Morning Coffee Urges Mack Brown To Capitalize
by Peter Bean on Mar 4, 2009 12:34 PM CST
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King of the hill. Almost. A host of stories have been written this week about Mack Brown's ability to pocket an astounding 19 commitments from top prospects by March 1. He's "changing the game" and running an "unmatched machine." These aren't empty numbers, either: both our own Big Roy and Barking Carnival's Scipio Tex agree that the early haul is of exceptionally fine quality. As Burnt Orange Beat's Gerry Hamilton told the Statesman, "I think they already have a top-10 class. It's just a matter of whether it becomes top three."
For many of the reasons discussed amply in the links above, I wholeheartedly endorse the position Mack Brown and his staff have staked out. With only one caveat: A critical component of the value in this strategy is rooted in the opportunities the position affords the staff to hone in on the dozen or so best-of-the-best prospects who aren't interested in early commitments. To the extent Mack Brown capitalizes on that position to increase his odds landing some of those kids, the strategy is nothing short of ideal. Contrarily, failing to appreciate and/or take advantage of that benefit drains the strategy of a sizable amount of its value.
Throughout his career at Texas Mack Brown has been at his best when he is hungry and active in looking for ways to squeeze maximum value from his monstrous machine; occasional bouts of complacency and contentedness with "good enough" have led to underachievement. It's in that sense that neither Mack Brown's critics nor his "do no wrong" defenders both have it wrong -- he's accomplished a ton, positioned himself near-ideally, and, yes, can do more yet if he really wants to stick his boot on opponents' throats. Go for it, Mack. (Figuratively speaking, of course. We like that you can and do win Bobby Dodd Awards.)
Bubble burst? With Kansas State's 71-77 loss in Stillwater last night, Bring on the Cats more or less resigns the Wildcats' fate to the NIT. Probably true, though I'm not 100% sure TB's right the 'Cats would need to secure the #4 seed and then beat Texas and KU in the conference tourney just to clear the hump. Texas alone might do the trick, depending what happens with A&M and/or Oklahoma State. Either way, Kansas State needs to thump Colorado and look good reaching the conference semifinals.
The Madness approaches. Speaking of Championship Week... Card Chronicle has as thoroughly outstanding a primer for the Madness as one could possibly hope for. Brilliant.
More Madness. If you missed the end of the Washington State-Arizona State game in Pullman on Saturday... don't. Or if it's jaw-dropping dunks you need to get your March Madness blood roiling, I've got you covered in three easy steps:
3. Marqus Blakely Is Fearless (via the Card Chronicle post mentioned above)
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In Mack we Trust
This early haul truly is outstanding. If it was so easy why don’t other schools do it? Why wouldn’t they? It isn’t like Texas is signing scraps. They did it last year and ended with a Top 5 class. They are doing it this year and with a couple more top level guys with end with a Top 5 class.
That is a tribute to Mack and the coaching staff. Look at Alex Okafor. If given the choice between Okafor or McFarland this time last year, we all take McFarland. Then Okafor shoots up the boards and looks like a beast of a player now. They do enough homework to know the up and coming players and who is poised to breakout. That is why players like Chris Jones and Greg Daniels are exciting and not “reaches” by any means.
In this day and age of me, me, me, he gets talented kids to stay at home instead of going to flashier schools with more “swagga” as Dre Kirkpatrick put it so eloquently. Yes we need to cherry pick the occasional OOS recruit (like Hicks), but that is a small complaint. You dominate Texas recruiting and you’re guaranteed a Top 5 to 10 class every single year.
Mack has that covered.
DE vs DT
But the main reason for wanting McFarland over Okafor has to do with depth…or more importantly lack thereof at the DT position. Texas is looking to find a starting line at DT, much less looking for any rotation depth during spring training. Consider that Texas is looking at cross training Houston at DT and NT who just spun down from DE. He’s a little out of his weight class to play NT, but we may not have much of a choice. Also consider that last season Roy Miller was our only true DT, and we had to spin down 2 DE’s to DT just to have any depth. This season’s freshmen DT’s will immediately make the depth chart.
I wouldn’t blanketly state “In Mack We Trust” because he’s had some mediocre classes (probably still a top 30 class), but the last couple of recruiting classes and the 2010 recruiting class appear to be rock solid, can’t miss top 5 classes which bodes dreams of championships this year with McCoy, Garrett Gilbert’s junior and senior year (assuming he doesn’t redshirt), and Woods senior year. Totally loaded. I can’t imagine Mack retiring early…it’s going to be way too much fun around Texas. I would think Mack finishes out his contract and maybe makes the transition his final year of his contract to Muschamp.
The pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas will not be entrusted to the weak or the timid.
