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Texas Recruiting Notes 2021


Reese Bennett

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(Gabe Brooks) Commitment analysis: What Texas gets in Jordon Thomas

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Recruiting: Thomas committed Saturday to Texas, which has been considered a top contender for the Southeast Texas standout for several months. In addition to the Longhorns, Thomas has reported offers during the course of his recruitment from Baylor, LSU, TCU, Texas A&M, Houston, Southern Miss, and SMU.

Rankings: The industry-generated 247Sports Composite rates Thomas as a four-star recruit who is ranked No. 232 nationally in the 2021 class. He is ranked No. 15 nationally among 2021 strong-side defensive end prospects, as well as No. 36 overall in the state of Texas for his class. The 247Sports rankings put Thomas higher across the board: No. 162 overall in the Top247, No. 11 among 2021 strong-side ends, and No. 25 overall in the Lone Star State's 2021 cycle.

Evaluation notes: Getting full context on Thomas as a prospect is more difficult than your typical recruit because of the lack of junior tape. He missed his entire junior season with a broken ankle, so that could raise a bit of concern over durability on top of the lack of reps.

What do we know about Thomas? He owns the requisite height and frame potential with an athletic build relative to his size and projected position. While a strong-side end in a four-man front is his natural spot, he could possibly bulk to the point of sliding inside in a one-gap scheme. Even if end is his full-time spot, you could see him move inside in passing situations with a pass rush-oriented personnel package up front. With that build and positional context in mind, what do we know about Thomas from his sophomore campaign? Thomas is a strength-based defensive end prospect with the ability to stand up to bigger offensive linemen at the point of attack. He's heavy-handed and his punch power in the phone booth can catch blockers by surprise.

Because of his size and close-quarters power and strength, Thomas flashes the ability to stalemate offensive linemen and even drive them into the backfield to disrupt timing and running lanes. Those same qualities allow Thomas to bull rush effectively. Expanding his move set and adding more nuance as a pass rusher are keys for Thomas as the transitions to the next level. He's raw technically and while he sometimes shows good get-off quickness, it comes and goes. His size means that he can improve his leverage consistency. His pad level gets too high at times.

Thomas is raw technically and coming off an injury that cost him the 2019 season, but the physical tools are there that make him a legitimate high-major defensive line prospect. Additionally, he is scheme-versatile as an end who could play in a four-man or three-man look, with the possibility of position flexibility, particularly in that four-man front. Thomas will need to come back strong from his injury, but there are no indications so far to suggest he won't. He has the potential to become a quality starter with a long-term NFL Draft ceiling.

 

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3 minutes ago, westexhorn said:

You happen to have the Fong article on the other prospects?

Horns 247 / Steve Wiltfong / Texas trending for a few prospects

Spoiler

Texas trending for a few prospects

Steve Wiltfong
 

Texas is in a good spot for several in-state prospects, sources with knowledge of the recruitments tell 247Sports.

Logged 247Sports Crystal Ball forecasts in favor of the Longhorns for Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial Top247 defensive end Jordon Thomas, Kennedale (Texas) High 247Sports Composite four-star safety JD Coffey and Hallettsville (Texas) High running back Jonathon Brooks, joining Horns247 insider Mike Roach among others.

Two others I think Texas is making a move with are the nation's No. 9 cornerback in the Top247 in Ishmael Ibraheem and Denton (Texas) Guyer cornerback Deuce Harmon. The latter I may still lean A&M on but the Longhorns are making it interesting.

Texas currently has the No. 18 recruiting class in the country, tops in the Big 12. Perhaps Thomas starts some dominoes on Saturday when he announces his commitment between the Longhorns and Texas A&M.

 

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6 minutes ago, Getafix said:

Horns 247 / Steve Wiltfong / Texas trending for a few prospects

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Texas trending for a few prospects

Steve Wiltfong
 

Texas is in a good spot for several in-state prospects, sources with knowledge of the recruitments tell 247Sports.

