1. The Aaron Franklin issue – while you make good points that (a) some guys just fall through the cracks, and (b) Texas has done a good job identifying “under-the-radar” players it wants like Daniels and Jones, the whole Aaron Franklin situation still smells like a lazy recruiting job. This is especially true when you consider Mack’s philosophy of (a) getting Texas guys that (b) actually want to go to Texas. Despite him missing time to an injury, the whole recruitment felt like either (or both) a gut reaction to losing Nelson to A&M and losing steam with Jordan Hicks (whether that’s true or not, we’ll see) as well as seeing OU ardently pursue him. Now whether or not this is public perception or actual fact isn’t known to us, but the fact that this is the way it’s being perceived by Texas fans doesn’t bode well, especially not for someone formerly with the nickname “Mr. February.”

2. That leads into my second point, in which Mack, in his earlier days, was known as one of the (if not THE) foremost recruiters in college football. Ironically, as perception of his coaching ability has shifted to the realm of the positive, Texas fans are finding new things to complain about, chiefly his recruiting failures. They’re not all unjustified; whereas Mack once rewrote the rulebook for recruiting in Texas, now other factors have left him supposedly behind the 8-ball. That’s not to say he’s not still recruiting excellent talent; instead, the combination of earlier offers and street agents (see BC for some great commentary on this) are now standard rules Mack refuses to play by. This is strange for someone who used to write the rules. As nice as it is to lock down 90% of your class by February of the previous year, the perception again is the “buzz” that schools like USC and Florida generate with their down-to-the-wire top flight recruiting creates a positive brand perception of that school; on the flipside, there’s no “buzz” with Texas. Even in a year where we’re expected to hear decisions from some top-flight recruits on signing day, no one is wildly optimistic. That’s not a problem when we’re winning on the same caliber as a USC or Florida, but it will most assuredly be magnified should Mack (or Texas) slip from its dominant post in the Big 12.

3. What’s wholly disconcerting is seeing the two chief problems above play out directly in Darius White’s recruiting (which, as mentioned early on in the process, should have easily gone Texas’ way). Namely, (1) the perception that Texas is “lazy” (relatively) in recruiting mirrored in the nametag issue, and (2) Texas’ aversion to issuing offers before the first Junior Day as well as down-to-the-wire recruiting mirrored in the lack of early and/or possibly late commitment from White. Not to say that without these two issues, White would definitely be a Horn, but it’s entirely possible that had Texas either (1) issued Favors’ nametag correctly or (2) formally offered White before he began generating 5* buzz, White would already be committed as a Longhorn. Moreover, if Texas had been recently involved in and winning more last-minute 5* signings, public perception may still be on Texas’ side rather than OU’s in acquiring White’s services for next year.

To summarize, it’s not like any of this is a major problem now. As you point out, we’re still getting recruits, both top-tier and under-the-radar, and we’re still winning. However, personally (or maybe even publicly), the negative recruiting trends just feel ominous, and might possibly lead to bigger problems down the line.

I still find it hard to believe how much of a deal has been made out of this. If we were not really recruiting them any longer and they were accompanying one of our current targets to an event, then wasn’t the nametag in fact correct?

If White is truly going to take this “mishap” into consideration when deciding which school to play for, then it only stands to reason that UT not offering his friends would have been seen as an even bigger slight to them and we’d be in this same position anyway.

As far as the Franklin situation goes, it is hard to agree with the notion that a player “fell through the cracks” or we got in on him too late, when we showed him a ton of interest before his senior year even started.

The bottom line is that Texas is the leading brand in College Athletics. The coaches are being asked to identify kids before they have driver’s licenses. Like Mack says, the most important thing is to find the talented kids that dream of going to Texas, and that can become leaders of the football team. If a kid is willing to forego the number 1 brand in College football due to a name tag issue, I’m just not sure I am going to lose sleep over that.

I personally think Mack does it right. Gets the most recruits in the nation in February to guarantee at least a solid class – and then relies on the Texas brand to deliver some late bloomers. The kids that he has brought to this program are of a character and caliber that are second to none. Can you imagine sending Quan, Orakpo, Miller, McCoy, OB, Ross etc into NFL interview rooms at the combine? No other school does that.

If White wants to come to Texas, he’s not going to let something so stupid stop him. Who let’s an obvious mistake, that is so minor, dictate where you spend the next 4 years? Seriously.

If he gets up to Norman. What’s he going to say? “Boy…I sure showed them!!!!” But, then he is still stuck in Norman. WTF? He can’t figure this out?

Stanford, which already has a commitment in the 2012 and 2011 recruiting classes, landed another ’11 kid.

