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Texans and the NFL draft

Posted by HenryJames on May 2nd, 2009 under Football, Recruiting

I follow recruiting closely in Texas so each year after the NFL draft I find out which draftees played their high school ball in Texas. Interesting to me to see which guys got drafted, where they were ranked coming out of high school and how their college careers went.

1st Rd

1. Matt Stafford, Georgia, Dallas Highland Park

Five stars. The top rated QB in the country.

2. Jason Smith, Baylor, Dallas White

Two star player. Baylor, Kansas and Minnesota offered. Everybody missed on this guy, probably because he was 6′5″ 220 in high school. Why spend 3 years putting weight on an offensive lineman when you can go get a 300 pounder high schooler?

10. Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech, Dallas Carter

Two stars. High school quarterback also offered by A&M, Baylor, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State and OU. Character issues? Mike Leach says he’s a good guy, but he turned off ESPN during a visit to their network headquarters. Yes, he was considered a douche by the same network that hired Stephen A. Smith.

13. Brian Orakpo, Texas, Houston Lamar

Three star player. Also offered by Colorado, A&M, Houston, Missouri and Stanford. Considered the second best prospect on his team behind Drew Kelson. Remember kids. Western Africa=sprinters and football players. Eastern Africa=distance runners.

20. Brandon Pettigrew, Oklahoma State, Tyler Lee

Three stars. Also offered by Iowa, Baylor and Tech. Didn’t play his junior year because of a knee injury.

32. Ziggy Hood, Missouri, Amarillo Palo Duro

Two stars. Offers from Missouri, UTEP, Baylor, Arizona State and TCU. Listed as a 6′4″ 230 lb defensive end in high school.

2nd Rd

48. Darcel McBath, Texas Tech, Gainesville

Three stars. Also offered by Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and A&M. His stock rose after his senior season.

3rd Rd

78. Louis Vasquez, Texas Tech, Corsicana

Three stars. Offers from pretty much everyone in the Big 12 except OU.

81. Roy Miller, Texas, Killeen Shoemaker

Four stars. Also offered by OU, Utah, Tech, Arkansas and Baylor. Initially committed to OU, but he switched to Texas in January. Was told by Stoops after he committed that they wouldn’t recruit any more DTs. They recruited more DTs.

94. Ryan Mouton, Hawaii, Katy

Four star JC transfer from Blinn also offered by Kansas.

99. Juaquin Iglesias, Oklahoma, Killeen

Two stars. Also offered by SMU and UTEP. Great job by OU finding and developing him.

4th Rd

101. Stephen McGee, Texas A&M, Burnet

Four stars. Also offered by Georgia, OU, Tennessee and Texas. Great offer list, but he liked the cut of Dennis Franchione’s jib. If he attends another school, he gets drafted on the first day.

105. Henry Melton, Texas, Grapevine

Four stars. Also offered by A&M, OU, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Tech and Arkansas. If Melton plays defensive end from day one at Texas, he gets drafted in the first two rounds.

107. Mike Thomas, Arizona, DeSoto

Three stars. Also offered by Georgia Tech, Kansas, Notre Dame, Tech, Wake Forest and Wisconsin. The inimitable Steg identified this guy as a player.

111. Mike Goodson, Texas A&M, Klein Collins

Five stars. Top 10 player in the state. Was asked to leave early during his official visit to Oklahoma State. Was then asked to leave early during his career at Texas A&M. When your head coach announces you’re leaving early for the draft, you might be a redneck cancer.

120. Brandon Williams, Texas Tech, Fort Worth South Hills

Two stars. Also offered by Central Florida, SMU, Colorado and Iowa State. Great find by Tech.

122. Anthony Hill, North Carolina State, League City Clear Brook

Went to Hargrave Military Academy for a year and recently turned 24. So there were probably some grade issues. Also offered by North Carolina, Mississippi State, Baylor, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Ohio State. High school defensive end.

5th Rd

137. Jason Phillips, TCU, Waller

Two stars. Listed as a 6′0″ 210 pound high school quarterback that TCU turned into a 240 pound linebacker. A lot of high school teams will take their best player and put them at QB. TCU then takes them and puts them at linebacker.

140. Johnny Knox, Abilene Christian, Channelview

Transferred from Tyler JC.

144. Jarrett Dillard, Rice, San Antonio Sam Houston

One star. Graduated first in his class, and his sister played basketball for Texas. Yet drew no interest from Texas or anyone else.

151. Rhett Bomar, Sam Houston St, Grand Prairie

Five stars. Offered by everyone. You know the rest of the story.

152. James Casey, Rice, Azle

Didn’t play his senior year because of injury and then was drafted by the White Sox. Walked on at Rice after three years in the minor leagues. Played like 8 positions in a single game, had three majors and probably didn’t fuck a single hot chick at Rice.