Hook'em
OT thanks for the link
to Card Chronicle (madness primer) . . . great stuff even for a non-hoops guy
Peter's point about locking down the low-hanging fruit,
those Texas guys who really want to come here, early, which frees up recruiting resources to focus on the remaining creme-de-la-creme, is an important part of Mack’s strategy. (Will Major rent an apartment near Lache’s residence over the summer? Kidding.) It’s a safe strategy for two reasons. First, those guys almost literally quit getting mail and contacts from other schools because they recognize that our recruits almost never renege, Perriloux and Brantley notwithstanding. Even mythical USC has surprising late attrition, if I’m not mistaken. Second, those early commitments become effective recruiters for their peers.
I'll never forget ol' what's-his-name.
People talk about recruiting and USC's success
but they still manage to lose gimme games past couple of years…top recruits wont get u the mythical championship
unless u get VY along with a great recruiting class
COACH BOOM BABY!!
Per Bruce Feldman (In$ider)
Athlete Tharold Simon and tight end Nic Jacobs are two touted in-state prospects who told Les Miles they are coming. Georgia FB Brandon Worle also announced he was going to LSU. The biggest name to commit though might be WR Mike Davis of Skyline High in Dallas. A 6-1, 185-pound wide receiver, Davis is a member of the ESPNU 150 Watch List for 2010. He reportedly picked LSU over offers from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Notre Dame, California, Florida, Minnesota and Stanford, among others.
Davis and Jacobs were recruited by receivers coach D.J. McCarthy. The commitment of Davis is significant because McCarthy also is on Davis teammate, linebacker Corey Nelson, who said on Saturday at the Dallas Under Armour Combine that he plans to visiting LSU unofficially for the Tigers spring game.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=feldman_bruce&entryID=3949012
My understanding is...
we didn’t offer Mike Davis. It’s been reported that after failing to receive an offer following the first Junior Day he took offense at the snub and gave a lukewarm review to the program. Not sure why he didn’t get an offer, but I can live with the decision.
by TKO on Mar 4, 2009 7:54 PM CST up reply actions
KSU
I think they may still have a good chance. The key is to get into the #5 seed where they can feast on #12 and then catch #4 cold. Even losing the next round, they would still end up with 23 wins. Hard to deny a 23 win team from a major conference.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
Is rest of the spring football practices closed??
itching for another practice update…god i miss football already
COACH BOOM BABY!!
yes, until the spring game
mb-tf tends to put up some highlight videos from practice. Probably not going to satisfy your fix for football but generally worthy of a viewing.
Well done PB
Excellent, and timely PB, as usual. Perhaps lost on many, the Bobby Dodd award ’s significance rings home with me, vis-a-vis your note today. Being a little older, I know Dodd was a coach feared by many in the SEC, accorded no small respect by the Bear himself.
Mack Brown has long since proven himself to me, as I dare say most bloggers here. I like what he’s doing, at the expense of losing prospects du jour at the last moments of the recruiting season. I’ll take locking ’em up early any day. What I see from Mack , in the last year especially, shows a tenacity & killer instinct reminiscent of Bobby Dodd – similarly caring deeply for his players, Bear Bryant, DKR and others of that ilk. Great stuff.
Hook ’em !!
lache
Promise the dude whatever he wants……….he’ll make a difference……….to somebody….might as well be UT
Peter, I'm hoping....
…..you might provide some insight. All over the internet, including Scipio, people are claiming the staff “bricked” on the recruiting of Jake Matthews. People refer to his dad, Bruce Matthews, as hating our blocking schemes. Some say they left early.
Can you please provide some insight?
--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---
Details are sketchy at best
If I hear anything concrete, I’ll report it. I can’t confirm anything right now, though, so I’ve kept silent. Could be an internet murmur. Could be something there — of which I don’t know details.
--PB--
OB has something up about his visit...
I don’t have a subscription, but they have something up about Jake’s visit.
They also have up a revised Texas 100 for 2010. We now have half of the top 20 and 14 of the top 30 in state…I sometimes wonder about these rankings. They moved like 3 or 4 of our recent commits into the top 20 after they weren’t even on the last list!
Nothing new on OB
Just checked & nothing new on OrangeBloods. This is one we’ll have to wait out.
I am familiar with Bruce Matthews from his years with the Oilers, and have watched countless interviews & read a lot of his press. IMHO, “Bruce came to Austin with Jake, saw our OL schemes, and literally belly laughed.” is totally out of character for what I consider a first-class individual.
If he belly-laughed about anything I would bet it was something in good fun – misconstrued if it really happened at all.
Some additional from.......
…..Scipio.
QUOTE———-As for Jake Matthews, where to begin? Bruce Matthews had just been named the Texans OL coach and it was pretty clear that Jake would like to stay local if he can help it. All we needed to do was check out when they kicked the tires.
Instead, Bruce came to Austin with Jake, saw our OL schemes, and literally belly laughed. Now Jake will decide if he wants to stay local at A&M and swallow losing for four years close to home playing a NFL scheme or if he wants to head to USC and blow out Big 10 teams in the Rose Bowl. There are times when we could fuck up a ham sandwich, but what can you do? -—-END QUOTE
--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---
I think the comments suggested this was just Scipio being Scipio...
I think even Scipio said it was third hand news.
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