2013 Recruit Darius James Commits To Texas

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 12:46 PM CST in Recruiting

The finely re-calibrated Texas recruiting machine rolls on with the Longhorns grabbing elite interior line prospect Darius James from Killeen's Harker Heights. CenTex will not be denied. He's widely considered the top ranked center prospect in the nation, a Top 100 national recruit, a Top 10 recruit in-state, and he's athletic enough to be a high level nose tackle recruit as well.

You only need to watch the first highlight to get why James is so coveted. And the fact that many of his other highlights feature him as an active NT is a VERY GOOD THING despite his future OL projection. Those are awfully sweet feet for a 300+ pound athlete. James is a gigantic interior OL presence with lateral mobility and feet good enough to win in zone blocking schemes and the hip flexion and strength to root out nose tackles straight up. At 6-5 with long arms and a stout base, good luck getting movement on your interior pass rush. Basically, he checks every possible box I want in an interior OL take.

Big-time get. Rejoice.

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Huge

So much for those visits to LSU and OU … he wasn’t expected to be one of the early commits.

Searels is kicking major ass.

by Vasherized on Mar 5, 2026 12:52 PM CST reply actions

It's pretty ridiculous.

Searels, not a fan of settling.

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 1:32 PM CST up reply actions

hell + yeah

thats a bad man

by Texastough on Mar 5, 2026 12:54 PM CST reply actions

I love mean OLs who want to be DLs

James, Robinson, Raulerson (maybe)

If I never see Chris Hall again in will be too soon.

@ccommand3r

by CMDR on Mar 5, 2026 12:58 PM CST reply actions

DL ability means athleticism

And that’s what I want in all of my OL. Little engines that could make nice media copy, but I want Justin Blalock.

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 1:33 PM CST up reply actions

Is Tackle an option

with James since he is 6’5" with long arms, strong base, and good lateral mobility?

Also, we need to make sure he avoids “keeping it real” while at Texas, here is evidence of how it could “go wrong” for Darius James.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVXqJ3A6NWw

by Monahorns on Mar 5, 2026 1:18 PM CST reply actions

Never really played there.

We all felt confident projecting Mason Walters to OT out of high school until we realized he just wasn’t very good at it. James is an asset at C or OG and that’s where he’ll likely remain.

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 1:32 PM CST up reply actions

I had the same question. Thanks for the response.

by Horncasting on Mar 5, 2026 3:19 PM CST up reply actions

by Hippie Killer on Mar 5, 2026 3:49 PM CST up reply actions

Great, great news

I’d love to see some footage of him at OL but he does seem to check the athleticism and attitude boxes pretty emphatically.

There are a lot of ways to skin cats in the run game, and having a C that can pull and move/combo and slide to the second level and also take on interior DL straight up without necessitating a double team gives a creative fellow like Harsin a world of delightful schematic possibilities. Some of our run game struggles in 2011 were a case study in the challenges of being limited by your center (not to bag on Espinosa’s long-term potential, but he just didn’t have the strength as an essentially true frosh) - when that position is a plus player your OL can do a ton of nice things.

I also know that I’m going to accidentally call this dude Damion James like 100 times between now and 2015 so I’d like to go ahead and apologize for that in advance.

by nobis60 on Mar 5, 2026 1:40 PM CST reply actions

I've already referred to him as Darius Rucker.

Best of????

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 1:48 PM CST up reply actions

Best of...

It’s the ten year time span that is bewildering to me. Weren’t they a band that was foisted on us for like a week and a half in the late 90’s?

by Flipteach on Mar 5, 2026 2:31 PM CST up reply actions

Yes, but it was more than a week for me.

A Birkenstock-wearing dorm hallmate of mine in the mid-90s would constantly play those assholes’s CDs and revel us with tales of their laid-back wisdom on life. We would all nod politely and come up with excuses why we couldn’t road trip to North Carolina or someplace to watch a boring concert by a band that had maybe one more hit than Eagle Eye Cherry.

Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.

by BrickHorn on Mar 5, 2026 3:00 PM CST up reply actions

Ugh

I had a roommate and several friends that thought they were “cool”. I dry heaved every time they mentioned it. Which of course meant they kept trying to convince me.

by Monahorns on Mar 5, 2026 5:17 PM CST up reply actions

A two-year run of
Perkins
Robinson
James
Estelle
Hughes
Riser
Hawkins

…doesn’t suck.

by nordberg on Mar 5, 2026 1:46 PM CST reply actions

No, it doesn't

And they all have an interesting commonality. I’m not sayin’. But, I’m just sayin’…..

by Scipio Tex on Mar 5, 2026 1:50 PM CST up reply actions

I for one, am glad we finally got around to integrating the offensive line

WVU slept dey couch.

by pleaseplaykindle on Mar 5, 2026 2:23 PM CST up reply actions

Ah yes Scip, I see it now

If you line up:
James
Estelle
Robinson
Riser
Perkins
Hughes
Hawkins
…the first letters of their names spell JERRPHH, which of course is an alternate spelling of “jerf”, which the Urban Dictionary defines as “a dumb mistake in a sports related activity” which of course doesn’t have anything to do with this group of recruits.

