still digging around to see the extent of both parties’ interest, if there’s any at all. I should have a better answer on that soon.
Should we just expect Wingo to commit to Missouri to collect NIL money this Fall then seriously consider flipping to Texas on signing day? I mean that seems like the most beneficial thing for him to do on a personal level.
Your plan makes a lot of sense. Collect NIL payments from Missouri for a few months beginning in September, and then basically reset things when he either signs in December or enrolls in January. That probably wouldn’t make Wingo many friends in his home state if he took a few NIL payments then flipped to Texas, or anywhere else, in December, but recruiting is suddenly a cut-throat business so it’s not out of the question.
What is the reason for the delay in Black publically announcing?
How many silent commits do we have?
I don’t really like dealing with “silent commitments” because it seems pretty meaningless. In regards to Kobe Black, I really like UT’s chances, as I said in the recruiting board. In talking to his father recently, the plan was still for Black to take a visit or two in the fall, likely in September. There does seem to be some back-and-forth on those visits though so things could certainly change.
Like I said, I’m not really calling anyone a silent commit, but I do have two commitment stories written and I could probably safely write a couple others.
DeAndre Carter is committing soon and has Texas in his top 3, any chance Texas lands him?
Mater Dei offensive lineman DeAndre Carter has set a commitment date of September 3, which is before his scheduled official visit to Texas later that month. I would expect Carter won’t take that visit, but we’ll check on that once he announces his decision. Auburn appears to be the most likely choice for him.
- How does the prospects of adding significant rated LB look for 2024?
- Who are the flip candidates nobody is really talking about?
- Which of our 3 star commits have the best odds to be rated much higher after this season?
- If we’re talking true linebackers, the prospects are very limited. Texas will continue to work on a guy like Texas A&M commitment Tyanthony Smith and he’ll keep the lines of communication open, but I haven’t heard anything to make me think he’s unhappy with his commitment.
- Most commitments are still pretty fresh so we’re not hearing a ton about those guys just yet. That chatter will pick up in the fall. If I’m going with three that I think could be possibilities, give me guys like Makai Saina, Tyanthony Smith and Selman Bridges ... in-state players who had Texas very high on their list. Out-of-state offensive lineman Eugene Brooks could be one to watch, as could in-state safety Landyn Cleveland if the staff decided it wanted to bring him in for a fall visit.
- Texas has only a few 3-star commitments but to these eyes, Jordan Washington is an obvious 4-star and Alex January probably fits that bill as well.
Has KJ Lacey helped with any other 2025s? Will Ryan Williams reconsider his commitment to Alabama?
Texas quarterback commitment KJ Lacey hasn’t had a big impact just yet, but I expect that will change as the 2025 cycle proceeds. Lacey’s big-time talent and he’s very personable. Most likely, you’ll see him start to make some waves next spring and summer when he has chance to spend time around other prospects in his class at various events.
Lacey’s teammate, 2025 5-star wide receiver Ryan Williams, seems pretty locked in with his commitment to Bama for now. I wouldn’t be surprised if Williams showed up on campus at some point (Lacey did said Williams called him to talk about his Texas commitment as soon as Lacey went public) but that’s going to be an awfully tough pull for Texas.
If the Horns take a second QB, who is next on the board?
I don’t think there’s even a second option at this point.
Besides Wingo what WR are we look at?
Who does Texas like that is not named Black, McKinley, Zina, or Baker?
How does this team do this year running the ball?
It’s pretty limited at wide receiver past Wingo. Texas will continue to stay in touch with Micah Hudson, of course, and there was some chatter last week that Hudson reached out to the UT staff. He has told us he’ll still take a Texas visit at some point in the fall, but nothing is lined up from what we’ve heard. Wide receiver could very well be a position where a prospect emerges late that the staff tries to flip, similar to what happened with Savion Red in 2022 or Warren Roberson at DB last year.
As for who the staff likes, I’m sure there are names on the fringe of the board that will emerge, but the guys you mentioned (Kobe Black, Dominick McKinley, Zina Umeozulu, Brandon Baker) are obvious priorities. Players like Micah Hudson, Danny Okoye, Nigel Smith, Solomon Williams, Joshua Lair and Terry Bussey are still in play to varying degrees.
I think this team will run the ball better than most expect. I know a lot of people are predicting a huge drop-off after the losses of Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson, understandably, but I think Jonathon Brooks has a chance to be very good.
Do we end up with a top 5 class?
It’s going to be close. Texas will have to close on most of its top-ranked guys for that to happen, and really can’t afford to miss on any of them. I actually am expecting Texas to land just about all of those top remaining targets, but recruiting will always throw a curveball or two so if I’m playing percentages, I’ll predict UT’s class to fall just outside of the top 5.
