2011 Texas Big Board Update: Defensive Tackle

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2010 2:51 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns Recruiting

After the wild commitment and de-commitment from San Antonio Sam Houston defensive tackle Quincy Russell, where do the Longhorns head in recruiting at the position, given that Russell was the top target on the board?

Answers after the jump...

Needs: Two

Name (School)	JD invite?	Offer?	Commitment odds	Favorites	Quick take
Desmond Jackson (Spring Westfield)	Feb. 13	Offered	Committed to Texas (2/13/10)	Texas ~~Alabama~~ ~~Oklahoma~~	3/30 -- Has an outstanding swim move he uses repeatedly. Will probably need to develop another move in college. Some concerns about his ability to play at 280+ pounds without losing his quickness. Film. 2/8 -- A strong, explosive, gap-penetrating tackle in the mold of Dorsey and Bible who was unstoppable at the Army Junior combine. Uses his hands well for his age. His is a family divide -- his father an Alabama fan and his mother a Texas fan.
Marquis Anderson (Cibolo Steele)	Feb. 13	Offered	25%	Texas Texas A&M Oklahoma (co-leader) TCU (co-leader)	4/19 -- Still does not know where he stands ($) with the Texas coaching staff. Says Texas is in top three if still recruiting him. 3/28 -- Recently, Anderson was not aware of whether or not he still had a Texas offer, indicating that the staff may be slow playing him. Not overly impressive on film. 2/12 -- Able to both hit and separate and explode through gaps, Anderson plays with violence. Lacks ideal thickness in his lower body. Not as talented as Jackson, but would be far more than just a consolation prize.
Quincy Russell (San Antonio Sam Houston)	Feb. 13	Offered	Committed to Texas (4/05/10) Re-opened recruitment (4/06/10) 33%	Texas Missouri Baylor Alabama Nebraska Miami	4/19 -- Since Russell did not commit to another school after his de-commitment and informed the coaches quickly, it appears that Texas is still recruiting him. Visited Nebraska last weekend ($) for their spring game. 3/28 -- Has a prototypical frame for a defensive tackle. Possesses raw strength and though he could work on his technique, he looks like a better pure talent than Anderson. 2/12 -- Raw but talented -- similar to Cotton, but may have more athletic ability. Impressed at the Texas summer camp last year. Most likely zero or one tech in the class.
James Castleman (Amarillo)	Feb. 27	Not offered	Committed to Texas Tech (4/19/10)	~~Texas~~ Texas Tech ~~Oklahoma~~ ~~Oklahoma State~~ ~~Missouri~~	Undersized at 255, Castleman helped lead Amarillo to the playoffs. Solid regional prospect not quite on the level of the other three. Little information available.

Outstanding offers: Marquis Anderson, Quincy Russell

Timetable:

Russell -- Likely some time in the summer.
Anderson -- Plans trips to Texas A&M, TCU before making decision before beginning of summer.

Moving forward: The major story here since the last update at this position is the commitment and de-commitment less than 24 hours later of Quincy Russell. Caught up in the atmosphere of the spring game and some pressure from Longhorn commits to make a decision, Russell committed, then decided to re-open his recruitment after being unable to sleep that night.

His reversal raises the question of whether the Longhorns are still recruiting him. Last season, the Longhorns took their offer to Ahmad Dixon off the table after he committed to Baylor. However, this situation is different because Russell did not commit to another school and informed the coaches in a timely manner of his decision -- he made a mistake by committing before he was truly ready, but he handled the situation in a mature manner that did not alienate the coaches.

From the sound of his comments, Texas is still in the mix for the talented defensive tackle:

Texas has been real understanding of everything. They're not pressuring me at all. I talk to coach (Duane) Akina on a daily basis.

Russell plans on sitting down with his family and working on making a decision after visiting Nebraska over the weekend, a major contender for his services. A strong sign for Texas is that Russell indicated he would like to stay close to home to remain close to his sick mother. It's less likely now that Russell will become a Longhorn once again than it was before his first commitment, but given his desire to stay close to home, Texas looks like a favorite.

The other offer out is to Marquis Anderson, who continues to seemingly have little contact with the Texas coaching staff. Anderson named TCU and Oklahoma as his leaders on April 19, indicating that the Longhorns are still in the mix if there is a scholarship available. The Texas staff likely contacted him after Russell's commitment to let him know that they were done with recruiting at the position, but apparently Anderson has not spoken with the coaches since Russell de-committed. He also did not seem to know that Russell had actually de-committed, a fact that would take little research to ascertain. Just visit BON!