So I dunno - they can all dance?

by Sidd Finch on Mar 5, 2026 2:33 PM CST up reply actions

I swear

I didn’t even notice that. Which is strange, because I’m normally really racist.

by nordberg on Mar 5, 2026 7:45 PM CST up reply actions

Believe me, I had some things to say about Jevan Snead myself,

but I too missed this trend.

WVU slept dey couch.

by pleaseplaykindle on Mar 5, 2026 8:42 PM CST up reply actions

I mean, no offense to guys named Paden, or Tanner, or Mark, or Luke, or Taylor… well, never mind.

by nordberg on Mar 5, 2026 7:55 PM CST up reply actions

No offense

to Durham Smythe or Jake Raulerson either. Right guys?

by Monahorns on Mar 5, 2026 10:17 PM CST up reply actions

I think

one is a TE and the other is a DE.
And that Mac MacWhorter had a bit of a reputation for liking the Tanners and Padens more than the Dariuses.

I also think that we shouldn’t stop recruiting white people all together, and that that wasn’t Scipio’s point, no matter how racist Scipio may be.

by nordberg on Mar 5, 2026 10:29 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Yes

You got the positions correct except that Raulerson could end up on the OL. But are you saying that athleticism is more important for interior linemen than ends? I like getting athletic players across the board don’t get me wrong. I don’t want recruits who are totally maxed either.

by Monahorns on Mar 6, 2026 8:33 AM CST up reply actions

I guess that should be

Charlie and not Tanner. Not that the end result is any different.

by nordberg on Mar 5, 2026 10:36 PM CST up reply actions

Charlie Tanner

was actually quite athletic for a guard. At least he was during recruiting. His issue was more size and/or strength.

by Monahorns on Mar 6, 2026 8:34 AM CST up reply actions

How great it would be to redshirt all of them (except Hawkins)

by Horncasting on Mar 5, 2026 3:22 PM CST up reply actions

James' Transmission

It appears this model doesn’t come with “Reverse” like the last few models who’ve played center. That should be a comfort to whomever plays quarterback.

by VirginiaLonghorn on Mar 5, 2026 3:03 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

rec'd

"I was nice and didn’t go for a full cock shot" - LonghornEm

by UTLawGrad on Mar 5, 2026 3:57 PM CST up reply actions

Harsin's gotta be feelin'

like a kid in a candy store with a no-limit credit card. Wow!

Searles just keeps bringing it.

Nothing is more real than nothing.
-- Beckett

by AKHorn on Mar 5, 2026 3:09 PM CST reply actions

Searels, too

Nothing is more real than nothing.
-- Beckett

by AKHorn on Mar 5, 2026 3:10 PM CST reply actions

Mack: "Dear Bob, thanks for that delicious sandwich. I really do appreciate it."

by Tackchevy on Mar 5, 2026 3:38 PM CST reply actions

Quick feet

He doesn’t look that fast, but his feet move really quickly, which is exactly what we want for interior OL.

A 6’5" Center who can handle a 0-tech but still has long arms and quick feet for pass-protection…would have been perfect for the GD offense. So naturally, we probably wouldn’t have gotten him.

by Nickel Rover on Mar 5, 2026 5:03 PM CST reply actions

So, Like It's Ok to

get monster sized athletic studs straight from highschool and let them germinate in a quality S/C program? Is this legal? I’m pretty sure you have to recruit athleticy TE sized kids and insert them directly into the starting lineup as 18 year olds. Almost positive. Speaking of TE’s how does one, how do you say, recruit a really good one?

by Bobby_Batronic on Mar 5, 2026 8:11 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Big-time get. Rejoice.

I joiced before I rejoiced, is everybody cool with that?

Looking back, I wonder if Mack ever wonders to himself, “I cannot beleive I was so freaking blind not to see the complacency that had infected most of MY coaching staff”. Notable exceptions: Akina, Applewhite.

Seriously, how could he not? The stark contrast that is what it is and that was what it was must be blinding now … as well as painful for him to contemplate! Hell, it is for me and I had nothing to do with it.

AKA: dasmithjones

by Your "Friend" in the State Capital on Mar 6, 2026 11:10 AM CST reply actions