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Texas Recruiting Notes 2022 - Idiotic Slapfights Unrelated To 2022 Recruiting


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  On 8/19/2020 at 5:04 PM, Elmer_Fudd said:

Rivals top 75 in-state rankings.

https://n.rivals.com/state_rankings/2022/texas

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man, Rivals has some shit going on with their pages. Takes a long time to load (granted I am using privacy badger, ghostery and ublock origin but...)

Top 10:

  1. Denver Harris, CB (5*) - overall #3
  2. Quinn Ewers, QB (5*) - overall #6
  3. Kam Dewberry, OT (5*) - overall #10
  4. Keithian Alexander, DT - overall #15
  5. Devon Campbell, OT - overall #24
  6. Caleb Burton, WR - overall #29
  7. Bryce Anderson, S - overall #37
  8. Jaydon Blue, RB - overall #53
  9. Brennen Thompson, ATH - overall #58
  10. Kelvin Banks, OT - overall #64

Phaizon Wilson clocks in at #17 in TX if people were interested.

also for those of you who really want a good laugh and like me didn't realize how wack as fuck Rivals is, Bryce Foster is their #9 overall prospect in the country (Composite #64.) Ahead of Tommy Brockermeyer (Composite #5 overall.) They also have Camar Wheaton at #7 overall (Composite #18 overall)

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OB:

Jaydon Blue was named the top 2022 RB in the country this week by Rivals.com.

He and I were exchanging some texts today and he offered up the following: "UT is definitely my top school right now."

I'll have more in the War Room but Texas has done a really good job here. There are two FutureCast picks in, both for LSU, but I'd put my money on Texas at this early stage.
 

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  On 8/19/2020 at 5:57 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

Just now noticing that Harris is at north shore. That’s a bit of a bummer. Maybe his dad can tell him all about joe walker, and his grandad can tell him about lance Gunn. 

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It's uphill, but the stud DB coach that was at Lamar with Jamison and Cook and Woodard has been at North Shore for a couple years or so. We'll have at least one advocate.

 

  On 8/19/2020 at 7:10 PM, elguapo said:

Can someone remind me why the recent North Shore kids don't like us? Is that still a thing?

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It's not that they hate us. Tom Herman fucked up Chaisson all on his own. It's just that the coaching staff there are all LSU fans. 

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Horns 247 / Mike Roach / Mike at Night: Thoughts from the road

Wednesdays with Roachie.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

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  On 8/20/2020 at 3:03 AM, Hank Scorpio said:

Roach, out on the road all day and with no recruiting info, logs on to surly and starts reading posts, scribbling down “glizzy???” and “Who is Carl?!?” before he hears what he thinks is an ice cream truck and goes running out the door

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I struggle to believe it was anything more than a brisk walk.

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  On 8/20/2020 at 3:03 AM, Hank Scorpio said:

Roach, out on the road all day and with no recruiting info, logs on to surly and starts reading posts, scribbling down “glizzy???” and “Who is Carl?!?” before he hears what he thinks is an ice cream truck and goes running out the door. 

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At least he's self-aware (I think)

 

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  On 8/20/2020 at 5:35 AM, Hank_Hill said:

Lol oh no what an exhausting day

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  On 8/20/2020 at 11:18 AM, utfan87 said:

Watching other people workout is exhausting. 

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If you two bozos think using two hands to grasp the sides of the door frame and exerting your maximum effort to hurl your sweaty, oblong bodies them the driver’s seat of your low to the ground 1987 Honda Accords is EASY, well, then you’ve clearly never been Mike Roach. 

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Worth noting: Rivals is ranking Isaiah Thompson as a Safety, and if he's willing to be a safety, I agree with that take. He could be a nickel target with Austin Jordan.

If true, I think you get Guilbeau and then leave space for Harris and/or Jackson. Then at safety you prioritize Biddle and whichever hops first of Jordan/Thompson/Wilson. I've yet to see a real critique of Kamari Wilson's game that jives with his ranking, my own included. 

