OB War Room (From Suchomel)
We’re five days from National Signing Day, and there are still several storylines we’ll be following leading up to next Wednesday. I spoke with Rivals.com regional recruiting analyst Nick Krueger this week to get his thoughts on some of the top guys remaining on UT’s radar. Let’s take a look at all the stories we’ll be tracking in the coming days.
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Keaontay Ingram – (From Krueger): “I was hearing whispers about (him visiting Texas A&M) going back to the state championship and that they were inching their way in there. Any time I’ve ever dealt with him, he’s given stock answers. But I’ve not got the inkling that he’s going to wind up anywhere but Texas.”
My thoughts: Ingram has been committed to Texas for so long that it’s hard to envision him flipping at the last minute. Texas was aware of his Texas A&M visit, so that’s a good sign, but it is a bit odd that Ingram hasn’t come out to reaffirm his commitment status since he knows a lot of people are wondering. And the fact that Jimbo Fisher took the time to go visit him in Carthage this week makes me think the Aggies believe they have a chance. That being said, I did talk to a couple people late this week who don’t feel Texas has anything to really be concerned with.
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Joshua Moore – (From Krueger): “The problem with Josh, I don’t know about his track career at all, but he’s legitimately convinced he can play corner and he’s convinced that whatever team he can go to is going to give him the opportunity to do track and football without anything getting in the way of itself. Texas probably feels good about itself because it’s the local operation, but you know Oregon is going to pull out all the stops this weekend and say he can do anything he wants here. They have to scramble to fill out their class. Oregon needs to be able to pitch the strength of class to other recruits and getting someone like Josh would help with that. He said at Under Armour that Oregon was on the short list of schools that was going to give him a look at defense.”
My thoughts: We’ll get our answer on Moore on Sunday, as he’s set to choose either Texas or Oregon. Moore is scheduled to take his Oregon official visit this weekend but he’s been pretty unpredictable on his visits, so keep an eye on that one. Honestly, even if he does visit, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Ducks win out. Texas has done a good job in this one over the last month or so, and I’m expecting proximity to play a big role. (Update: On Thursday night, word surfaced from the Rivals Oregon site that Moore may not be taking the Oregon visit after all).
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Tommy Bush – As of press-time, we’re still awaiting word from Bush on what he’ll do this weekend, if anything. He’s considering taking his fifth and final visit, and Texas continues to work to try to get him on campus.
Bush is looking to visit either Texas or Baylor this weekend. The Longhorns were scheduled to do an in-home on Thursday so that could swing things. Ole Miss, Georgia and Michigan State are also pushing. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and several assistants will visit him on Friday.
Truthfully, this one’s tough to predict right now. Had Texas been pushing for a commitment all along, there would have been a very strong chance that Bush would have sided with the Longhorns. But with Texas trying to make such a late run, it’s really anyone’s guess on what Bush will wind up doing. Will he go with someone like Georgia or Baylor, both of whom have made him a priority for a while? Or will the Schertz Clemens product stay closer to home and take his last visit to Texas, ultimately giving the Longhorns a shot to win him over? There are still too many unanswered questions in this one to have a clear feel on which way it will fall.
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Lawrence Keys – The New Orleans McDonogh 35 product is on an SMU official visit this week, but he’s expected to choose from a final two of Texas and Notre Dame. The Longhorns did an in-home with Keys on Wednesday night, but with him being on an official visit right now I haven’t bothered him to see if that visit moved the needle any. Coming out of his Notre Dame visit, he labeled the Irish as his leader. After his Texas visit last weekend, he told OB that he was genuinely torn between UT and Notre Dame. This one feels like it may be leaning Notre Dame’s way because the Irish have made him a priority for longer than Texas has, but the Longhorns have definitely closed the gap and it’s really a tough one to call at this point.
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Jaylen Waddle – (From Krueger): “From the point of view, Texas being on and off again with Tommy Bush, Jalen Preston was going to visit, it seems to me they have the feeling that he’s feeling more A&M and Alabama. But the last time I talked to him, his demeanor is different when he talks about Tom Herman relative to other coaches. He really doesn’t tip his hand at all.”
My thoughts: I’ve had a sneaky suspicion for a while that Texas’ chances in this one are better than most realize, but it’s damn near impossible to get any real information out of Waddle. He had hoops games in Austin a couple weekends ago but didn’t visit. There were rumors last week that he was going to visit Texas but those turned out to be untrue. The question now is whether or not Texas can get him on campus this weekend for one last chance. Interestingly, I was told this week that both A&M and Alabama were confident, but the people I talked to admitted that they’re kind of trying to read between the lines on this one. I’ve said before that if there’s one kid in this class who would shock the recruiting world by committing to a school without having taken an official visit, Waddle would probably be the one. My money right now is still on A&M, but there’s a low level of confidence in that pick and nothing that happens in the coming days will really surprise me.
