THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas just might have gotten itself a good player in Bijan Robinson
When running back Bijan Robinson committed to the Longhorns back in early August, everyone knew the Longhorns were getting a special player. The Tucson Salpointe standout would be moved up to five-star status not too long after he committed to Texas, and his performance so far this year certainly backs up that lofty ranking.
Check out these stats … through four games, Robinson has carried the ball just 39 times, but he has racked up a ridiculous 993 yards and 17 touchdowns on those 39 carries. Yep … 25.5 yards per carry and a touchdown just about every other time he touches the ball. The stats are incredible, but Robinson is making an equally impressive impression on his teammates and coaches with the way he’s handling the success.
“He’s just off to a great start. I think what’s been most impressive, he’s really been playing within the parameters of our offense. He’s only touched the ball 39 times, plus I think has two catches. So he’s touching the ball about 10 times a game,” Salpointe head coach Dennis Bene said. “He’s obviously maximizing his production. But he’s not trying to do any more or any less than we’re asking him to.
“His production has been off the charts, but he and I talk about it. He understands, he’s keeping everything in perspective. My concern as a coach, you would like to have a game where he’s asked to really gain some hard yards, have to grind out some drives. Those are going to pay off at the end of the year. He’s aware of that. But he still practices extremely hard, he’s in tremendous shape, he’s been a beast so far.”
Robinson has made it look easy so far this year against overmatched opponents. As Bene said, there will come a week when he’s going to have to make some tough runs to move the chains and help Salpointe win. Bene has no concerns that Robinson won’t be ready for the big moments.
“No question about it, no question about it. He absolutely loves to compete. He really looks forward to playing against other good teams. He embraces the challenges of going up against a really good defense,” Bene said. “He prepares really hard. He is yet to take anybody lightly. That’s just not his approach. He’s very well prepared, looks forward to the challenge each week.”
Last week, during a 282-yard, 4-TD performance, Robinson set the all-time Tucson city rushing record. He has 5,702 career rushing yards and is about 84 yards away from the state big-school rushing record, which should take him about three or four carries at the rate at which he’s been playing. Robinson appreciates the records, Bene said, but he’s more concerned about how his team performs.
“He has personal goals, which I think is good. He’s like a lot of athletes who set personal goals to kind of push themselves. But for him, it’s all about his team, all about winning,” Bene said. “(The record) wasn’t mentioned once (last weekend). We didn’t talk about it one time Saturday at our team practice, team meetings. While it’s there and it’s an incredible accomplishment considering the tremendous amount of running backs who have played in southern Arizona, it’s not something he really needs to discuss or wants to discuss.”
Last week, Tom Herman and Stan Drayton took advantage of the Longhorns’ off week to head out to Tucson to watch Robinson in action.
“Herman and Drayton were on the sidelines, which was really great. It was great to see both of them,” Bene said. “Obviously it meant a lot to Bijan to have them on the sidelines, and for him to break the city rushing record in front of his future coaches was an honor.”
Despite Robinson’s commitment to Texas and him maintaining that he’s solid in his decision, some have wondered if he’d ever consider keeping an eye on any other schools that were recruiting him. Robinson exploring other options would be completely out of character, and Bene said he’s so solid that other coaches have backed off in their recruiting efforts ever since he committed to Texas.
“He’s 100-percent committed. His recruitment has been shut down. All the other college coaches have been tremendously respectful of his commitment,” Bene said. “Me, nor anybody associated with my staff, have taken any call or texts from other colleges about Bijan.”
2. It’s time to start paying more attention to OL commitment Andrej Karic
Texas offensive line commitment Andrej Karic has kind of flown under the radar from a coverage perspective, mostly because the Southlake Carroll standout is a bit of a ghost when it comes to interviews with the media.
Karic works out with former Texas Longhorn Donald Hawkins (#DhawkOlinePerformance), who trains offensive lineman in the DFW area, and Hawkins absolutely raved about what Karic brings to the table as a prospect.
“I guarantee the same thing I’m quoting right now, once he gets into fall camp (next year), you’ll see the same things. What makes this kid so special, the athleticism, the speed and quickness,” Hawkins said. “When I say he has NFL-like ability, I’m not being biased. I say that because I played in the NFL and he has the tools they’re looking for.”
Karic is 6-5 and up to 280 pounds. He’s athletic, he’s a hard worker, and Hawkins said he has the perfect mentality for an offensive lineman.
“His feet are quick, his hands are quick. He’s athletic. He’s nasty, he’s mean,” Hawkins said. “He has everything I wish I had. He’s athletic, he’s long.
“When I say he’s a top tier player, I have kids who are five stars, four stars. To me he looks as good as them and he’s a three star ... I coached at The Opening, some of the best in the country. You look at those guys, he’s right up there with those guys … My opinion, and I’m not being biased, he’s the best tackle in the state of Texas.”
3. Jalen Milroe continues to impress
Another week, another dominant performance by Texas 2021 quarterback commitment Jalen Milroe.
