Texas Loses To Ole Miss on 2014 Dallas Skyline DE Victor Evans

Texas is now losing homeland recruiting battles to...Ole Miss?

2014 Dallas Skyline DE Victor Evans is a three star prospect (6-2, 225) and was thought to be the Longhorns' to lose. At least according to the unanimous predictions of the Crystal Ballas at 24/7.

Texas isn't getting it done at DE, despite plucking one of the three elites in-state, but the options are top heavy and Evans was a project with less-than-ideal measurables.

The situation is more grim at DB, where the state boasts arguably its best crop in decades. We can go back and forth about the nature of the 2014 Longhorn recruiting class and it's distinctive Texas A&M circa 2008 feel (I can find at least a good half dozen Why Take Him Now Given What's Still On The Board head scratchers, and so can you) what is inarguable is that the state of Texas is loaded at DB - no other position in the state can compare to the depth, quality, and sheer volume of bad mamma jammas available.

A position where Texas has traditionally eaten its fill and then allowed everyone else their scraps once the Horns were sufficiently bloated with future NFLers and Thorpe Award winners.

Not so in 2014.

The Horns have had our clock thoroughly cleaned, both by in-state rivals and out-of-state predators (predators like to clean clocks! Just go with it, OK) - indeed, the Longhorns are a smooth 0 for 15 so far on top in-state DBs with only a couple of opportunities left on the board - and our only commit is an undersized (though apparently solid) out-of-state CB. While the sky isn't falling, this is a clear indicator of program health and dynamism.

Why?

Well, if I may be the sort of asshole who quotes himself, I wrote this five weeks ago.

Mark Stoops at Kentucky, who also has 16 commits, has a higher per athlete star average than Texas (3.33 to 3.31). Commonwealth Stadium is a wonderful old school venue and Lexington is a pleasant enough place, but we're talking about a basketball school, the dregs of the SEC, fresh off of a 2-10 record (0-8 in the SEC). That's a cold slap of reality.

As well as a reminder how receptive recruits are to vitality, a hopeful story-to-tell, and an authentic sense of excitement.

Victor Evans thinks I may be on to something. What used to ooze organically from every fiber of the Longhorn program is now an exercise in stagecraft.

As a Dallas native, Evans was expected to pick Texas. All 10 of the recruiting experts that predicted his decision on 247Sports’ Crystal Ball feature picked Texas.

The big reason why Evans picked the Rebels over the Longhorns was the genuineness of the coaching staff.

"Ole Miss seemed more genuine and more real," he said. "They cared about their kids a little more. It wasn’t so rehearsed and it seemed like it was genuine. They actually care about everybody. Not that Texas doesn’t care about their kids, but it seemed genuine and real to me."