158. Cody Glenn, Nebraska, Rusk

Three stars. High school running back also offered by A&M, Arizona, Oklahoma State, BYU and Kansas. Franchione cancelled his official visit to A&M on the morning he and his head coach were scheduled to leave Rusk. Moved to linebacker his senior year in college. Yes, Bo Pelini will make a difference at Nebraska.

164. Thomas Morstead, SMU, Pearland

He’s a punter. He went to SMU. If a tree falls in the forest…

167. Herman Johnson, LSU, Denton

Four stars. Also offered by OU, Oklahoma State and Houston. Passed over by Texas because he weighed 360 pounds as a high school senior.

6th Rd

186. Robert Henson, TCU, Longview

One star. Committed to TCU in January of his senior year.

188. Brice McCain, Utah, Terrell

Two stars. Only offer was from Utah, but he played as a true freshman and started for three years. If you’re a second tier defensive prospect in the state of Texas, you should really consider TCU or Utah. They play great defense and get the most out of their players.

192. Aaron Brown, TCU, Katy Mayde Creek

Two stars. Also offered by Colorado and Kansas.

196. Keith Null, West Texas A&M, Lampasas

Who? Coached in college by former Charger Ryan Leaf. Same district as Stephen McGee so the starting quarterbacks in the 2004 Burnet-Lampasas game both got drafted.

197. Stephen Hodge, TCU, Tatum

Two stars. Also offered by Baylor, Houston, Missouri and A&M. A 6′1″ 185 quarterback that TCU turned into a 230 pound linebacker.

199. Stryker Sulak, Missouri, Rockdale

Two stars. Offers from Missouri and Houston. Great find by Missouri.

206. Dominique Edison, Stephen F Austin, San Augustine

He led his team to the 2A state title in football and won the 200m at the state track meet. Grades?

209. Bernard Scott, Abilene Christian, Vernon

Didn’t play his senior year in high school and attended four different colleges. Why? “He hates school, doesn’t trust a lot of people and obviously has some anger issues.” Oh.

7th Rd

211. Chris Ogbonnaya, Texas, Houston Strake Jesuit

Three stars. Also offered by UCLA, Arkansas, Colorado, LSU, Michigan, Northwestern, OU and Syracuse. High school wide receiver. Same school as DrJHorn and srr50 so it’s nice to finally see a Strake Jesuit grad make good.

225. Blake Schlueter, TCU, Ganado

Two stars Listed as 6′3″ 245 in high school which will pretty much get you ignored by most colleges. Best player to come out of Ganado since MilkmanDan.

229. Manuel Johnson, Oklahoma, Gilmer

Four stars. High school quarterback was also offered by Oklahoma State, Tech, A&M, Houston, Kansas State and Nebraska. Almost transferred from OU after the coaching staff gangraped his puppy with cancer. Or maybe they just yelled at him a lot.

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24 Responses

  1. BatesHorn said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 5:53 am

    “probably didn’t fuck a single hot chick at Rice.”

    Was this him, or that there are no hot chicks at Rice. I’m guessing the latter.

  2. srr50 said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 5:59 am

    7th Rd
    211. Chris Ogbonnaya, Texas, Houston Strake Jesuit

    Three stars. Also offered by UCLA, Arkansas, Colorado, LSU, Michigan, Northwestern, OU and Syracuse. High school wide receiver. Same school as DrJHorn and srr50 so it’s nice to finally see a Strake Jesuit grad make good.

    Jake Voskuhl Holla!

  3. Steve Nebraska said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 7:15 am

    Overall, it seems like a pretty strong showing for Texas High School Football. Curious if someone with some more historical perspective agrees.

  4. the Bobs said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 7:37 am

    kind of a cautionary tale for die-hard recruitniks…

    some interesting points:
    - the average rating of all Texas draftees is well below 3-star.
    - both 5-stars were drafted based on ‘potential’ rather than performance, as were about half of the 4-stars (McGee, anyone?)
    - the first round tally: one 5-star (again, not based on performance at the college level…), two 3-stars, and three 2-stars…

  5. srr50 said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 7:48 am

    Overall, it seems like a pretty strong showing for Texas High School Football. Curious if someone with some more historical perspective agrees.

    The top three states to produce NFL players for 2008 were:

    California 214
    Florida 185
    Texas 170

    There was a huge drop off from those three states (Ohio was next at 90).

  6. David said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 7:49 am

    Great post! Thanks for doing the work!

  7. tokamak said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 8:21 am

    Crabtree was a Rivals 4-star player, 5.8. Typo?

  8. tokamak said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 8:27 am

    nm, looks like you’re using Scout

  9. Vasherized said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 8:50 am

    Good stuff.

    Players drafted by conference is always an interesting number as well.

    - Another solid year for the ACC.

    - Big East is skewed because they have 38 teams in the conference.

    - Mountain West pwns the mid-majors.