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Christian Jones – (From Krueger): “When I was talking to him, he understands that his future is on offense with Texas. I think he likes playing defense better, but understands he’s naturally better on offense. It’s good that he has that presence of mind to have that self-awareness. If he does in fact wind up going to Texas this weekend instead of Vandy, that tells you he’s made peace with it and Texas is soundly the front-runner.”
My thoughts: Jones has gone strangely quiet about his visit plans for this weekend. As of Tuesday, he told us he was still trying to decide if he would visit Texas or Vanderbilt. Since then, silence. I’d feel a lot better about this one if Jones made a no-brainer decision to visit Texas, but for whatever reason he’s not being too open with his plans. I do expect him to be in Austin … it just makes sense … but he does genuinely like Vanderbilt and he’s also very high on Cal, where he has visited. We’ll work on getting clarity of Jones’ weekend plans, but he was admittedly on cloud nine when he got the UT offer and this one just feels like a battle Texas should win.
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Vernon Jackson – Here’s what I know about Jackson … he’s committed to Bama, he’s taken official visits to Alabama and Texas, he’ll visit Texas A&M this week, and he doesn’t tip his hand at all on which way he may be leaning. In talking to a Bama insider this week, the Tide definitely still wants Jackson in its class and is working hard to keep him from flipping to either of the in-state schools, but Alabama is definitely nervous on this one. As often happens, when things get closer to signing day, it gets harder and harder for some prospects to settle on the idea of leaving the state, so that’s helping both Texas and Texas A&M’s chances. A&M gets the last visit and we’ll see if that one tips the scales in the Aggies direction … tough one to call.
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Joseph Ossai – (From Krueger): “From what I know about him, he’s placing an importance on engineering and academics. One thing that has hurt A&M consistently throughout the coaching change was the timing of how quickly, or not quickly, they were able to get defensive assistants in there to bridge the gap.”
My thoughts: I’m not expecting an announcement from Ossai until National Signing Day but this one is pretty much holding steady and the Longhorns look really good here.
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Keondre Coburn – (From Krueger): “I think Coburn is a guy who just decided to enjoy the process. But I don’t think there’s major concern for him to stray from Texas because he’s been committed for a while. Especially if Texas lands a guy like (Moro) Ojomo on Signing Day and he has a nice pairing, but not somebody from a perception standpoint that’s going to overshadow him. There’s been no reason to think there’s been any shake-up with Texas. I know people were talking about A&M, but I don’t think he’s visited there. If it’s only Miami, I don’t see him leaving Texas.”
My thoughts: Coburn told OB on Wednesday night that he would not be taking any visits this weekend. If that holds true, it means A&M and TCU failed to get him on campus, and his only non-UT visit was to Miami. The writing is pretty much on the wall with this one.
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Moro Ojomo – (From Krueger): “It feels like Oklahoma is losing steam. Guys are decommitting. They’ve had such weird trends with recruiting where guys will commit in waves and decommit in waves. I don’t trust Oklahoma to close on anybody at this point. I would cross Oklahoma off.”
My thoughts – I’m not crossing Oklahoma off, but we had heard Texas was basically on equal footing coming into his visit last weekend, and you have to figure the Longhorns only helped their cause on Ojomo’s official visit. I did hear a bit of a grapevine rumor this week that people inside the OU program were acting a “little bit confident” in this one, but I’m not quite sure what to make of that one. Alabama is trying to make a late run but this one probably comes down to Texas or OU. Give me Texas, although the OU rumor this week would probably have me lowering my percentage just a bit from where I would have had it coming out of Ojomo’s UT official visit.
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Andrew Parker – The recent UT offer has been all over the place this week on where he’d be visiting (A&M, Texas, TCU and Auburn were all talked about as possibilities at different times). On Thursday night, Parker, an Arkansas commitment, eliminated TCU (A&M and Auburn were eliminated earlier in the week). He’ll visit Texas this weekend and per a person close to Parker, this one is a two-team race between the Razorbacks and the Longhorns. This weekend’s visit will either win it or lose it for Texas.
******In case you missed our note from Thursday afternoon, grad transfer OL
Calvin Anderson tells us he’ll likely visit Auburn the weekend of February 9.
I’m sure Auburn will make a strong impression, but this one is still a Texas-Michigan battle right now, and I still have Texas squarely in the driver’s seat. For those who haven’t followed this one closely, Anderson doesn’t have to commit before National Signing Day since he’s a transfer from Rice. He won’t enroll at the school of his choice until summer, so he has more time to sort through his options.