Wide receiver Ty Montgomery, who had 53 receptions for 679 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore for Dallas’ St. Mark’s High, committed to the Cardinal, according to Greg Biggins, over offers from Texas, California, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

“I actually committed late last week,” the 6-0, 200-pounder told Biggins. “I camped with Stanford in the summer and basically just fell in love with the place. I loved the campus, the coaching staff and of course the academics at Stanford are tough to beat.”

That has to be a typo, right? I seem to recall ESPN running a similar story earlier where they reported an offer from Texas to a then-underclassman. Just wondering if anyone had news.

Link. (Insider)

in what Favors is saying, or could his ear be bent more the direction of Jeffcoat, Seastrunk, Hicks, & Reed?

My gut tells me we get 2-3 of these guys, or we get none at all. Jeffcoat has been absolutely stealth on his intentions. I think Rak’s exposure this year with the Redskins will add a lot to Jeffcoats noodling process. Sergio’s year could speak volumes as well in that regard.

We’ve seen the Seastrunk coaster and something jumped out at me during an AMP interview he had. He made light of every school brought up and jokingly put himself in Auburn, LSU (Lache Seastrunk University as he called it), or USC, but when asked about the Horns he turned very serious? He ended with saying he wanted to talk to his mom and get her input on wherever he goes. I think, and I may be the only one out here that thinks,we still have a legitimate shot if we bring it on late.

Franklins loss was sad in the fact that his memories as a kid will be burnt orange, but we did give him the shot. I wish him the best, but I don’t think we missed so bad that we start calling for Mack’s wheelchair just yet.

We are watching the maturity of an elite, if not the most elite, college football program in the country. The development of players here has been stellar. Sergio came in as a 215-220 pound linebacker and will graduate as a 260 pound fast & furious DE. We are watchin a 3 star QB making collegiate history, see a starting defensive lineman who was a running back, and a possible starting TE who last year was an offensive guard!

Wasn’t Malcolm Williams a 4 star? How about Aaron Williams, or James Kirkondall?
Rivals, Scout, and ESPN are all out there subjectively rating players from articles, video, and hype. Mack and his staff rates on a very consistant and trustowrthy scale. If Franklin had been a standout, lock down pick then I believe we would have been all over it.

Whether or not we get any of the current 5 stars still out there to me is of little consequence in the big picture. Wouldn’t we rate some of our Rivals 4 stars as 5 stars anyway?

White has a huge decision to make. I hope he does really take his time and consider the opportunity to sanctify his own childhood dreams of running out the tunnel of DKR . There will be 90,000+ fellow dreamers cheering him on!

To be this fatalistic and self destructive in our recruit practices and still win most of our games.

Neither the next 5 RRS nor the next 5 BigXII South titles will be decided by outrecruiting OU. These games and titles will be decided by the development and coaching of these blue chippers, and the game day preparation by those coaches. If we pick up the number 1 LB in Texas this year – OU is more likely to do so the next. In addition, who says the number 1 LB in Texas is truly the number 1 LB in Texas. I certainly think turning Colt McCoy from a 3 star recruit into the QB he is today is far more important than attracting the supposed 5 star recruit. (as evidenced by Perriloux)

and that is the real reason some schools are backing off of him, the fact that he and his entourage have their hands out.

However, I’ve also heard that texas has two players who had street agents involved in their recruitment, so I don’t see that as a valid reason to back off a kid.

I think Seastrunk is a kid who probably is trying to go to the highest bidder, so his interest in $EC schools is completely understandable.

The way Seastrunk was bringing his friends and other recruits with him to Auburn has to make you wonder what sort of ATM machine they had there. It was becoming too weird and similar to the M. Brown recruiting games from last year.

Ketchum said that he sees Seastrunk attending a Texas game in Austin just to play his game and get his name in lights. But, Ketchum also said he thought the Texas coaches would do very little to acknowledge him or play into the hype.

On to 2011 RBs — Aaron Green seems to be the most similar to Seastrunk (and a little better), but he seems very likely to go to Nebraska since his brother just committed to NU. Brown seems like a beast. Glad that 2011 has a lot of RB talent in Texas.

I hope that we haven’t given up on some of these guys like Franklin, Nelson, and Matthews. Heck, we probably should still be contacting Dixon. Last year OU had 2 or 3 major de-commits, like Eric Ward who was a 4 star WR, who went to Tech.
I kown we don’t usually go after guys once they commit (or decommit from us) but I hope that we are keeping options open for a recruit if we truly want him and he’s good. If A&M sucks it up like expected then Nelson and Matthews may be really anxious to switch.