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  On 8/20/2020 at 1:42 PM, Ricky's one-hitter said:

Worth noting: Rivals is ranking Isaiah Thompson as a Safety, and if he's willing to be a safety, I agree with that take. He could be a nickel target with Austin Jordan.

If true, I think you get Guilbeau and then leave space for Harris and/or Jackson. Then at safety you prioritize Biddle and whichever hops first of Jordan/Thompson/Wilson. I've yet to see a real critique of Kamari Wilson's game that jives with his ranking, my own included. 

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Jibes.  JIBES!!!

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(Ian Boyd) Inside the gameplan: How to build around Quinn Ewers in 2022

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With the commitment of 5-star quarterback Quinn Ewers from Southlake Carroll, Texas tapped into one of the most precious resources within the entire state. Much like when a West Texas prospector finds a well of oil, the Longhorns nabbed a generational talent at the most important position on the field. By winning over Ewers, Texas is now positioned to assemble the sort of talent that can win National Championships.

Like the West Texas oil man, the Longhorns have had a historical tendency to follow boom/bust cycles. The bitter Red River rivalry with Oklahoma really illustrates the deepest truths about both programs. The Sooners are the more consistently great program, piling up conference championships and regularly staying within striking distance of the nationally elite programs around the country. Texas regularly languishes with dry spells but when they get things right their ceiling is beyond the Sooners. Oklahoma doesn’t have a 2005 type team in their history.

A Texas Longhorn football team with a well assembled, topline recruiting class consisting of the state’s top prospects can completely overwhelm the rest of the country. It’s a matter of identifying which cycles really matter and maximizing the possibilities so the booms really count.

Historic recruiting classes

The first time we saw this all truly come together was in 1967. Darrell K Royal was frustrated by going 7-4 in 1965 and then 6-4 in 1966 so he hit the road determined to restock his roster with a big time recruiting class. He ended up signing the “Steve Worster bunch,” a big class of in-state talents headlined by fullback Steve Worster but also including wide receiver Cotton Speyrer and offensive tackle Bobby Wuensch.

Those three essentially formed the foundation of the Longhorn machine that won National titles in 1969 and 1970 after a breakthrough 9-1-1 season in 1968. The assemblage of all that talent was what led the Longhorns to experiment and develop the “wishbone offense.” The wishbone was oriented to make the most of Worster by having him run dives behind down blocking by Wuensch and the offensive line while opponents were stressed both laterally and vertically by the alignment of speedy Speyrer out wide to the perimeter.

The 2002 Texas recruiting class will always be one of the most famous in Longhorn history. I identified it in my book as the turning point for Mack Brown’s program, largely for its inclusion of the following athletes.

5-star quarterback Vince Young
5-star offensive tackle Justin Blalock
4-star tight end David Thomas
3-star offensive guard Kasey Studdard
3-star offensive center Lyle Sendlein

The class ranked No. 1 overall in the country and also had some big time defensive players like 5-star defensive tackle Rodrique Wright, but the crew above would coalesce to form a dominant offensive unit by the 2005 season. Everything clicked when Greg Davis installed the shotgun based, zone-option schemes emerging elsewhere around the country before getting Vince Young up to speed in some of his West Coast passing concepts.

When Texas could efficiently throw the ball around by sending Thomas up the seams, both the zone-option game and (more importantly) the quarterback scramble became deadly weapons. That was it for Texas’ opponents. This offensive line was a great run blocking unit and the impossibility of covering Thomas in the middle of the field while controlling Young scrambles unraveled opponent after opponent.

Between the 2002 and 1967 classes you can account for three of Texas’ four claimed National Championships. Now let’s contrast those successes to some other famous groups. We’ll start with the 2009 recruiting class. The Longhorns signed the nation’s 6th highest rated class, headlined by this group which figured to be the core of another dominant offensive unit.

