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Recruiting Thread 2017

Scholz

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2005
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Current list of commits for the '17 class pre-'16 NSD:

QB - Sam Ehlinger, Westlake https://rivals.yahoo.com/texas/football/recruiting/player-Sam-Ehlinger-167381
WR - Damion Miller, John Tyler https://rivals.yahoo.com/texas/football/recruiting/player-Damion-Miller-169583
TE - Major Tennison, Bullard https://rivals.yahoo.com/texas/football/recruiting/player-Major-Tennison-175197
DE - LaGaryonn Carson, Texarkana https://rivals.yahoo.com/texas/football/recruiting/player-LaGaryonn-Carson-177823

Below is a breakdown of the early list of top players in the state of Texas on the offensive side of the ball, lusted by position based on four-star rankings from Rivals and the summer LSR list. Defensive side of the ball next week.

Quarterbacks

Sam Ehlinger (QB/Austin Westlake)


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Current recruiting grades:Rivals (Three-stars/5.7/No.37 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.10)

Sophomore Highlights

Current status:Committed to Texas

Where UT Stands:One of the building blocks for what could be a national Top 5-10 class for the Longhorns.

Quotable"Been a Longhorn since day one, I'm truly blessed to say I am committed to the University of Texas."

Shawn Robinson (QB/Denton Guyer)


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Current recruiting grade:
Rivals (Four-stars/5.9 grade/No.7 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.2)

Sophomore Highlights

Current status:Committed to TCU

Where UT Stands:The original No.1 target at the quarterback position for the Longhorns, Robinson committed to TCU last summer and appears locked in on his decision, although it’s a long time until 2017’s National Signing Day. With the quarterback commitment merry-go-round already in motion, it’s likely that there won’t be much to see here as it relates to the Longhorns.

Quotable: "Coach Strong is a great coach. He needs time to make changes but I have seen how much it has worked in just one year. Last year’s product was not on him. He didn’t have a year of recruiting so I expect it to be different this year and moving forward.”

Chris Robison (QB/Mesquite Horn)


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Current recruiting grades:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.11 in Texas), LSR Pre-season LSR (No.16)

Sophomore Highlights

Current status:Committed to Oklahoma

Where UT Stands:An early commitment for the Sooners last summer, neither the Longhorns nor Robison showed much interest in each other.

Ty Brock(QB/College Station)


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Current recruiting grades:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.35 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.24)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Houston

Where UT Stands:Camped at Texas last summer, but he’s likely off the radar after missing almost all of his junior season with an injury. It’ll be interesting to see where his recruitment goes this year because he’s got a lot of raw skill, but it’s unproven and undeveloped.

Running backs
Eno Benjamin (Wylie East)



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Current recruiting grades:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.34 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.44)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Boise State, Miami, Texas Tech, Houston, SMU, Tulsa and Vanderbilt

Where UT Stands:Although he currently lists IOwa as his favorite, his stock is just starting to take off and the Longhorns will likely be front and center in his recruitment if he becomes a key target.

Quotable

Not going to lie, I'm trying to get back down to UT & kick it with@Official_MalikJ

— Eno Benjamin™ (@eno_benjamin5)January 15, 2016



Toneil Carter (RB/Langham Creek)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.6 in Texas), Pre-season LSR
(No.7)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Oklahoma Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M

Where UT Stands:The first 2017 in-state back to receive a Texas offer last spring, Carter is a Louisiana native and that might prove to be a tough safe to break into. At this point, he’s keeping a very open public profile.

Quotable:"Well I am from New Orleans, Louisiana so I grew up liking LSU. An offer would mean the world to me, that's my No. 1 school."

J.K. Dobbins (RB/La Grange)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.8 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.13)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Arkansas, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas, TCU and Texas A&M

Where UT Stands:Once upon a time, the Longhorns were a leader with Dobbins and he was an early commitment candidate, but he’s taking a wait-and-see approach with the Longhorns at this point. If Sterlin Gilbert can solve the Texas offensive identity woes, look for the Longhorns to re-emerge as a key piece of his recruitment. Dobbins needs to be one of the first calls that the new running backs coach makes when he arrives on campus.

Quotable:(Via OB on 12/4) "I was riding high on Texas. After this season, of course - I'm the type of guy that wants to win. Losing makes me mad. Seeing them struggle ... I know they have some young people and I have a feeling Charlie Strong is going to bring them back up, but it has brought them back to the pack."

Wide receivers


Damion Miller(WR/John Tyler)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.23 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.23)

Junior Highlights

Current status:Committed to Texas

Where UT Stands:Miller became the first commitment in the 2017 class for the Longhorns earlier last summer and is a key foundation piece for the upcoming recruiting year.

