US Army AA Game/Recruiting Thoughts

Agreed, this is going to be a sick class, especially if we get those two to finish. I wish Texas was throwing some more numbers at corner though. If Williams goes pro next year, we are probably going to be in a spot where a guy coming in ‘10 is going to be starting in ’11. So I’d like some more bodies.

“Traylon Shead is commonly referred to as an athlete. We’ve argued about it on this site in a few of the recruiting rundowns. I still don’t see what’s not to like in his ability as a running back. He can catch, his feet are fine, and he’s got good, yet unencumbering size. I like him as a take, if not an elite talent.”

I see him as a running back, and a pretty good one. He runs like a tall guy — I’ve said it on here already, a lot like Chris Brown during his days at Colorado, which will be fine once he learns to lower his pad level because he can’t bull through everyone in college like he could playing 1A. He looked comfortable catching a screen. But he’s big, he cuts well and makes people miss, and he looks plenty fast. Plus I thought he blocked pretty well. It is very possible that he ends his freshman year as our starting back.

I actually thought Espinoza played really well. He’s pretty quick, looked strong, and didn’t get beat much. Connor Wood looked comfortable and about as good as I’ve seen a quarterback look in one of thse games.

Wilson is going to be a great one for us. And Tevin Jackson looks fast.

Florida’s class is disgusting. I wish we had a little of the secondary/safety recruiting class they are having.

I was impressed by Dillon Baxter. He looks like a very good positive yardage back — a guy who is going to turn 2-yard runs into 5-yard runs. I would love to get in the hunt for him.

I didn’t know Lache’s name is prounounce “Lake.” That was the surprise of the day.

It’s definitely a head-scratcher about the recruits going to FL even though Urban’s status is so uncertain. However, it may end up being a great thing for UT if Meyer does leave. Then you have a shitload of talent at a school that’s in chaos. We’re about to see that at USC, and could see it at FL in a year. That’s definitely good for UT.

Seastrunk got what – two touches the entire game? Admittedly, I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but after his last touch (that I saw), he came off the field throwing a bit of a temper tantrum. Not sure if he was just frustrated that he didn’t make a play or that he was taken out.

WIlson gave heads above the best performance of our commits. Wood next and then Jackson.

I too fear our depth in the secondary if we have another guy leave, whether it’s one or both of the Brown’s.

As always, I appreciate the recruiting thoughts, ctj.

The Army All-American game seemed pretty lifeless to me. Maybe it’s just the life-sucking atmosphere of the Alamo Dome or the constant barrage of patriotism, but I enjoyed the UA game far more.

Traylon looked fine. It’s tough to get excited about him because he’s not a HR hitter, but he’s a good pass catcher and has good feet, something that our staff seems to value highly.

Lache is tough to watch as a recruit. The shit his handler is doing to bid up his price is getting tiresome to me as an observer and must be far more grating as a check-writing booster. I see his size limiting his production in college like Reggie Bush’s size limits his touches in the NFL. I can’t wait until Reggie Bush is far enough out of new recruits’ memories so that we don’t have to see every speedy scat back constantly flirt with USC so he can be the “next Reggie Bush.” Sure worked out well for Joe McKnight.

It’s been discussed on here before but I’m not sure if there isn’t a lower hanging fruit in recruiting than Southern California. I’m sure the younger guys on the staff recognize this and I hope Carrol’s departure and the possible sanctions against USC provide a catalyst for the older guys to act on it. It doesn’t appear this will be happening in 2011, though.

Seriously though, if OU can recruit SoCal with success, however modest, we can recruit SoCal. Minus the crazies, of course.

My optimism for any new O-lineman is in a holding pattern until something happens with McWhorter. Is there any smoke on that front?

One unsung hero from this recruiting process, in my opinion, is Christian Scott. He’s a personality and geographic match with a bunch of the targets in the 2010 class and I’m glad the staff recognized this. I really think he was big in making the two guys he hosted on official visits, Davis and White, comfortable at UT.

It is hard to find a school more corrupt in recruiting than Alabama, but Tennessee is giving them a run for their money. Wow.

Two dirtiest schools in the country for my money. I wish we had paid Richardson though.

