What a wild ride down the stretch. Let's touch on a variety of recruiting topics ...
--- Twenty-four commitments total. Two commitments on Tuesday and seven on Wednesday.
--- Texas ranks No. 13 in the team recruiting rankings. The Longhorns were at No. 39 late last night.
--- Texas signed the top class in the Big 12.
For those keeping score, as things stand right now ...
1. Texas (13)
2. Baylor (16)
3. TCU (20)
4. Oklahoma (25)
5. West Virginia (38)
6. Texas Tech (44)
7. Oklahoma State (46)
8. Iowa State (51)
9. Kansas State (72)
10. Kansas (84)
--- Six players who signed with Texas were committed elsewhere ...
De'Andre Christmas-Giles (Tennessee)
Davion Curtis (Georgia)
Chris Daniels (Oklahoma)
Jordan Elliott (Michigan, Houston, Baylor)
Erick Fowler (LSU)
Zach Shackelford (Kansas State)
--- Some background on guys who went down to the wire ...
D'andre Christmas-Giles - He was telling UT players, commits and coaches for the past few weeks he was coming. Anyone who thought he wasn't going to be a Longhorn wasn't paying attention. That includes the Aggies ... who inaccurately acted like DCG was considering them after his A&M visit. He wasn't. Not for a second, not even during his visit.
Eric Cuffee - He's been locked in for Texas for the better part of a month. Yes, he was doing some pro-Texas talking during his visit to Arkansas. No, he didn't get sent home from that trip early for recruiting for Texas. Regardless, there was never a doubt with this one.
Chris Daniels - Even when he was committed to Oklahoma, I thought this one would fall Texas' way due to Charlie Strong's connection with Daniels' family members. Truth be told, I heard a few weeks ago that this one was in the same category as Zach Shackelford - that it was in the bag, it was just a matter of when he'd announce. I hedged my comments a bit since he was still taking visits, but this one looked good for Texas all along and it's why I predicted the Longhorns to win out for a while.
Jordan Elliott - This one was obvious. Once he decommitted from Michigan, he was a Texas lock. Didn't take a brain surgeon to figure this one out.
Andrew Fitzgerald - Charlie Strong mentioned Fitzgerald in his Signing Day press conference as a dark horse candidate to be a star of the class. He mentioned his work ethic and motor.
This goes along with something I heard after Fitzgerald's official visit last month. From the War Room a couple weeks ago ...
"Finally, a quick note on another possible "sleeper" from this year's class.
"In gathering information from last weekend's official visitors, a trusted source brought up DE commitment Andrew Fitzgerald.
"'You know who may be the best of all the defensive linemen we sign? Fitzgerald,'" the source said. "'When he gets here, he may have the best motor of anyone on the team. He'll be right up there with a guy like Kirk Johnson with his motor.'"
Don't sleep on Fitzgerald, who was terrific at the Semper Fi game as well.
Erick Fowler - This one truly went down to the wire. I wrote last night that people were "cautiously optimistic" he would flip from LSU to Texas, but something about this one had me reluctant to stick my neck out too far.
I should have listened to a good source of mine, who sent me the following text early Monday morning ...
Source: "Fowler - in the boat, coming to Texas"
Me: "Something about the Fowler thing makes me uncertain. Can't put my finger on it."
Source: "I'm hearing he is 100% in the bag."
I should have put more stock in what my guy was telling me.
Brandon Jones - It's been trending Texas for a couple months and this was one in which the Longhorns simply had to hold on to win.
The talk of A&M and Baylor made it interesting down the stretch, but a text I got on Tuesday night saying Jones was 70 percent sure he was coming to Texas barring him feeling differently when waking up on Wednesday had me feeling pretty confident this one was going UT's way.
Jeffrey McCulloch - This one's been locked in for a while. Great pick-up and I like the fact that McCulloch waited to get the people who have supported him involved in his announcement.
Kyle Porter - Truth be told, any projections on Porter were no more than a guess. I leaned TCU a bit because that's where most of the chatter was and he apparently didn't do back flips on his UT official visit, but that's just Porter's personality. I did hear on Monday night that a person close to Porter advised him Texas was his best option, but with Porter it's tough to say whether or not that input had any impact. The random timing of this one was a big surprise and him picking Texas was a minor surprise.
Marcel Southall - Nothing too crazy, but a little back story on how we worked this week. We had originally planned to have our friend Rodrigo Periera lined up to cover Chris Daniels' announcement. But we knew that one was going to be Texas and Jason Howell already had a commit story written with quotes, so we sent Rodrigo to cover Southall's commitment instead. It worked out and Rodrigo did a great job, as always. I owe that dude dinner.
--- A couple guys who got away ...
Patrick Hudson - Everyone got excited about Hudson coming to Texas when some national and local writers predicted a late flip. Honestly, that had me wondering what I was missing and it sent me scrambling a bit since Hudson is so quiet and hard to read. I got word yesterday from a person who had communicated with Hudson directly that Hudson was picking Baylor and was just trying to drum up suspense. However, that conversation took place a couple days ago, so I did keep the door open a bit to the possibility of him coming to Texas. Hudson sent his LOI to Baylor very early so I think he really was just trying to build up some suspense.
Irvin Smith - Smith sent in his LOI early but didn't publicly announce for Alabama until this afternoon. Rumor has it he did have an interest in coming to Texas, but once his letter was sent in his hands were tied. Completely unconfirmed, but comes from a source I trust.
Rahssan Thornton - There was a brief moment this morning when he was on the fence about his LSU commitment. In fact, I've heard he actually communicated with the UT coaches today. He ended up signing with LSU though so it's a bit of a moot point.