Octavius Evans (Center)

Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.24 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.59)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech

Where UT Stands:One of the top players in East Texas this year, the stock for this Rivals national Top 250 prospect is just starting to take off. He’s in Jeff Traylor’s backyard, so keep an eye on this one.

Hezekiah Jones (WR/Stafford)

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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.13 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.20)

Junior Highlights

Current status:Committed to Baylor

Where UT Stands:The Longhorns appeared to be the early favorite to land Jones, but he shocked quite a few people when he committed to Art Briles last summer and at this time he seems fairly locked into his decision. .

Quotable:"I have already been there a few times, this was my third time to visit Baylor. My first visit was a basic tour of the facilities, the second visit we talked with the academic advisors and strength & conditioning coaches, but this visit I was able to do all of them at once and spend a lot more time around Coach (Art) Briles. I felt like this time was the right time to make my commitment because my family loves Baylor, my friends love Baylor and it's just a place that I can see myself living.

Jaylon Jackson (Cedar Hill)


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Current recruiting grade:
Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.26 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.46)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Kansas, Oklahoma State, SMU and Texas Tech

Where UT Stands:Jackson missed the entire 2015 season while recovering from an ACL injury, but he really hasn’t been mentioned in connection with the Longhorns at this stage of his recruitment. Keep an eye on Oklahoma in his recruitment.

Cedarian Lamb (Richmond Foster)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.29 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.67)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Committed to Oklahoma

Where UT Stands:It’ll be interesting to see if the Longhorns expand interest in Lamb, but at the moment he’s all OU.

Omar Manning (Corsicana)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.18 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.74)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Arizona State., Colorado, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and UCLA

Where UT Stands:Texas isn’t really involved with Manning at this point and he currently lists a top three of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and UCLA. Consider it very early in his recruitment.

Quotable: “Right now I like Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and UCLA. They’re good programs. Oklahoma made it to the playoff this year. I’m close to the coaches at Oklahoma. At Oklahoma State it’s the same, I’m close to the coaches. And UCLA that was one of my favorites growing up.”

Mannie Netherly (Crosby)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.25 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.72)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Committed to Texas A&M

Where UT Stands:The Longhorns are one of the few schools from the state of Texas that hasn’t offered Netherly, who committed to the Aggies in November. Considering the state of that program right now, expect every school that has offered to make a hard attempt to poach him away.

Charleston Rambo (Cedar Hill)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.20 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.39)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Miami, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Washington, Tennessee and Houston

Where UT Stands:Another prospect that the Longhorns haven’t really engaged in high-level talks with yet, but you know the Longhorns are familiar with Cedar Hill, so they’ll take a long look at him this spring.

Tight Ends

Brock Wright (Cy Fair)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/6.0/No.3 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.28)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Committed to Notre Dame

Where UT Stands:The Longhorns were early to offer the state’s top tight end prospect, but the high four-star prospect committed to Notre Dame in June and hasn’t really budged off of that verbal pledge.

Offensive tackles

Alan Ali (Cy Fair)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.33 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (NR)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:SMU and Tulsa

Where UT Stands:On one hand, Ali plans to make trips to a bunch of Junior Days and he’s not listing Texas among them. On the other hand, Texas offensive line coach Matt Mattox was one of the first coaches to offer him, so keep an eye on this kid moving forward.

Austin Deculus (Cy Fair)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.17 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.33)

Future 50 Highlights

Current offers:Alabama, Georgia LSU, Baylor, Michigan and Tennessee

Where UT Stands:LSU is the big favorite here, with the likes of Michigan, Baylor and Alabama also receiving strong consideration at this stage. The Longhorns haven’t been a factor in his recruitment yet.

Walker Little (OL/Houston Episcopal)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.10 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.9)

Junior HighlightsandRivals Camp Series 1-on-1's (Dallas)

Current offers:Alabama, Baylor, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Stanford, Texas, TCU and Tennessee

Where UT Stands:With attention coming from all over the nation, this has a chance to be quite a battle for the Longhorns, although he’s always had a very strong soft spot in his heart for the program. When it’s all said and done, look for the Longhorns to be heavily in the mix. Buckle up.

Quotable:“(UT is) my first offer, so that definitely holds some weight. I love the town, love the coaching staff. I have built up a pretty good relationship with coach Wickline so far, and I hope to continue building on it. And it’s just the culture of it. Texas has been a football powerhouse for most of my life.”

Grayson Reed (Houston Cy Creek)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.8/No.31 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.54)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and TCU

Where UT Stands:The cousin of former Longhorns defensive end Cedric Reed, look for the Longhorns to be a major factor in his recruitment, but he swears he’s keeping an open mind and he’s mentioned schools like Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas A&M a little more than the Longhorns right now.

