I left a blizzard in Colorado on Sunday and came back to an early Spring in Austin-- a 60 degree temperature swing accompanied by young coeds getting in early tanning work, hipsters showing off pasty limbs via cut off cords and ironic t-shirts, the arrival of 38 new food trailers, six new strains of influenza, and a football recruiting two-fer that sprung virtual wood.
The back-to-back commitments of Whitewright QB Tyrone Swoopes and Sealy's Sasquatch ATH Ricky-Seals Jones puts Texas in pole position to land another top 5 class, if not a pound-for-pound juggernaut similar to what USC and FSU delivered with limited scholarships in the 2012 class. A Texas scholarship offer has become a highly precious commodity and coaches' sons that bleed burnt orange are finally getting squeezed out of the blue chip talent race to Austin.
From Randy Riggs' interview with RSJ:
Seals-Jones, whose cousin is NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, is currently ranked as the state's No. 5 overall recruit on the American-Statesman's Fabulous 55, powered by Hookem.com's recruiting analysts, and is the nation's 32nd-ranked overall prospect by 247Sports.
He chose the Longhorns over several schools, including Auburn, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech.
"But he grew up a Texas fan, and that's hard to break through," Mitchell said. "They all tried, though — Alabama, everybody."
Noted Seals-Jones: "When I was little, I used to watch guys like Vince Young, Kevin Durant and D.J. Augustin play for UT and I became a fan. I was looking for a school with great academics and great people to be around, and I saw that at Texas."
While it looked like we may have been capped at 18 scholarships in the 2013 class due to a young two-deep and few matriculations, don't be surprised if we end up at 22-23 due to transfers and natural attrition by those not fully committed to Benny Wylie's County Fair workout regimen. In case you're not on the secret email list, Jesus has some attrition candidates over on IT.
Belton TE Durham Smythe will be in Austin today for a visit to Texas' first spring practice and don't be surprised if he's becomes lucky #7.
The second Texas junior day being held this Sunday won't be quite as loaded as the first one but we can still expect a few more commitments by the end of February. Key attendees include OL Kent Perkins, QB Cody Thomas, LB Brett Wade, S Kameron Miles, LB Mike Mitchell, WR Robbie Rhodes, DT Vincent Taylor, ATH Jacorey Warrick, and DEs DJ Ward, Deon Hollins, and Torrodney Prevot. Wichita Rider QB JT Barrett will not be in attendance.
Open practices are Friday 3/2 and Saturday 3/3. The Spring game will be on April 1. No joke, yo.
The NFL Combine gets underway today. Here is the list of Big 12 players that will be in attendance. All eyes on RG3.
Scipio confirms what we already knew both about himself (highly intelligent, spectacularly single) and Greg Davis (better for everyone if unemployed) in this masterpiece of Iowambic Pentameter.
Drop 26 of 39 for 181 on some athletes from Eau Claire.
Three times.
Feel me?
That was efficient.
My offense deficient?
Whatever, Purdue.
Drink your PBR brew.
You don't want this. Can't comprehend this. Won't take this.
Trying to ascertain the complexity that is me.
Stepping schematically to the G and the D.
I'm Edward James Olmos in American Me.
I may drop seventy; I may drop three.
SI's way too many words on Baylor Rising. (ask the nearest teenager or Brickhorn what tl,dr means in text shorthand). I guess some people think the Waco Awakening is built to last. Others think Baylor will be irrelevant again in a few years and I agree with them. This is why we have polls. Vote early, kneel hard, and pray late.
Mack Brown's Spring SOTU live at 1 p.m. on MBTF.com. Watch it here.