    2008 numbers in parentheses:

    SEC – 37 (35)
    Pac 10 – 32 (34)
    ACC – 32 (33)
    Big 12 – 28 (29)
    Big 10 – 28 (28)
    Big East – 27 (19)
    Mntn West – 15 (7)
    WAC – 12 (8)
    C-USA – 10 (11)

    Abilene Christian had more players drafted than Notre Dame of Virginia Tech.

    UConn with 4 players taken in first 63 picks is an anomaly. Did Calhoun’s back-ups get restless?

    South Carolina had six players taken in rounds 5-7. Spurrier would rather be at Augusta than coach football.

  10. Dimpled Balls said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 9:14 am

    “Spurrier would rather be at Augusta than coach football.”

    I too would rather walk the hallowed grounds of Augusta than coach ‘Cocks..

  11. srr50 said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am

    Big East is skewed because they have 38 teams in the conference.

    The Big East numbers are skewed alright, but the other way. There are only 8 schools playing football in the Big East.

  12. Facebook User said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 9:57 am

    Randy Edsall has long been known as Coach February.

    UCONN is also spinning guys off into the CFL.

  13. Vasherized said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 10:25 am

    srr50,

    Good point. And that certainly makes the number more impressive.

  14. srr50 said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 10:38 am

    Vaherized:

    OTH, the Pac 10 numbers are skewed by USC, which has produced 21 of the 66 players taken from that conference in the last two rounds.

  15. Kafka said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am

    HJ:

    Great stuff! It is amazing that so many guys who were not highly rated (i.e. 3 star and less) coming out of high school ended up doing so well. Maybe conventional wisdom overrates recruiting success (as defined by Scout, Rivals, or Espn).

  16. NateHeupel said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    “It is amazing that so many guys who were not highly rated (i.e. 3 star and less) coming out of high school ended up doing so well. Maybe conventional wisdom overrates recruiting success (as defined by Scout, Rivals, or Espn).”

    As I understand it, the prevailing thought on this idea is twofold.

    First, many Texas high schools have strength & conditioning programs and coaching that would rival a majority of FCS college programs and probably a number of FBS schools, too. A lot of these 5* and 4* kids hit their senior years having already neared their cap in terms of potential and ability. Then there’s guys like Brian Orakpo, who come in as skinny bitches, and leave in a condition where they make everyone else their bitches.

    Second, there’s only about 25-35 5* players and about 75-100 4* players per year. So the failure rate seems higher. But there are HUNDREDS of 3* and 2* kids, and the vast majority don’t pan out. It’s just playing the odds. (Note: Barking Carnival has done a fantastic piece on this if you haven’t read it.)

  17. Ag_in_TX said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Keith Null was a fantastic QB at WTAMU and has the tools to be succesful in The League.

  18. 'roy said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Michael Crabtree-rising star. Its going to be interesting to see how his career plays out in a few years.

  19. Kriess said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    Undrafted: Brian Johnson (Utah)

    I want to say he was a 2 or 3 star QB from Baytown Lee HS just east of Houston. Originally went to Crosby HS for his freshman and Sophmore years but after going 1-9 both years, he decided to make everyone at Baytown Lee forget about a kid named Drew Tate, who by the way was an arrogant douche.

    Brian was a top notch kid, and I know this due to the fact that I grew up 7 houses down from him in Crosby. One hell of an athlete. Had more offers for Basketball than Football. I think he made the good choice. I mean, he is on the cover of NCAA 10. Not bad.

  20. 98horn said:

    May 4th, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    . . .Played like 8 positions in a single game, had three majors and probably didn’t fuck a single hot chick at Rice.

    There are no hot chicks at Rice. Q.E.D. No one fucks a hot chick at Rice.

  21. sa said:

    May 5th, 2009 at 11:07 am

    yes…Ive had the unfortuante opportunity to have drinks in Rice Village a couple of times now. I also run around their campus on their fairly nice running trail. still waiting to see the first good looking Rice girl. I’m sure there’s got to be at least one or two.

  22. intellectual type said:

    May 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I’ve seen some f-able talent in Rice Village. Maybe you should lower your standards. That, or drink more before you go lookin’ for a good time.

  23. BrickHorn said:

    May 5th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    Rice is the Brown University of Texas.

  24. Kafka said:

    May 5th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    NateHeupel:

    I agree with your first point having lived it. I was only 6′ as a sophomore, 6′4″ as a junior, and between 6′5″ and 6′6″ as a senior. My impression is that for many or even most big guys, the reason we get so big is that we just keep growing for more years.

    “Second, there’s only about 25-35 5* players and about 75-100 4* players per year.”

    Are you sure? I took a quick look at Rivals and it looks like there are way more than 75-100 4* star players in 2009. I got a count of 174 through the top 14 teams in 2008 and there were still a bunch of 4* guys below that.

    Texas alone has 26 guys out of 40 guys recruited in 2008/2009 who were 4/5 star guys (according to rivals). It surprised me that UT was ranked at 14th best class in 2008.

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