Quotable(Via Rivals on 1/20) "Cedric (Reed) is my cousin and a lot people assumed that I would commit after Texas offered," Reed said. "I do like Texas, but want to experience the recruiting process for myself and have already built some good relationships with some other coaching staffs.

"There are a lot of schools that I like. I'm interested in Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and several other schools like Arizona State and Houston. I want to take my visits and see what each program is like, see what fits me."

Tyrese Robinson (OL/McKinney Boyd)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.9 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.5)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Auburn, Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas

Where UT Stands:Another knock-down, drag-out recruiting battle looms for this talented tackle, but the Longhorns are among the schools that should factor heavily in his decision-making process. Oklahoma is currently the only Junior Day visit on his books.

Quotable:(Via Rivals on 1/19) “Mainly I like the Big 12, only a couple of SEC schools like I like Ole Miss and Auburn. But mainly some Big 12 schools I really like are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, I like TCU, Baylor, and Texas.”

Offensive guards/Centers
Jack Anderson (OL/Frisco)



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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/6.0/No.5 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.19)

Junior Highlights

Current offers:Committed to Texas Tech

Where UT Stands:Both of his parents are Tech grads and he would appear to be a strong Tech pledge right now, despite all of the national attention.

Wes Harris (Aledo)


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Current recruiting grade:Rivals (Four-stars/5.9/No.14 in Texas), Pre-season LSR (No.37)

Sophomore Highlights

Current offers:Committed to TCU

Where UT Stands:Although he has family connections to Texas A&M, Harris committed to TCU very early in the process. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as more schools start to offer the national center prospect, but the Longhorns have not emerged as a factor yet.
 
Whoa nellie hold the brakes on top 5

Yeah. It would be horrible for UT fans to talk optimistically on a UT recruiting site about recruiting. He even gave the caveat of IF we have a good year. Oh the horror.


Feel free to visit www.soonerpoop.com if you feel the need trash all things UT for no good reason at all.



(the hilarious thing is that you have been quite the help by predicting gloom and doom UT and then hours later being proven wrong....so keep up the good work)
 
Yeah umm, if Strong is pulling in top 10 classes in horrible years, top 5 is quite reasonable to expect after a good season. Really not hard to figure out, and not as if top 5 classes have never been seen here before.


What years has he pulled in a top 10 class?

Pretty sure the missing Florida 5 downgraded the class outside the top 10. Correct me if I'm mistaken. And this years class isn't close to top 10 status, yet.

So, just being honest. Not rude, just trying to figure out your honesty here.
 
Last year was a top 10 class. What happened after doesn't matter. Charlie still recruited a top 10 class. This year is looking very likely to be a top 10 class.
 
What years has he pulled in a top 10 class?

Pretty sure the missing Florida 5 downgraded the class outside the top 10. Correct me if I'm mistaken. And this years class isn't close to top 10 status, yet.

So, just being honest. Not rude, just trying to figure out your honesty here.

Pretty sure if you are going to reevaluate the #s by taking out the FL 5....then you've got to do that for everyone. And that would keep us in the top10. One of us is actually just being honest.


What is your point anyway?

People stated the point, in bad yrs he's getting top 10 classes. Not unreasonable to think if they win, he could pull in top5. Why come split hairs and rain on the parade?
 
I'm guessing billybob didn't think this one out too much.

If you want to lower our ranking for missing on a couple of commitments that didn't qualify, you should also raise the rankings for 2 freshmen All-Americans on our oline. Or all the DBs that gave us a huge impact.

Fact is in this class of about 26 guys that made it in, Texas has 4 DBs that made a big impact, we have 3 linebackers that made a big impact, and one DE. On the offensive side we had a WR and two offensive linemen. We also identified a badass RB who will be getting a lot of touches next year.

I'm staring at our 2015 class and it compares really well to our 2002 class, I'm sure you remember that one, it brought home the Crystal Football in 2005.
 
well gee....how does losing a 5* QB hurt the aggy recruiting numbers...?
Thats different oldhorn! What is wrong with you? You have to think back asswards to think like an aggy. You know that. To an aggy its not HOW the class ACTUALLY played but how they were ranked. I would rank the last Texas class in the top 10 based on the freshman that played and how well they played. Anyone who thinks for instance that Connor Williams is a 3 Star OL is an idiot. I would rank him high 4 star to even 5 star based on HIS PLAY....but to an aggy he is a 3 star bust because he plays for Texas.

aggy hates Texas more than they like themselves. They are glory stealing losers.
 
