50/50 throw/pass for Texas.

i actually can’t think of any teams that choose not to pass if they can. arkansas is probably one of the most run dominated teams in recent memory, but that’s cause they had a qb who couldn’t throw worth a lick.

and I think that’s all it will come down to. I want guys at UT that have been entertaining the thought of coming to Texas since they were little kids. Maybe he has some real interest in coming to Austin but right now my gut is telling me he just wants another suitor to add to the list since he’s a top prospect.

until he visits, i don’t think we should offer him. same as most every other kid who shows interest in texas.

courting 2 5* backs can backfire on us, or courting the wrong 5* back… see john brantley and ryan mallett.. we secured an early commitment from brantley, and passed on mallett. by the time brantley changed his mind and went to UF mallett was already heading to michigan… snubbed by Texas coaching staff.

depending on how the staff feels about their chances with lache… i definitely don’t think they should start handing out offers to anyone who says they’re interested in texas.

Stringing along? He probably won’t go to his first class at the school he chooses until 16 months from now, and you’re saying the kid’s taking too damn long to make his choice? That’s kind of unrealistic.

for one thing – it is still the summer BEFORE the kid’s senior year. Not committing prior to that is by no rational definition: “stringing along”.

for another – even if it was accurate, why does that imply an “attitude” issue? Sure, we can look back at Perriloux and shudder and say he had an ‘attitude’ problem. But to try to fit that on every kid who doesn’t immediately jump on board the Longhorn Express is just plain silly. For all I know Lache Seastrunk may have a horrible attitude, but I don’t know him, and I’m betting you don’t either, so what would I base that on? He’s just a kid trying to make a huge decision and he’s being pulled in a lot of different ways by a lot of different people. That does not equate to a bad attitude. If he comes across in the recruiting process as a “me first” guy, I would think that’s a rational outlook – HIS recruitment, and HIS decision, is ultimately a family, friends, etc. deal, but it’s primarily a “Me” issue. Where will HE be the happiest, be empowered to achieve the best? Just because we’re absolutely positive that “UT” is the correct answer to all those questions does not, unfortunately, mean that he is…

Also, becoming interested/enamored of a school because your PASTOR’s son is employed there seems to me, at least, to signify that he’s a pretty solid citizen – I’d rather take my chances on someone who’s influenced by his pastor in a positive way than not… no guarantees, of course, but it’s surely not a negative sign.

very interesting idea, and i’m inclined to agree with you. higher visibility for the program is a good thing for sure.

Isn’t that what we are doing with Hicks? Isn’t that what we did with Scott, Jones, and Kirkpatrick? Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean we are recruiting OOS kids.

You want us to recruit more OOS kids, but then you yourself limit the number of OOS kids we recruit by suggesting we only recruit kids who are interested. That is exactly what we are doing and what we should continue to do. All those aforementioned guys had legitimate interest in our program and we recruited them.

Just because Malcolm Jones randomly says he “wishes [we] would show a little more interest” doesn’t mean we crapped the bed on recruiting OOS kids. This is probably the first time he has shown interest in our program, which would explain why we haven’t been paying attention to him.

We have been recruiting OOS kids, we just only go after ones that we actually have a shot with and that fulfill a particular skill set or position that we cannot find in state.

Now if you suggest that we need to do a better job with CLOSING on the OOS kids that we do recruit, then I would agree with you.

I prefer the coaches’ current strategy, though it does make for a rather boring and disappointing signing day. This year we could literally be in a situation where we have more commits than spots on the roster by the end of the summer. How can we be out there trying to land some signing day decision when we don’t have a place to put them? I think the amount of OOS recruiting we do should be based on what we need, not just on handing out offers to guys who ask for them.

I like our strategy of only giving out 30 or so offers. If you get a Texas offer you are really special. Ok, we sign guys that we know we can get who aren’t blue chippers, but those are at the very least loyal backups rather than guys who will transfer out the first time someone passes them on the depth chart.

I think our strategy is good this year. The state has very few positional holes talent-wise and the coaches obviously did their homework since most of the class is already committed. I am sure they are already aware of the talent in 2011 (and 2012) and if they see a need that can’t be filled in-state they have already been talking to OOS guys that look promising.

I have to think the attitude of saying ’we’ll take the best in state and beat your team filled with guys from across the country’ has to be a pretty good way of selling the program to Texas high schoolers. If Mack can finally turn it into titles rather than a collection of a lot winning seasons, then it can turn into a juggernaut that will last past Mack’s tenure.