Logged 247Sports Crystal Ball forecasts in favor of the Longhorns for Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial Top247 defensive end Jordon Thomas, Kennedale (Texas) High 247Sports Composite four-star safety JD Coffey and Hallettsville (Texas) High running back Jonathon Brooks, joining Horns247 insider Mike Roach among others.

Two others I think Texas is making a move with are the nation's No. 9 cornerback in the Top247 in Ishmael Ibraheem and Denton (Texas) Guyer cornerback Deuce Harmon. The latter I may still lean A&M on but the Longhorns are making it interesting.

Texas currently has the No. 18 recruiting class in the country, tops in the Big 12. Perhaps Thomas starts some dominoes on Saturday when he announces his commitment between the Longhorns and Texas A&M.

 

Damn, just give us Harmon and Turner already

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34 minutes ago, Getafix said:

Horns 247 / Steve Wiltfong / Texas trending for a few prospects

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Texas trending for a few prospects

Steve Wiltfong
 

Texas is in a good spot for several in-state prospects, sources with knowledge of the recruitments tell 247Sports.

Logged 247Sports Crystal Ball forecasts in favor of the Longhorns for Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial Top247 defensive end Jordon Thomas, Kennedale (Texas) High 247Sports Composite four-star safety JD Coffey and Hallettsville (Texas) High running back Jonathon Brooks, joining Horns247 insider Mike Roach among others.

Two others I think Texas is making a move with are the nation's No. 9 cornerback in the Top247 in Ishmael Ibraheem and Denton (Texas) Guyer cornerback Deuce Harmon. The latter I may still lean A&M on but the Longhorns are making it interesting.

Texas currently has the No. 18 recruiting class in the country, tops in the Big 12. Perhaps Thomas starts some dominoes on Saturday when he announces his commitment between the Longhorns and Texas A&M.

 

Oh shit, Wiltfong thinks it may be happening with Ibraheem.

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5 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Have to like everything potentially with this class right now outside of WR and riding out the Brockermeyer's receuitment.

And running back potentially if we miss on Wheaton (considering Johnson a miss already). Brooks is fine as a RB2 take but definitely need another stud

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Have to like everything potentially with this class right now outside of WR and riding out the Brockermeyer's receuitment.

Yeah I was just coming to say that we’ve had some disappointments for sure but the class we actually have committed so far looks pretty slick.
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Horns 247 / Mike Roach /  Who's next? A look at five commit candidates

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Who's next? A look at five commit candidates

MikeRoach
 

Texas continued its hot streak this weekend with a commitment from four-star Port Arthur Memorial DL Jordon Thomas. Thomas’s pledge capped off a week where Texas picked up three other commitments from Landen King, Tarik Black and Jahdae Barron.

Who’s next for the Longhorns? Horns247 takes a look at five commit candidates.

JD Coffey, S, Kennedale: I recently put in a pick for Coffey to land at Texas after speaking with sources near the Kennedale native. Coffey recently released a top six with Texas right in the mix, and I’m told a decision could come sooner than most think for the four-star prospect. Oregon and Washington will provide tough competition, but I think Texas is trending in a strong direction here.

Andrew Mukuba, S, Austin LBJ: Mukuba maintains a wide-open recruitment, and we’ve been told no decision has been made. That said, I’m told Texas is doing a great job behind the scenes with him. Chris Ash has been staying in regular contact and showing Mukuba the love he wanted to see from the Longhorns all along. Nobody seems to have any idea when he might commit, but right now, I like the odds for Texas.

Camar Wheaton, RB, Garland Lakeview Centennial: Wheaton is a mystery when it comes to his timeline, but I was told by a source recently he’s starting to inform coaching staffs behind the scenes that he won’t be attending their school. As of today, he has not informed Texas, and the Longhorns are high on his list. Wheaton is a bit more projection, but I think Texas sits in as good a spot as any right now. Oklahoma is emerging as the toughest competition.