The numbers … 6 of 10 passing, 187 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs in a 63-27 win over Katy Seven Lakes.
“This week was our rival game, our district opener against Seven Lakes. It was a big rivalry, big game for us, homecoming for us,” Milroe said. “Coming into the game, we just wanted to go 1-0 each and every day, every play. We did really well, came out strong.”
The competition gets much tougher this week, with Tompkins set to square off with an undefeated Katy team. Milroe knows it’ll probably be the toughest competition he and his teammates will face during the regular season, but he said he’s approaching it as he does every other game and he’s excited for the challenge that Katy presents.
“I feel with Katy, I know it’s going to be great competition. It’s going to be big game for us,” Milroe said. “We’re going to give it our all, try to go 1-0 every day. We’re just prepping normal, treat it like a normal game.
“I love playing in these games. I’ve always been around competition, even when I was younger playing in FBU. We always played great competition around the nation, not just Texas. Games like this give me chills.”
Milroe said he’s thinking Tim Beck may make it out to the game on Thursday. He stays in close contact with Beck and Herman every week and he’ll be at the Texas-OU game in a couple weeks.
Though he’s rock solid with his commitment, several other schools continue to reach out to the Rivals100 member. Northwestern, Florida, Florida State and Texas Tech are among the schools that routinely send texts and DMs.
“Me personally, I know I’m locked in. But I give them respect because they see value in me,” Milroe said.
Oh by the way, Texas 2020 commitment Hudson Card was pretty damn good in his own right last week.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. What to make of Princely Umanmielen and Joshua Eaton’s official visits to Oklahoma last weekend?
Texas commitments Princely Umanmielen and Joshua Eaton took official visits to Oklahoma last week, and from what I’m hearing so far this week, the situations differ with each guy. Let’s take a look at each of them.
--- Umanmielen told me on Monday night it was a good visit, but nothing has changed and he’s still solid to Texas.
“It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it,” Umanmielen said. “The highlights - I thought it was pretty good watching the d-line move around. I think the highlight of the visit was probably eating dinner at coach (Lincoln) Riley’s house.”
Where does his commitment to Texas stand?
“I’m still 100 percent Texas,” Umanmielen said.
Umanmielen will next visit Texas A&M in two weeks. He told me he’ll probably also visit Auburn, which just offered last week. Texas plans to get the final visit.
Umanmielen said it himself, but multiple sources told me this week they don’t feel Oklahoma is a big threat in this one.
--- Eaton, the corner out of Aldine MacArthur, is a bit tougher to read, and his is a situation worth watching much more closely.
One source told me on Monday night Eaton is “up in the air” and the fact that Eaton has been completely silent in the 36 hours following his visit would seem to back that theory. In a perfect world, if you’re a Texas fan, you’d hope that Eaton would do what Umanmielen did and confirm his commitment to Texas, but he’s gone silent over the last week. Does it mean he’s going to flip? Not necessarily, but it does leave a lot of room for speculation, which you’d think he’d want to eliminate if he was locked in for Texas.
What I’m hearing is that OU is absolutely making Eaton a priority since they need defensive backs, especially those with length. I’ll continue to work on getting an update from Eaton, but as I said above, this is a situation worth monitoring closely.
2. How does the Big 12 rank after last week’s slate of games?
We had four conference games last week, with Texas and West Virginia having the week off before the two square off this weekend. How I’d handicap the Big 12 race right now ...
1. Oklahoma (Last week: 1) – No surprise here, but OU pummeled Texas Tech in Norman last weekend. The Sooners haven’t played anyone, but they look really good so far this year.
2. Texas (Last week: 2) – The Longhorns and Sooners look head and shoulders better than the rest of the conference.
3. Oklahoma State (Last week: 3) – The Cowboys made surprisingly easy work of Kansas State last weekend.
4. Baylor (Last week: 6) – The Bears cold make for a tricky match-up for Texas in Waco late in the season.
5. TCU (Last week: 7) – I’m still not sure what to make of their QB play, but the Frogs can run the ball and continue to put up points.
6. Iowa State (Last week: 5) – Late rally against Baylor fell short last week; probably the biggest disappointment in the conference so far.
7. Kansas State (last week: 4) – Failed its first real test last week in Stillwater.
8. West Virginia (last week: 9) – I just haven’t seen enough from this group to move it up the list.
9. Texas Tech (last week: 8) – The Red Raiders are a completely different team with Alan Bowman out of action.
10. Kansas (last week: 10) – I can’t believe I wondered last week if Kansas could beat TCU … guess not.
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ONE PREDICTION – Andrej Karic picks up his fourth star in the next rankings update
Rivals.com recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman mentioned Andrej Karic as a player who has impressed so far this year and in looking at Karic’s senior film, he’s a player who looks like a no-brainer to get bumped up to four stars to these eyes. Karic’s up to 280 pounds, his footwork and sets are incredible and he’s dominating quality competition.
Great evaluation by the Texas support staff and coaches in a player who looks like he could be a hidden gem for Texas in the 2020 class.
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