Thats different oldhorn! What is wrong with you? You have to think back asswards to think like an aggy. You know that. To an aggy its not HOW the class ACTUALLY played but how they were ranked. I would rank the last Texas class in the top 10 based on the freshman that played and how well they played. Anyone who thinks for instance that Connor Williams is a 3 Star OL is an idiot. I would rank him high 4 star to even 5 star based on HIS PLAY....but to an aggy he is a 3 star bust because he plays for Texas.

aggy hates Texas more than they like themselves. They are glory stealing losers.

Last offensive lineman I can remember that started for Texas as a freshman was Dan Neil. He turned out pretty good. High hopes for our 2 freshman AA OLiineman.
 
Lets get one thing straight!....Williams and Vahae did not play well for freshmen....they played great period! We dont have to have high hopes for them to play well....they ALREADY PLAY WELL!!!


just because our coaches are better talent evaluators and developers of talent, dont rag on our recruiting no matter what the ranking is....
 
*** IF*** we can get 8+ wins this year Strong lands top 5 class, IF we add a bowl win to end our season on top of that Strong lands a top 3 class.

Like Metcalf says... "Book it"

Lol. I actually got that from somebody else. Can't remember who though. Thinking maybe kiser or misterTeasyE, or maybe Rex has always said that.
 
Lets get one thing straight!....Williams and Vahae did not play well for freshmen....they played great period! We dont have to have high hopes for them to play well....they ALREADY PLAY WELL!!!


just because our coaches are better talent evaluators and developers of talent, dont rag on our recruiting no matter what the ranking is....

Really, can you not get internet sarcasm? When I said Dan Neil played pretty good you didn't see the sarcasm in that? 4 year starter, consensus All American, 2 time super bowl winner, inductee in the Texas Longhorn Football Hall of Honor. I was comparing Williams and Vahee to one of the best to ever suite up for UT. And you're chastising me like I don't give the freshman enough respect? Good grief.
 
Really, can you not get internet sarcasm? When I said Dan Neil played pretty good you didn't see the sarcasm in that? 4 year starter, consensus All American, 2 time super bowl winner, inductee in the Texas Longhorn Football Hall of Honor. I was comparing Williams and Vahee to one of the best to ever suite up for UT. And you're chastising me like I don't give the freshman enough respect? Good grief.
Why did you think Oldhorn was talking to you?
 
Why did you think Oldhorn was talking to you?

I suppose because he posted this "Lets get one thing straight!....Williams and Vahae did not play well for freshmen....they played great period!" right under my post talking about Dan Neil being the last OLineman I could remember that started as a true freshman. And I had said tongue and cheek that Neil played pretty good when in fact he was a damn good lineman. Why wouldn't I think his post was in response to mine? It was the next post directly below mine, and the context flowed naturally between the 2 posts.
 
I suppose because he posted this "Lets get one thing straight!....Williams and Vahae did not play well for freshmen....they played great period!" right under my post talking about Dan Neil being the last OLineman I could remember that started as a true freshman. And I had said tongue and cheek that Neil played pretty good when in fact he was a damn good lineman. Why wouldn't I think his post was in response to mine? It was the next post directly below mine, and the context flowed naturally between the 2 posts.
Sorry I didn't see it that way. If you read the posts above we are talking about aggy dissing our ranking. The post you made I got right away that it was tongue in cheek. It is all good. Just a misunderstanding.
 
wadster.....I can see why you thought that, but I had just finished catching up on that thread and I was replying to everything I read. I will try to be more specific about what I am saying in the future
 
I won't count on Elliott until I see his signature on the line. Even then I won't count on him till I see him in pads.
 
I won't count on Elliott until I see his signature on the line. Even then I won't count on him till I see him in pads.
I agree. I hope he doesn't run at the first sign of difficulty and transfer, no matter where he signs. He is a heck of a prospect for sure.
 
Can we please delete this thread?
Or at the very least lock it until we are done with 2016 recruiting.

2 reasons:
1. 2016 recruiting discussions are spilling into this one.
2. Most of the comments so far (other than the first one) are trash/unrelated anyway.

Thanks
 
Can we please delete this thread?
Or at the very least lock it until we are done with 2016 recruiting.

2 reasons:
1. 2016 recruiting discussions are spilling into this one.
2. Most of the comments so far (other than the first one) are trash/unrelated anyway.

Thanks

Or people could just check themselves and stay on point. Really no need to lock it. Every single thread always gets sidetracked here, like it or not.

And I bet this thread will pick up after signing day. I too appreciate the first post.
 
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oldhorn, no problem. We have one thing in common for sure. We're both old. :). Back to recruiting, having everything come in on NSD is going to be a very long wait. Mack locked his classes up early and there was good and bad. The bad was we missed on too many QBs. By NSD everyone knew Swoopes was a project and we needed immediate help, but it was too late to make any changes.
 
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