Terrence Cooks, LB, Alvin Shadow Creek: It’s hard to say when Cooks might choose to shut down his recruitment, but Texas seems to be the school generating the most noise at the moment. Cooks is striking up a strong relationship with the Texas commits, and Coleman Hutzler is doing a great job with his parents.

Jonathon Brooks, RB, Hallettsville: Brooks rarely talks and nobody around him knows what his timeline might be, but we’ve heard he could be closing in on a decision. If he does, Texas would likely be the pick for the three-star running back. The Longhorns were the first program to offer Brooks and have been recruiting him hard since that time.

 

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14 minutes ago, Getafix said:

 

Horns 247 / Mike Roach /  Who's next? A look at five commit candidates

  Hide contents

Who's next? A look at five commit candidates

MikeRoach
 

Texas continued its hot streak this weekend with a commitment from four-star Port Arthur Memorial DL Jordon Thomas. Thomas’s pledge capped off a week where Texas picked up three other commitments from Landen King, Tarik Black and Jahdae Barron.

Who’s next for the Longhorns? Horns247 takes a look at five commit candidates.

JD Coffey, S, Kennedale: I recently put in a pick for Coffey to land at Texas after speaking with sources near the Kennedale native. Coffey recently released a top six with Texas right in the mix, and I’m told a decision could come sooner than most think for the four-star prospect. Oregon and Washington will provide tough competition, but I think Texas is trending in a strong direction here.

Andrew Mukuba, S, Austin LBJ: Mukuba maintains a wide-open recruitment, and we’ve been told no decision has been made. That said, I’m told Texas is doing a great job behind the scenes with him. Chris Ash has been staying in regular contact and showing Mukuba the love he wanted to see from the Longhorns all along. Nobody seems to have any idea when he might commit, but right now, I like the odds for Texas.

Camar Wheaton, RB, Garland Lakeview Centennial: Wheaton is a mystery when it comes to his timeline, but I was told by a source recently he’s starting to inform coaching staffs behind the scenes that he won’t be attending their school. As of today, he has not informed Texas, and the Longhorns are high on his list. Wheaton is a bit more projection, but I think Texas sits in as good a spot as any right now. Oklahoma is emerging as the toughest competition.


Terrence Cooks, LB, Alvin Shadow Creek: It’s hard to say when Cooks might choose to shut down his recruitment, but Texas seems to be the school generating the most noise at the moment. Cooks is striking up a strong relationship with the Texas commits, and Coleman Hutzler is doing a great job with his parents.

Jonathon Brooks, RB, Hallettsville: Brooks rarely talks and nobody around him knows what his timeline might be, but we’ve heard he could be closing in on a decision. If he does, Texas would likely be the pick for the three-star running back. The Longhorns were the first program to offer Brooks and have been recruiting him hard since that time.

 

Getting these 5 next would be fabulous.

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1 hour ago, Getafix said:

Horns 247 / Steve Wiltfong / Texas trending for a few prospects

  Hide contents

Texas trending for a few prospects

Steve Wiltfong
 

Texas is in a good spot for several in-state prospects, sources with knowledge of the recruitments tell 247Sports.

Logged 247Sports Crystal Ball forecasts in favor of the Longhorns for Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial Top247 defensive end Jordon Thomas, Kennedale (Texas) High 247Sports Composite four-star safety JD Coffey and Hallettsville (Texas) High running back Jonathon Brooks, joining Horns247 insider Mike Roach among others.

Two others I think Texas is making a move with are the nation's No. 9 cornerback in the Top247 in Ishmael Ibraheem and Denton (Texas) Guyer cornerback Deuce Harmon. The latter I may still lean A&M since i'm sitting on jimbos thumb and it's tough for me to see through elko's balls but the Longhorns are making it interesting.

Texas currently has the No. 18 recruiting class in the country, tops in the Big 12. Perhaps Thomas starts some dominoes on Saturday when he announces his commitment between the Longhorns and Texas A&M.

 

FIFY.

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19 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Pre-injury Selvin Young looked like he was going to be a beast. Shame he never returned to 100% after the Arky injury.

