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2010 Recruiting began today

Posted by HenryJames on February 7th, 2009 under Football, Recruiting

Texas picked up its first commitments of 2010 tonight, and I’ll get to them in a moment. But first I want to give you some background on early recruiting.

Texas fans will invariably be disappointed on a few of our commits. It happens every year. Why? Because they decided that a player whom they’ve never seen play is the best player at his position. Why? Because someone else said so. For example, a few months ago word got out that Jerry Scarborough was going to make Denison RB DJ Jones his top player in the state. Naturally a lot of Texas fans thought it was because the Texas coaches thought Jones was the best player in the state. He’s not. If he were, they would have invited him to a junior day. They haven’t. And 99.9% of these fans have never even seen so much as a picture of Jones.

Highlight clips have to be taken with a grain of salt. The player in question might look great on those 10 plays, but those might be the majority of good plays he made that year. My rule of thumb is that if there are multiple clips from a single game, the guy is pretty good. If it took 8 games of film to get the dude’s 10 highlight plays, you need to look further. And highlight clips don’t show the passes he dropped, the sacks he gave up or the plays on which he got pancaked.

We like to think that Texas works harder than every other school out there. It isn’t true for the most part. Other schools work just as hard, and some probably work even harder because they don’t have the brand recognition that Texas has. So the majority of players at this point have been offered by the in state schools and regional powers. And these offers are important.

There are three programs in the region whose offers really mean something to me. Texas, Oklahoma and LSU. If a Texas guy has been offered by these three combined, he’s an elite player. If the guy has been offered by national programs like USC and Florida as well, he’s even better. You can also look at a guy’s offers according to his position. An offensive lineman offered by Iowa. A defensive lineman offered by North Carolina. A defensive back offered by Nebraska. Schools whose head coach or position coach has a history of developing players at that position.

With that in mind let’s take a look at the commits.

Offensive lineman Trey Hopkins of North Shore committed after being offered over the phone by Mack Brown. First time I’ve heard of that happening. He had visited last weekend. Hopkins is a legit 6′4″ with a giant wingspan, great feet and he’s a fantastic student (Stanford offer). The Aggies had worked themselves into a frenzy that they were going to get Hopkins because it was believed that Texas wasn’t going to offer any offensive linemen.


Why do the Aggies keep falling for it?

We had a handful of visitors today with more coming in tomorrow.

Receiver John Harris of Garland Naaman Forest committed to Texas. There is not any film of Harris on either Scout or Rivals so I have no idea what to say about him except that he has been offered by Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona and Tech. His commitment will probably result in some gnashing of teeth because there are other higher ranked guys out there. Get used to it. We’re bringing in probably half a dozen great prospects at both receiver and linebacker, and we don’t have room for them all.

Defensive tackle Taylor Bible of Denton Guyer is rumoured to have committed. No one can confirm it at this point though. Bible went head to head against Mason Walters for seven plays in a playoff game last season. Walters won 4-3. Bible is what we need at defensive tackle against the spread because he can play both sideline to sideline and rush the passer. Great quickness and uses his hands well. The closest comparison I can think of in the Big 12 is Gerald McCoy at Oklahoma.

Receiver Trovon Reed of Thibodaux, LA is a raw athlete who has been compared to Eddie Kennison by his high school coach. Fantastic stop/start and acceleration. He’ll be offered by everyone in the SEC. Texas offered, but Reed did not commit. He is close to Lache Seastrunk and Tony Hurd Jr, and Texas will be hosting both of them tomorrow.

Safety Ahmad Dixon of Waco Midway is the best defensive back in the state and will be offered by everyone. Texas offered, but he didn’t commit. He will. Fantastic in run support.

Receiver Darius Terrell of DeSoto was offered but didn’t commit. Terrell is a big body at the position with great hands and decent speed. He’s got offers from OU, LSU, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas Tech.

There will be about fifteen more prospects in town tomorrow, and there will be more commits. I’ll take a look at them later.

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15 Responses

  1. glenn said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 7:09 am

    o’queso, hoo is do inn two-day, huh?

  2. DBH said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 7:40 am

    RB Lache Seastrunk of Temple, QBs Connor Wood of Houston Second Baptist and Case McCoy of Graham, WRs Darius White of Fort Worth Dunbar, Mike Davis of Dallas Skyline, and Darius Terrell of DeSoto, DEs Jackson Jeffcoat of Plano West and Reggie Wilson of Haltom City, DT De’Aires Cotton of Alief Taylor, LBs Corey Nelson of Dallas Skyline, Aaron Benson of Cedar Hill, Tevin Jackson of Garland and Kris Catlin of San Antonio Madison, and CBs Adrian White of DeSoto and Carrington Byndom of Lufkin.

  3. glenn said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 8:18 am

    thanks.

  4. dedfischer said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 9:44 am

    I’m scared Trips Right is currently passed out in a Juarez prison right now.

  5. Bow Shumbuckler said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Yeah. So how’s that nepotism working out for you guys?

  6. DBH said:

    February 8th, 2009 at 10:20 am

    I could certainly empathize with Trips if he was. We suck.

  7. Denison Fan said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 8:35 am

    How can you say that DJ isn’t the best in the state ? It is true, he doesn’t have the breakaway speed that Seastrunk has, but I gurantee you that he is a better receiver and picks up the blitz(hes 220lb.) better than most. Oh yeah, he breaks 3-4 tackles on just about every play. Only time will tell, but if you undervalue him, he will be wearing sooner colors come the fall of 11′.

  8. HenryJames said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 8:43 am

    If he was the best in state, his offers would reflect it.

  9. Denison Fan said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Best is debateable, no matter how you go…I just found it odd that you singled him out. Have you watched a single game of his ?

  10. HenryJames said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 9:59 am

    I singled him out to make a point about how perception is reality for lots of fans that follow recruiting.

    And no, I’ve never seen him play. But I’ve talked to five guys who have, and none of them said he was the best running back they had seen in state. And it looks like the majority of college coaches that recruit the state agree.

  11. sl xpress said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 10:38 am

    Henry James suffered a rip in his rectal lining from rough anal sex at a truckstop in Denison. That’s what this is really about.

  12. Denison Fan said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am

    I’m sorry to hear that you ran into SeaBass. However, I do believe that Texas will offer and I know that OU is preparing to, as well.

  13. echeese said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am

    Ouch

  14. Nordberg said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am

    Bonus points for the Seabass reference.

  15. Scipio Tex said:

    February 9th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    Texas fans will invariably be disappointed on a few of our commits. It happens every year. Why? Because they decided that a player whom they’ve never seen play is the best player at his position. Why? Because someone else said so. For example, a few months ago word got out that Jerry Scarborough was going to make Denison RB DJ Jones his top player in the state. Naturally a lot of Texas fans thought it was because the Texas coaches thought Jones was the best player in the state. He’s not. If he were, they would have invited him to a junior day. They haven’t. And 99.9% of these fans have never even seen so much as a picture of Jones.

    That bears repeating.

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