The smart money says that Texas is still slow-playing Anderson and that he will end up somewhere else unless the coaching staff makes a serious push with him. Given that lack of contact, it looks like Russell is still in play and remains the top target on the board for the Longhorns. With the 2012 class shaping up as having little elite talent at the position, Russell becomes even more of a priority at a position that is difficult to recruit.

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Comments

if Russell was there this past weekend, I think that means he would have been there to meet Suh and see him pledge $2.6 mil to NU. I would have to imagine that would leave a very big impression on someone.

While I’m on the subject, I must commend Suh for not JUST giving money back to the school (often these are given to the A Dept), but also endowing a scholarship in the engineering program. That is awesome of him.

by UT_BKC on Apr 19, 2010 3:13 PM CDT reply actions

Not to mention actually earning a degree in Engineering

He graduated in Dec.

Definitely a player I’ll continue to root for.

by Horncasting on Apr 19, 2010 3:33 PM CDT up reply actions

The House of Spears is quickly doing everything he can to become a favorite of mine

I’ll probably root for him in the NFL, even if (and this is a worst-case scenario) Oakland trades up for him.

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

by burntorangehorn on Apr 19, 2010 3:51 PM CDT up reply actions

I hope he doesn’t go to that hole of suck to waste away like Vasher has.

by UT_BKC on Apr 19, 2010 4:05 PM CDT up reply actions

Huff

Vasher, fortunately, avoided that fate.

by TheElusiveShadow on Apr 19, 2010 5:38 PM CDT up reply actions

Yep, Huff has been wasting away in Oakland

The good news is that his hard work at ignoring bad coaching is starting to pay off, because he finally started showing some good stuff in 2009. He’s signed through 2011, so…well, we’ll see.

by burntorangehorn on Apr 19, 2010 7:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Good point, Ghost,

on the lack of elite DTs a year from now. I would add that the position DEMANDS at least 280 pounds, and not a lot of HS sophomores with D-1 type athleticism weigh that much at age 15, 16 — meaning there’s lots of time for a couple of DT prospects to add the pounds and emerge in a state as large as ours.

From Quincy Russell’s vantage point, though, I’d be concerned about UT having 3 RS freshmen at DT and 3 just-signed true frosh and Desmond Jackson. I’d love to land him, but I can see other positional needs (RB, CB) being a lot higher on the priority list.

by edsp on Apr 19, 2010 4:12 PM CDT reply actions

DT need

Of the four positions where the coaches are still recruiting — RB, CB, DE, and DT — DT probably ranks 3rd or 4th. I will continue to make the argument that DT is more important because it’s hard to recruit there and Texas has had bad luck the last couple seasons. I understand the concerns about the depth there and I’m sure Russell has thought about that as well, but attrition happens it’s a fact of college football.

Definitely expect a couple kids to emerge on the radar as the football season begins at defensive tackle. I’ll start trying to work on some 2012 content here pretty soon, but Brenham’s Malcolm Brown is an absolute stud, if a bit undersized.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2010 5:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Agreed on DT numbers

But at this point, it looks like we’ll end up with 7 from the 2009, ’10, and ’11 classes even if no DEs eventually move inside. Coaches have not done a good job at the position the last five years, and the attrition luck has been bad as well. But some of the attrition — Wilcoxsin, Ellis — was bad decision-making by the staff.

Humphreys, Andre Jones: Those were bad fortune.

by edsp on Apr 19, 2010 5:58 PM CDT up reply actions

James Castleman just gave a verbal to Tech, FYI.

" Answers --Become Resources."
Without Questions, There are limited Resources...

by KWashburn on Apr 19, 2010 4:53 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks

Tuberville putting in some work on acquiring some defensive players. I think the Tech defense is going to get tougher over the next couple years.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2010 5:17 PM CDT up reply actions

Agree

I’ll be interested to see how long Tuberville continues with the spread and the wide splits. Also how the offense performs next year without Leach.

"You've got to think lucky. If you fall into a mudhole, check your back pocket - you might have caught a fish" -- Darrell Royal

by SpiritOfTheFedora on Apr 19, 2010 9:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Sam Houston high school has pretty easy access to I-35

Russell could be home from Austin in about an hour. C’mon Quincy!

by Ese-De-SA on Apr 19, 2010 5:09 PM CDT reply actions

Off topic

is cayleb jones jr the top player in texas next year and where is he leaning

by tcuhorns on Apr 19, 2010 6:48 PM CDT reply actions

Prolly Jones or Johnathan Gray for top spot at this point

JOnes seems to like Texas. It’s early, but the Longhorns are in good shape. Same with Gray, I think.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2010 11:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Pet peeve alert...

Cayleb Jones is widely recognized as an excellent talent, who will likely be the most-sought after WR in Texas recruiting next year, and perhaps one of the top overall players.