I am amazed at the willingness of these recruits to blindly go along with the company line that Meyer will be back by next fall. Whatever issues Urban Meyer is facing, they didn’t go away over night.

Me too. These kids are very, very gullible (or perhaps just stupid) to have fallen for Florida’s transparent ploy to save their recruiting class.

If the USC stuff becomes official, will Texas be the only big time school not to reach out to a single one of their commitments? I’d like to hear about Texas talking to at least one, for no other reason than I am fan of recruiting and that would be entertaining.

The problem is that there’s three weeks left until signing day. That’s not a lot of time to form a relationship with a player. You have to figure that anyone that decommits from USC will probably end up at school that was recruiting them before they committed to the Trojans. What it all adds up to is that Texas needs to man up and fight for more elite national recruits from the beginning of the recruiting cycle.

The booth monkeys’ treatment of Wood was pretty amazing. I think they were expecting one of the other guys to start and just got completely flustered when they didn’t have the hype sheets in front of them.

Then again, I imagine they’re not all that excited about covering Texas recruits at all, given our guys bring so little drama to what’s truly being covered at these events – the announcements. It surely isn’t for the stellar football.

Back to Wood – I was just as impressed with his long incompletion (to Apo, I believe?) as his TD. On the inc., he had to scramble to the right and throw in the run, and it took a really nice late play by a DB to tip it away from the receiver. Wood was an inch or two from dropping that in the basket. But again: Nothing from the announcers on the play.

They also didn’t really talk much about Wilson, at least with respect to the other DEs (who just happened to be the guys doing the hat tricks).

possible sanctions against USC

If OU didn’t get any punishment of consequence as a result of the Big Red Sports incident why is the NCAA suddenly going to start caring about paying players?

bigdukesix—

There is an absolute mountain of evidence against USC in multiple programs on multiple incidents. There are very few ambiguities by comparison. More importantly, without significant action here, the NCAA could well be conceding it’s validity as an entity from here forward. I am actually betting on the hammer getting dropped on USC in this instance. I won’t be surprised if they remove postseason privileges and tv rights for a year or two on top of scholarship limitations well inside of the 85.

“First, I am very thankful that, for the most part, the Texas guys don’t do the hat bullshit. "

My first thought watching this game as well—glad Texas doesn’t recruit the drama queens prone to that crap.

The subplot to the game was the ripple effect of Carroll and Meyer. If the overall press coverage is to be believed, the Florida guys are staying on board because Urban is still working the phones with recruits as if nothing is amiss while Pete has dropped off the grid like a guy about to bolt.

Supposedly Texas coaches have asked around about potential USC recruits to contact. I doubt anything comes of it, but that was nice to hear.

“If OU didn’t get any punishment of consequence as a result of the Big Red Sports incident why is the NCAA suddenly going to start caring about paying players?”

Your response indicates an utter and complete misunderstanding of what happened at OU. Especially if you think the situations are comparable at any level.

Okay, NateHeupel. I’ll bite. Explain to us the differences between OU and what has happened at USC.

Don’t worry, SL Xpress. The difference is easy.

The situations are different in the fact that OU was smart enough to hang two idiot players out to dry while they covered up all the evidence of their wrongdoing. USC was too stupid to do that and allowed Reggie to do deals on the side that they couldn’t make go away.

“Explain to us the differences between OU and what has happened at USC.”

OU self-reported the rumors that started on the internet. There also were only three isolated incidents where there was proof against the players. All the other players employed by Big Red were Johnny-on-the-Spot employees of the month. In fact, there’s not a single player in the NFL that can wax cars better than Adrian Peterson.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/news/story?id=4815662

Tevin Jackson dislocated his wrist and will miss 2 months. I wasn’t sure if he was planning on making it for Spring Practice or not.

On another note, it mentions that he expects to take over Kindle’s spot as pass rushing DE. I assume he means in a few years and not next year. I think ctj mentioned that he didn’t think he was big enough to handle that role. What is the thought on where TJ ends up playing?

where did you hear tx coaches want to know bout sc recruits

Hmmm that was unusual, my comment got eaten. Nevertheless I wanted to say many thanks for the update.

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