 Every East Texas dude named Brooks that I have ever been aquainted with were some bad ass ballers.  I hope Jonathan is too.

19 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Pre-injury Selvin Young looked like he was going to be a beast. Shame he never returned to 100% after the Arky injury.

 

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12 hours ago, victory88 said:

Darius Terrell, who coaches at Desoto, has implied many times that Turner loves Texas.  He wants to take his visits and enjoy the recruiting process.  He once said he doesn’t want to say too much to ruin the kids moment.  My guess is that he will pick Texas when it’s all said and done after he enjoys the process.  Now anything can happen on these visits, so Herman should still recruit the fuck out of him.  Turner doesn’t get enough hype on here.  He’s a beast.

This is why anything can still happen. 

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1 hour ago, Red Five said:

IIRC he was leading the NFL in rushing halfway through the 2007? season before getting hurt.

I highly doubt 222 led the league in yards for 8 games. Also his best 2 games were in the second half of the season. 

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9 minutes ago, Bob Lives! said:

So we like the Luicci 44 now?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thing is I don't think Liucci is terrible at evaluations.

The problem is he drops recruits in his rankings based on where they commit and sunshine pumps every A&M commit because it's a business model that works with a cult. 

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Nick Harris: Jordon Thomas, Landen King commitments helping Texas pick up momentum in 2021

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Port Arthur Memorial four-star defensive end Jordon Thomas locked things down on Saturday afternoon when he announced his commitment to Texas over offers from Texas A&M, Baylor, LSU and others. Texas won out in a head-to-head battle with Texas A&M to land Thomas' commitment, making him the eighth commit in a 2021 class that is picking up crucial momentum heading forward.

Thomas' announcement comes less than a week after Humble Atascocita three-star tight end Landen King became the first Texas commit in the 2021 class in nearly eight months. Now as more recruits are starting to come off of the board, Texas is in a good spot to land multiple targets over the course of the next month while the class continues to grow.

Texas remains in a great position with Kennedale four-star safety JD Coffey, Hallettsville three-star running back Jonathon Brooks, Austin LBJ four-star safety Andrew Mukuba and Alvin Shadow Creek three-star linebacker Terrence Cooks. The Longhorns are also picking up momentum in multiple other recruitments such as Denton Guyer four-star cornerback Deuce Harmon and Dallas Kimball four-star cornerback Ishmael Ibraheem.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic hindering the new staff on the recruiting trail, guys like cornerbacks coach Jay Valai and defensive line coach Oscar Giles are proving to be crucial recruiters in the state of Texas. It is tough to sell a product from the new staff that has not hit the field nor seen any action in spring ball, yet the new staff is utilizing social media and film sessions with recruits through Zoom to pass the vision along in the meantime.

That strategy is seemingly paying off as only positive feedback has been given to reporters when asked about how Texas has been communicating with recruits during the pandemic. Offensive recruits seem to have a pretty solid grasp on what offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich is bringing to Austin in 2020 and defensive recruits are liking the schematic changes that defensive coordinator Chris Ash has presented to them as well.

Current commits Jalen Milroe and Derrick Harris Jr. have reportedly helped in a big way over the course of the last month in presenting that product as well from a player's standpoint. And in less than a week of being a commit, King has been heavy on the recruiting side of things with a number of Houston-area recruits as he anticipates the dominoes to "continue falling" in the month of May. With two commitments to lead the charge, those dominos should begin to fall as Texas continues to shift the 2021 momentum back into their favor.

The 2021 class for Texas currently stands at eight commits with King and Thomas now in the boat along with Denton Ryan five-star athlete Ja'Tavion Sanders and four-star athlete Billy Bowman, Katy Tompkins four-star quarterback Jalen Milroe, New Caney four-star linebacker Derrick Harris Jr., Port Arthur (Tex.) Memorial four-star defensive end Jordon Thomas, Katy Taylor four-star offensive lineman Hayden Conner and Everman (Tex.) three-star athlete Juan Davis.