5-star quarterback Garrett Gilbert
5-star offensive tackle Mason Walters
4-star wide receiver Greg Timmons
4-star offensive tackle Paden Kelly
4-star offensive tackle Garrett Porter

While there were a number of big names and expectations for this group, the offensive class was unevenly distributed and ultimately doomed. Injuries ruined Paden Kelly’s career and limited Mason Walters, who was a very solid right guard for Texas for multiple seasons but never the game-changing left tackle many had expected. Porter also found his home inside at guard and was mostly a role player during his time at Texas. Timmons, the only receiver to sign with the golden boy Garrett Gilbert, transferred early in his career.

What Texas really needed was to find one great left tackle and then flood the field with outside targets Gilbert could find down the field with his big arm. They failed to find the tackle and despite a somewhat lackluster 2008 wide receiver crew, didn’t really overcome that deficit until 2010 when they signed Mike Davis, Darius White, and John Harris. By then it was too late, for a myriad of reasons. The next big class for Texas was the 2012 group, built around the following signees:

5-star running back Jonathan Gray
4-star offensive tackle Kennedy Estelle
4-star offensive guard Curtis Riser
4-star wide receiver Cayleb Jones
4-star offensive tackle Camrhon Hughes
4-star wide receiver Daje Johnson
4-star wide receiver Marcus Johnson

What this group needed to be once Mack zeroed in on trying to re-emphasize the run game with 5-star backs Malcolm Brown (2011) and Gray was a collection of down and dirty interior offensive linemen and RPO pass game constraints like Daje Johnson and Cayleb Jones. Neither the lunch pail offensive line nor RPO/play-action constraints fully materialized. Mack Brown was already up against it from his failure to launch, much less maximize, the Garrett Gilbert era. He was fired after the 2013 season and replaced by a head coach in Charlie Strong who had virtually zero vision either for offense in general or marshaling the offensive resources within the state of Texas in particular.

Common threads in boom town recruiting

Accepting boom/bust cycles as a likely recurring theme for a large, bloated bureaucratic institution like the University of Texas, the best hope for the program is to maximize when things line up properly. Maximization occurs when a class includes generational talents like Vince Young and Steve Worster who are then surrounded by players and systems that prevent opponents from being able to sell out to stop what makes them special.

With Steve Worster it was the power run game. The Wishbone offense worked off the fullback dive to Worster with multi-directional triple-option and occasional play-action to a speedy wideout split wide (Speyrer). For Vince Young it was his ability to clown defenders by running free in open grass. When Texas surrounded him with a strong O-line and dual-threat tight end in a shotgun spread system, it made it impossible for defenses to successfully key in on him as a runner. DKR and Mack Brown made things work when they recruited the Worster and VY classes by adjusting to maximize those athletes.

With Quinn Ewers and the 2022 class everything is much more clearly laid out and shouldn’t require much innovation on the part of the Longhorn staff. The name of the modern game is pro-spread offense. Texas should be shaping a pass-first philosophy with a power run game that serves to set up opportunities to pass on RPOs and play-action. The offense should be powered by a dropback passing game in which all five skill players (tight ends, running backs, errbody) can credibly flex out and run routes in space.

Quinn Ewers is perhaps the most skilled and well suited passers to execute the pro-spread vision the state has ever seen. He has the arm talent, the pocket presence, the feel for the game, the desire, football IQ, and character. He has the size (likely to be 6-3, 230 on campus) to take on everything that comes along with running the offense as the field general. Insofar as Texas emphasizes the run game in the Ewers era it should be unto the goal of creating time and space via play-action for the quarterback to throw open talented wide receivers on double moves.

Now it’s incumbent on Texas to surround him in the 2022 class with the right pieces to put it all together. The ideal set-up would look something like this:

5-star quarterback Quinn Ewers
4.5-star offensive tackle
4.5-star offensive tackle
4-star wide receiver who excels at beating 1-on-1 coverage
4-star wide receiver who excels at beating 1-on-1 coverage
4-star hybrid tight end who’s first and foremost a weapon in the passing game

The priority needs to be guaranteeing a supporting cast that can protect Ewers and confound defenses by attacking matchups from multiple angles and positions in the passing game. This class and the preceding ones need players who can protect him (left tackle in particular) and offer targets in the passing game.

