THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Don’t get Jonathon Brooks riled up
Every time I look up, Texas running back commitment Jonathon Brooks is putting up big numbers. Last week, Brooks led his team to an undefeated district title with a 54-39 win over Hitchcock. In that game, Brooks rushed for 215 yards and 6 TDs on just 12 carries, and Hitchcock found out the hard way just how talented Brooks is in a chippy game that saw Brooks take out some frustration on one of his runs.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Brooks said of one play in particular, where he literally threw a Hitchcock defender out of the way on his way to the end zone. “The game was really scrappy, there was a little scuffle at one point. I was kind of mad and in the moment, I was really determined to score.”
On the season, Brooks has now rushed for 1,797 yards and 39 touchdowns on just 139 carries (12.92 ypc).
Away from the field, Brooks is a mild-mannered kid. When he steps between the lines, the switch seems to flip, as Hitchock found out, but Brooks said he’s just trying to take care of business to help his team win.
“When I get on the field, I just want to get my job done, just do what I can do,” Brooks said. “My in-game mentality, I get a little serious.”
Brooks remains solid with his Texas commitment, and said he likes what he’s seen from the UT run game of late. While he’s the main runner for his high school team, Brooks said he likes UT’s running-back-by-committee approach, with three backs all getting work.
“Me personally, in high school, I want the ball in my hands,” Books said. “In college, I’m just looking to do my part, get to the next level, compete with college athletes.”
Texas continues to recruit another back in the 2021 class, L.J. Johnson. If Texas is able to land the Rivals100 member, Brooks said he has no problem being part of a two-back class. In fact, he’s talked to Johnson to try to get him to commit to Texas. If Texas doesn’t land Johnson, Brooks is expecting to be the only back the Longhorns sign this year.
A few weeks ago, Oklahoma reached out to Brooks to gauge his interest. The Sooners touched base again on Sunday, and Brooks made it clear he’s not interested.
“They just texted me today,” Brooks said. “It was one of their recruiters, but I told them I’m 100 percent committed to Texas and they didn’t text me back.”
2. Texas is looking to add more defensive linemen to the 2021 class
A guy like Shemar Turner is going to be on the radar until he signs his letter of intent, but the UT staff continues to target some other options as well.
Late last week, Texas put a couple new offers on the table to prospects in Louisiana, including one to New Orleans Holy Cross product Barryn Sorrell.
A one-time Northwestern commitment, Sorrell re-opened his recruitment a couple weeks ago. He and Oscar Giles have been communicating for a while, and Texas put an offer on the table on Friday. Sorrell said he’s keeping an open mind but the Texas offer has his attention.
“Obviously, I know that one’s big. It’s a very good school football-wise and I’m very excited about it,” Sorrell said.
Being that he’s a former Northwestern commitment, Sorrell is obviously a good student. He wants to study finance and said academics will definitely factor into his decision.
“They’re definitely very important to me. I understand you have to have a life after football,” Sorrell said. “Obviously I know the McCombs Business School is a really good business school, so I know that would set me up.”
A 6-4, 263-pounder, Sorrell said he’s “completely open to all schools.” He’s doing his homework on the schools that have offered him, seeing who is going to make a priority and said he’ll choose whichever school best sets him up for the rest of his life.
While he works through the process, Sorrell said he’ll use virtual meetings in addition to some potential in-person campus visits to get a better feel for the programs he’s considering.
“Schools right now have been really good with the Zoom calls, things like that. They’ve been really good about bringing the school to me. I have some Zoom meetings set up, and then I’m also open to doing self-guided tours,” Sorrell said.
Along with Texas, schools like Arizona State, Baylor, Louisville, Missouri, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Washington State have offered. Sorrell isn’t sure yet if he’ll sign in December or wait until February. The Texas staff, he said, has done a good job of showing him how he could be successful in UT’s defensive scheme.
“(Coach Giles) has been watching me for a while. Him and coach (Mark) Hagen both know what I bring to the table. They’ve talked to me a lot, shown me how they could use me. They see me as moving up and down the line, being able to use my skill set,” Sorrell said.
3. Defensive end Gharin Stansbury is another out-of-state offer to watch
The other defensive line offer in Louisiana to go out last week was to Franklin (LA) defensive end Gharin Stansbury. An Arizona State commitment, Stansbury said he’s still happy with his decision, but he also knows “how good of a program UT is, what they have to offer.”
Like Sorrell, Stansbury and Giles have been talking for a while. Stansbury said they’ve been in communication since the beginning of summer and Giles has stressed to him how he could thrive in Austin.
This one may be a bit tricky. Stansbury’s plan is to sign in December and while he’s keeping a bit of an open mind, he sounds like he’s still pretty solid with his Arizona State commitment.
“I’m committed, but as time goes on, you never know. But as of right now, I’m committed to ASU,” Stansbury said. “The thing I liked about ASU, me building a connection with coach (Robert Rodriguez), the d-line coach. And the direction the program is heading in. And the NFL experience on the coaching staff. You really can’t get that anywhere else.”
Stansbury said he and Giles are going to stay in touch, so we’ll see if Texas can chip away over the next month.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. How does the Big 12 stack up after last week’s action?