Mike Roach: Where Texas sits in the 247Sports team rankings

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Texas is back on the board in the 2021 class. Four-star Port Arthur Memorial DL Jordon Thomas announced his commitment to the Longhorns Saturday afternoon, which pushed Texas to the No. 12 class in the nation, according to the 247Sports team recruiting rankings. Thomas joins five-star Denton Ryan athlete Ja'Tavion Sanders, four-star Denton Ryan athlete Billy Bowman, four-star Katy Tompkins quarterback Jalen Milroe, four-star Katy Taylor offensive lineman Hayden Conner, four-star New Caney linebacker Derrick Harris Jr., three-star Atascocita TE Landen King and three-star Everman athlete Juan Davis as current members of the 2021 recruiting class.

The Longhorns rank tops in the Big 12 in both total score and average rating. Their average rating of 92.62 ranks sixth in the nation behind Ohio State (95.25), Clemson (95.06), Georgia (94.57), LSU (93.31) and Notre Dame (92.85). The Longhorns are far ahead of their in-conference rival Oklahoma, which currently ranks No. 44 nationally with four commits in the 2021 class, and are also well ahead of in-state recruiting rival Texas A&M, which sits at No. 32 with just three total commits.

The Longhorns lead the Big 12 by a healthy margin in both total score and average rating. West Virginia is second to Texas' seven commits and is one of seven schools in the Big 12 to currently hold more than five commitments with only Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU coming with fewer than that number. The rest of the conference ranks as follows.

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Texas finished the 2020 recruiting cycle with the No. 9 ranked recruiting class, according to 247Sports Composite. The class was the third-straight signing class to finish in the Top 10 of 247Sports Composite team rankings after back-to-back No. 3 overall finishes in 2018 and 2019. The Longhorns' 2020 class was highlighted by the signings of five-star running back Bijan Robinson, four-star quarterback Hudson Card and four-star defensive end Alfred Collins, among many other top-rated players nationally.

UT’s recruiting success started in the first complete recruiting cycle under head coach Tom Herman, who led the Longhorns to a 7-6 season and a win over Missouri in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl in Year 1 on the job. Herman improved in his second season and finished 2018 with a 10-4 record as the Longhorns beat several ranked opponents, including USC, Oklahoma, TCU and Iowa State in the regular season. While Texas lost in a Big 12 title game rematch to Oklahoma, the season concluded with an Allstate Sugar Bowl upset over then-No. 6 ranked Georgia in the program's first New Year's Six bowl appearance since the inception of the College Football Playoff.

In 2019, Texas struggled on the field to an 8-5 overall record and 5-4 conference finish, though ended the year on a positive note with an Alamo Bowl victory over then-No. 12 ranked Utah — a team drawing College Football Playoff consideration down the stretch of the regular season.

While last year marked the program’s third-straight winning season and third-straight bowl win under Herman's watch following a three-year drought during the Charlie Strong era, the end of the 2019 season resulted in major staff upheaval on both sides of the ball with Herman replacing seven assistant coaches, including both of his coordinators, leading into his fourth year coaching the Longhorns.

 

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Depending on Dorbah, I wasn't sold on pass rushing recruiting last year. Out of Turner, Sanders, and Thomas who is considered the top pass rusher? How do they compare to Landon Jackson from a pass rushing standpoint?

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6 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Depending on Dorbah, I wasn't sold on pass rushing recruiting last year. Out of Turner, Sanders, and Thomas who is considered the top pass rusher? How do they compare to Landon Jackson from a pass rushing standpoint?

Sanders is the top pass rusher in the state and a 5* for a reason.  Harris and assuming we get Clayton Smith are legit pass rushers as well.  I think Thomas is more a SDE, with potential to slide inside as is Turner.  Jackson is a beast and no doubt we all would take him, but I said a while back it's probably pretty unlikely we'd get all of Sanders, Jackson, Thomas, Harris, and Smith.

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