But the idea that any one player is (or can be, at this stage) empirically “the top player” in Texas next year is pretty wacky- I think we all need to take a breath from the recuitingverse and the idea that it makes a real difference whether a 15-year old kid is #1, #3 or #8 on some guy’s list. Evaluating football players is a highly subjective task in all cases, and there’s even less precision when comparing guys from different competition levels, playing different positions, and at various stages of physical development.

To me, this obsession with ratings is the unfortunate product of the recruiting industry and football video games. And this is coming from a guy who obsessively reads stuff from the recruiting industry, and obsessively plays football video games.

by BurntOrangeCanadian on Apr 19, 2010 10:34 PM CDT reply actions

This was supposed to be a reply; NT Wills

by BurntOrangeCanadian on Apr 19, 2010 10:36 PM CDT up reply actions

who's Wills?..nt whills

by vy til i die on Apr 19, 2010 10:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Oops.

… I’ll pretend this is the Canadian spelling, like “colour” instead of “color”. NT wills.

by BurntOrangeCanadian on Apr 19, 2010 11:37 PM CDT up reply actions

This type of behaviour is inappropriate.

by burntorangehorn on Apr 20, 2010 6:56 AM CDT up reply actions

While I generally agree with you

You have to take in to consideration two things. One, this is the off season. Anything is up for argument for the sake of maintaing sanity. Secondly, tcuhorns has a habit of changing the subject in the thread in order to ask questions. We have learned to love him.

"I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field."
-Walter Payton

by CoachEtch on Apr 20, 2010 8:27 AM CDT up reply actions

Nebraska got a DT commit today

A kid out of OH gave his verbal. Last year NU took two DT, one was Jay Guy out of Houston Aldine. If I remember correctly Guy was highly rated early on but his ranking fell some during his senior year. Still hopeful on Russell.

I was looking to see what Suh was ranked but didn’t see him listed on NU’s commit list. I did notice a guy named Alonzo Whaley out of Madinsonville. Is that a relative of our Whaley?

by Wrangler86 on Apr 19, 2010 10:52 PM CDT reply actions

Suh was No. 51 nationally

on 2005 Rivals list . . . He was No. 6 DT prospect that year. No. 1 was DeMarcus Granger (OU), No. 5 was Roy Miller. . . . Suh was solid 4-star recruit who redshirted in ’05.

by edsp on Apr 19, 2010 11:04 PM CDT up reply actions

Rivals did a pretty good job ranking the DT talent that year nt

by Wrangler86 on Apr 20, 2010 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions

Alonzo is his older brother

Lead blocker for Chris until he graduated in ’08, I believe.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2010 11:10 PM CDT up reply actions

Interesting

Whaley commited to us pretty early, didn’t look at NU much did he? Think our Whaley’s bro being at NU pressured Mack a tad into the ‘we will only take one RB and it’s you’ scenario?

by Jhal2315 on Apr 19, 2010 11:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Not sure about that

As far as I can tell, Mack just really liked Whaley.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 20, 2010 12:17 AM CDT up reply actions

excellent and timely updates

thank you much.

apparently russell handled the situation with the de-commitment in a reasonable and responsible way. my take is that he and his coach did the right thing. if he wasn’t sure, staying committed to us did nobody any favors. i’m betting our staff sees it that way as well.

i agree exactly that we really need to bring him in. dt seems about as hard to predict as ol, and with the record tolly has in developing tackles, i don’t see a negative for him at ut, especially given his personal needs. what bothers me is the 33% you have for our odds. do you see nebraska at 67% or are there other major players in his recruitment?

glenn was taken, that's why

by rumplestiltsglenn on Apr 20, 2010 7:36 AM CDT reply actions

Russell visited OSU last weekend also

So he is getting a pretty wide view of the available programs. I still think he will ciricle back to his original favorite which was us. Those other schools have a hard time beating us in any toe-to-toe comparisons. As long as he likes the coaches, which it seems he does, we should have a good shot.

by Wrangler86 on Apr 20, 2010 12:10 PM CDT up reply actions

Wasn't really sure what to put for Russell and his commitment odds

I don’t think I would say that Nebraska is at 67%, probably closer to the 33% Texas. He also hasn’t made mention of any other schools that figure prominently but since he wants to see a few more schools, I put the everyone else at 33%.

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 20, 2010 4:30 PM CDT up reply actions

that makes sense

i hadn’t heard about any interest other than the nebs. us and the cornshuckers tied in the lead and several schools summing to the other third sounds pretty reasonable.

i wanted to hear that your impression is that nebraska doesn't have a big lead here.

really want this kid.

glenn was taken, that's why

by rumplestiltsglenn on Apr 20, 2010 9:21 PM CDT up reply actions