--- Twenty-four commitments total. Two commitments on Tuesday and seven on Wednesday.
--- Texas ranks No. 13 in the team recruiting rankings. The Longhorns were at No. 39 late last night.
--- Texas signed the top class in the Big 12.
For those keeping score, as things stand right now ...
1. Texas (13)
2. Baylor (16)
3. TCU (20)
4. Oklahoma (25)
5. West Virginia (38)
6. Texas Tech (44)
7. Oklahoma State (46)
8. Iowa State (51)
9. Kansas State (72)
10. Kansas (84)
--- Six players who signed with Texas were committed elsewhere ...
De'Andre Christmas-Giles (Tennessee)
Davion Curtis (Georgia)
Chris Daniels (Oklahoma)
Jordan Elliott (Michigan, Houston, Baylor)
Erick Fowler (LSU)
Zach Shackelford (Kansas State)
--- Some background on guys who went down to the wire ...
D'andre Christmas-Giles - He was telling UT players, commits and coaches for the past few weeks he was coming. Anyone who thought he wasn't going to be a Longhorn wasn't paying attention. That includes the Aggies ... who inaccurately acted like DCG was considering them after his A&M visit. He wasn't. Not for a second, not even during his visit.
Eric Cuffee - He's been locked in for Texas for the better part of a month. Yes, he was doing some pro-Texas talking during his visit to Arkansas. No, he didn't get sent home from that trip early for recruiting for Texas. Regardless, there was never a doubt with this one.
Chris Daniels - Even when he was committed to Oklahoma, I thought this one would fall Texas' way due to Charlie Strong's connection with Daniels' family members. Truth be told, I heard a few weeks ago that this one was in the same category as Zach Shackelford - that it was in the bag, it was just a matter of when he'd announce. I hedged my comments a bit since he was still taking visits, but this one looked good for Texas all along and it's why I predicted the Longhorns to win out for a while.
Jordan Elliott - This one was obvious. Once he decommitted from Michigan, he was a Texas lock. Didn't take a brain surgeon to figure this one out.
Andrew Fitzgerald - Charlie Strong mentioned Fitzgerald in his Signing Day press conference as a dark horse candidate to be a star of the class. He mentioned his work ethic and motor.
This goes along with something I heard after Fitzgerald's official visit last month. From the War Room a couple weeks ago ...
"Finally, a quick note on another possible "sleeper" from this year's class.
"In gathering information from last weekend's official visitors, a trusted source brought up DE commitment Andrew Fitzgerald.
"'You know who may be the best of all the defensive linemen we sign? Fitzgerald,'" the source said. "'When he gets here, he may have the best motor of anyone on the team. He'll be right up there with a guy like Kirk Johnson with his motor.'"
Don't sleep on Fitzgerald, who was terrific at the Semper Fi game as well.
Erick Fowler - This one truly went down to the wire. I wrote last night that people were "cautiously optimistic" he would flip from LSU to Texas, but something about this one had me reluctant to stick my neck out too far.
I should have listened to a good source of mine, who sent me the following text early Monday morning ...
Source: "Fowler - in the boat, coming to Texas"
Me: "Something about the Fowler thing makes me uncertain. Can't put my finger on it."
Source: "I'm hearing he is 100% in the bag."
I should have put more stock in what my guy was telling me.
Brandon Jones - It's been trending Texas for a couple months and this was one in which the Longhorns simply had to hold on to win.
The talk of A&M and Baylor made it interesting down the stretch, but a text I got on Tuesday night saying Jones was 70 percent sure he was coming to Texas barring him feeling differently when waking up on Wednesday had me feeling pretty confident this one was going UT's way.
Jeffrey McCulloch - This one's been locked in for a while. Great pick-up and I like the fact that McCulloch waited to get the people who have supported him involved in his announcement.
Kyle Porter - Truth be told, any projections on Porter were no more than a guess. I leaned TCU a bit because that's where most of the chatter was and he apparently didn't do back flips on his UT official visit, but that's just Porter's personality. I did hear on Monday night that a person close to Porter advised him Texas was his best option, but with Porter it's tough to say whether or not that input had any impact. The random timing of this one was a big surprise and him picking Texas was a minor surprise.
Marcel Southall - Nothing too crazy, but a little back story on how we worked this week. We had originally planned to have our friend Rodrigo Periera lined up to cover Chris Daniels' announcement. But we knew that one was going to be Texas and Jason Howell already had a commit story written with quotes, so we sent Rodrigo to cover Southall's commitment instead. It worked out and Rodrigo did a great job, as always. I owe that dude dinner.
--- A couple guys who got away ...
Patrick Hudson - Everyone got excited about Hudson coming to Texas when some national and local writers predicted a late flip. Honestly, that had me wondering what I was missing and it sent me scrambling a bit since Hudson is so quiet and hard to read. I got word yesterday from a person who had communicated with Hudson directly that Hudson was picking Baylor and was just trying to drum up suspense. However, that conversation took place a couple days ago, so I did keep the door open a bit to the possibility of him coming to Texas. Hudson sent his LOI to Baylor very early so I think he really was just trying to build up some suspense.
Irvin Smith - Smith sent in his LOI early but didn't publicly announce for Alabama until this afternoon. Rumor has it he did have an interest in coming to Texas, but once his letter was sent in his hands were tied. Completely unconfirmed, but comes from a source I trust.
Rahssan Thornton - There was a brief moment this morning when he was on the fence about his LSU commitment. In fact, I've heard he actually communicated with the UT coaches today. He ended up signing with LSU though so it's a bit of a moot point.