Texas stumbled upon a blueprint for this with the 2005 class, which was boosted by three holdovers from previous classes. In 2005 they signed or included:

3-star quarterback Colt McCoy
3-star center Chris Hall
3-star guard Charlie Tanner
3-star offensive tackle Adam Ulatoski who greyshirted in 2004
4-star wide receiver Jordan Shipley who signed in 2004 but received a medical redshirt
4-star wide receiver Quan Cosby who signed in 2001 but played minor league ball and joined the team in 2005 with Colt

With the 2005 core, Texas had the infrastructure and perimeter weapons to pull off an early pro-spread attack in 2008 and 2009 and go 25-2 with a pair of near misses at another National Championship. The 2022 Texas class should be aiming to recreate an even more talented version of the McCoy-era Longhorn offense.

Essential targets in 2022

Like Worster or Young, Ewers is likely to start early in his career and potentially before his classmates are also ready to take the field. The staff put themselves behind the eight ball when they failed to ensure Ewers would be both taking snaps and receiving blindside protection from a Brockermeyer. Ideally Texas would have an NFL-caliber tackle ready for Ewers from day one and another to grow up alongside him on campus.

There's some hope here though. In an ironic twist of history, the 2012 class built around Jonathan Gray included one other highly regarded offensive line talent in 4-star JUCO transfer Donald Hawkins. The Mississippi JUCO wasn’t a mauler helping to build a dominant power run/play-action attack for Gray (or Malcolm Brown), but he did solidify the left tackle spot for Texas in 2012 and 2013.

Eventually he’d go on to establish a career in DFW as a private skills coach for offensive and defensive linemen in the area. In the course of his work there, he helped coach up Ewers’ left tackle for the 2019 season at Southlake Carroll, current Longhorn Andrej Karic who will be a (redshirt?) sophomore for the 2022 season. Karic could be a major key in protecting the start of the Ewers era.

Beyond Karics’ eligibility there may be other freshman talents in 2022 with the ability to get on the field early at tackle. Amongst the current 2022 in state targets are Kam Dewberry, Kelvin Banks, and Jaylen Early. The former two already have impressive size and athleticism as sophomores while Early is absurdly quick.

Offensive tackle is tricky because the best athletes are often playing in run-centric offenses, as is the case for all three names mentioned above. How strong will these guys be at pass protection in five years’ time? It’s hard to be sure. The 1967 and 2002 classes benefited from the fact their cornerstone tackles (Wuensch and Blalock) were relied on in large part for their run blocking and not their skill with the kick step. There’s still time here to see how things develop here across the state, plenty of big linemen will develop pass pro skills and over time will emerge in the upcoming season. Not many kids are 6-5, 300 with a good kick step before they’re a junior in high school.

At the skill positions things are already pretty clear. On the outside they want targets with high level coordination who will be devastating running double moves off play-action and can torch opponents when moved around in the dropback game. Targets like Caleb Burton and Armani Winfield are no-brainer options that should be prioritized. Hybrids power a pro-spread passing game and are arguably the most essential pieces. Even the 2010s Longhorns have not failed to find high level receivers while recruiting the state of Texas but hybrids are another matter.

Donovan Green is the most obvious talent here. He’s currently 6-4, 220 and has a lot of wiggle he's already converting into running crossers and option routes up the seams. Texas also has some margin with Phaizon Wilson already in the class. The 6-4, 210 pound 4-star from Lancaster is arguably the more skilled receiver over Green even if his blocking acumen and eventual projection to tight end is murkier.

Perhaps most interestingly, there’s also running back Jaydon Blue. If the future of football will be found in pro-spread offenses that treat the running back as much as a receiver as a runner, then Texas would be well served pairing Ewers in the backfield with Jaydon Blue. The 5-9, 192 pounder from Houston has run sub 11.00 in the 100m and is cat quick in space.