1. Oklahoma (Last week: 3) – Don’t look now, but the Sooners again look to be the cream of the crop in the Big 12.
2. Iowa State (Last week: 4) – It feels like you could pick from about four different schools for this second spot, but I’ll give the edge to ISU since it is technically atop the conference standings.
3. Oklahoma State (Last week: 1) – Yes, Texas knocked OSU off, but that had as much to do with the Cowboys shooting themselves in the foot as it did anything else.
4. Texas (Last week: 5) – The Longhorns are on a three-game win streak, but if we’re being honest, they haven’t been overly impressive in those three wins.
5. Kansas State (Last week: 2) – The Wildcats have come crashing back down to earth the past two weeks.
6. West Virginia (Last week: 8) – Tough call between WVU and TCU for this spot, but that’ll sort itself out this weekend when they match up.
7. TCU (Last week: 6) – I still can’t believe Texas lost to this team in Austin.
8. Texas Tech (Last week: 7) – I’m not sure what the Red Raiders are doing with their QB decisions, but it doesn’t appare to be working.
9. Baylor (Last week: 9) – I was shocked Baylor was able to play ISU to within one score last week in Ames.
10. Kansas (Last week: 10) – Is Les Miles already on the hot seat?
2. Who do I think were the best high school QBs I’ve ever covered?
Watching Garrett Gilbert get the start for the Cowboys on Sunday (and play surprisingly well) got me thinking about how highly I thought of Gilbert as a prospect coming out of Lake Travis. Of course, Gilbert never lived up to those lofty expectations, but I thought I’d go through the memory bank and list the guys who I thought were the top QB prospects I’ve covered in my time with Orangebloods.
When I initially joined OB, Vince Young was the first quarterback I covered, and he still sets the standard. VY, along with Adrian Peterson, stand as the top two high school players I’ve ever seen. The list below is based on my personal belief of how these guys would fare in college … not how their careers actually played out.
1. Vince Young – An easy choice for the top spot. As I said, VY is still the best player I’ve ever covered.
1a. Trevor Lawrence; 1aa. Justin Fields – Gotta mention these two. Texas didn’t recruit them, but they’d be in VY’s league based on watching them at the Five-Star Challenge and other events. Lawrence is the best thrower of the football I’ve ever seen and Fields is an extremely talented runner/passer who also elevates those around him.
2. Garrett Gilbert – This is how highly I thought of Gilbert coming out of high school. I would have bet a lot of money that he would have been a star at Texas.
3. Matthew Stafford – I didn’t cover him closely because he committed to Georgia early, but Stafford was pretty much a no-brainer prospect in that 2006 class. Seeing him pile up the stats in the NFL is no surprise.
4. Kyler Murray – He was a pain in the ass to cover, but I thought he was under-ranked by Rivals as a four-star prospect.
5. Ryan Mallett – In terms of pure arm strength, Mallett was in a class of his own. Watching him zip the ball around in camp settings was something else. He went on to have a pretty successful college career and bounced around in the NFL for a while.
6. Graham Harrell – I covered Harrell some way back when, since I was a kind of behind-the-scenes publisher for our Texas Tech site to help get that one off the ground. With his talent, and him going to play for Mike Leach, I thought he’d be terrific. He would finish his Tech career with several NCAA records.
7. Hudson Card – I’m a little gun shy about putting any current Texas QB on this list because I’m not sure what the future holds for this program, but I think Card has immense talent, drive and the smarts to be terrific.
8. Jalen Milroe – I contemplated putting Milroe ahead of Card. Great talent and just seems to have an “it” factor in leading his team. He’ll face plenty of competition just to get on the field at Bama, but I bet he makes his mark. I could see him finishing much higher on this list.
9. Jerrod Heard – Heard’s career didn’t go quite the way I thought it would. When he first committed to Texas, I remember betting a friend of mine that he’d be an all-conference QB at UT before his time was done. He had a brief flash, but ultimately I was way off on this one.
10. Stephen McGee – I thought he’d re-write the passing record book at A&M. While he was solid as a thrower and a runner, he never quite took off as a passer the way I thought he would.
Honorable mention: David Ash, JT Barrett, John Chiles, Sam Ehlinger, Ja’Quinden Jackson, Chance Mock, Mitch Mustain, Ryan Perilloux, Robbie Reid, Russell Shepherd, Jevan Snead, Connor Wood
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands Terrence Cooks this weekend
Linebacker Terrence Cooks is planning to announce his decision this coming weekend, likely on Saturday afternoon.
In talking to Cooks last week, he has a final four of Texas, LSU, Baylor and Georgia. The Pearland Shadow Creek standout swears he’s undecided, but I’m not sure I buy that. Usually when a guy sets a commitment date like that, and we’re that close to the announcement, he has a pretty good idea of where he’s going to wind up.
Texas has been the longtime leader for Cooks and though LSU made a move over the summer when Cooks was in Baton Rouge for a recruit-led visit, I still think he’s Texas’ to lose. Cooks raved about his relationship with UT linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler last week and seemed almost agitated when he and I were talking about the criticisms he hears of Texas’ and LSU’s slow starts to the season. He may be right. The progress Texas has made on defense is easy to see, Cooks has taken notice and I think the Longhorns land his commitment in five days. In fact, I just realized I had never put in a FutureCast pick for Cooks ... that's now changed.
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