The goal for Texas is very clear. When you sign a generational talent like Quinn Ewers you need to be sure to flank him with the right supporting cast so his strongest skills are the defining dimension of the game. That's what Texas accomplished with Vince Young, Steve Worster, and arguably Colt McCoy as well. If they do, the Quinn Ewers era could be another historic boom cycle for Texas football.

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1) Rivals 250 for 2022

https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals250/2022

 

2) State of Texas prospects from a #247 poster - 

#3 Denver Harris - CB, North Shore
#6 Quinn Ewers - QB, SL Carroll (Texas)
#10 Kam Dewbery - OT, Humble Atascocita
#15 Keithian Alexander - DT, Denton Ryan
#24 Devon Campbell - OT, Arlington Bowie
#29 Caleb Burton - WR, Del Valle
#37 Bryce Anderson - S, Westbrook (LSU)
#53 Jaydon Blue - RB, Klein Cain
#58 Brenen Thompson - ATH, Spearman
#65 Kelvin Banks - OT, Summer Creek
#79 Evan Stewart - WR, Frisco Liberty
#83 Malick Sylla - WDE, Katy
#95 Armani Winfield - WR, Lewisville
#103 Bryan Allen - S, Aledo (LSU)
#109 Chace Biddle - S, Garland
#127 Harold Perkins - OLB, Cypress Park
#133 Phaizon Wilson - WR, Lancaster (Texas)
#155 Kobie McKinzie - ILB, Lubbock Cooper (OU)
#157 Cameron Williams - OT, Duncanville
#159 Donovan Green - TE, Dickinson
#178 Jaylon Gilbeau - CB, Port Arthur Memorial
#184 Jordan Hudson - WR, Garland (OU)
#189 Julian Humphrey - CB, Clear Lake
#190 Conner Weigman - QB, Bridgeland
#193 Emeka Megwa - RB, Nolan Catholic
#198 Jadarian Price - APB, Denison
#200 Bobby Taylor - CB, Katy
#203 Omari Abor - WDE, Duncanville
#210 Cristian Driver - S, Liberty Christian
#225 Cole Hutson - OG, Frisco
#233 Tavorus Jones - RB, El Paso Burges
#234 Demetrius Hunter - C, West Orange Stark
#236 Ernest Cooper - WDE, Arlington Martin

 

3) Updated 247 Composite (Ewers is now the #2 overall).

https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool 

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  On 8/20/2020 at 4:25 PM, Bamboozled73 said:

Commitment edits and videos take time. 

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Speaking as an expert on making shitty edit templates for commitments, I feel quite confident in saying that Hayes Fawcett's edits take literally 10 minutes tops. He does the same thing over and over and over and over and over. It's easy to churn that shit out.

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  On 8/20/2020 at 6:21 PM, irishtexan said:

Not just good ones. The best ones. At all of the positions on offense. It's just that simple. I don't know why we didn't think to do that in the past. 

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this is the OU plan these days.

let's recruit great offensive players and move anyone who has any real talent over to offense...then just see if we can score a million points per game and hope their offense gets tired enough that they only score 999,999 and we win

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  On 8/20/2020 at 7:16 PM, Hiphopopotamos said:

I'm a glutton for punishment and an idiot - I listened to that fucking OB podcast.  Ketch is losing his mind over the Jalen Milroe loss.  Apparently if Milroe played at Southlake-Carroll Milroe would be the #1 prospect in the country.  Ewers benefits from the talent around him and doesn't measure up to Milroe.

Of course Ketch is also the guy who thinks Ewers has a 'questionable' arm.  So fuck him.

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Geoff Ketchum is the Texas version of Billy Liucci, just without the connections to the program, the knowing when to shut the fuck up or he analyst (which is saying something)

 

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  On 8/20/2020 at 6:29 PM, NoName said:

this is the OU plan these days.

let's recruit great offensive players and move anyone who has any real talent over to offense...then just see if we can score a million points per game and hope their offense gets tired enough that they only score 999,999 and we win

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Mackovic was stealing athletes from the defense 25 years ago. He just didn’t get the highly prolific offense part. 

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