It's time for the fourth round of the inaugural "My Guys" Recruiting draft, brought to you by the BON recruiting team. Here's how the first three went down:
- Whitewright QB Tyrone Swoopes (GoBR's pick)
- Fort Worth Arlington Heights OL/DL A'Shawn Robinson (BFLT's pick)
- Celina's OL/DL Jake Raulerson (GHG90's pick)
- Sealy ATH Ricky Seals-Jones
- Dallas Kimball DT Justin Manning
- Dallas Jesuit WR Jake Oliver
- Bastrop CB Antwuan Davis
- Groveland South Lake (FL) S Marcell Harris
- Kennedale LB Brett Wade
Check out the fourth round after the jump.
Round 4, Pick 1 -- GoBR
Weimar OT Ja'Braylin Thomas
Thomas is a bit of an anomaly in the 2013 class -- he's a talented offensive lineman who doesn't play on both sides of the ball. Oh yeah, and he's also a bit of an anomaly because he's 6-7 and 330 pounds as a junior, with a wingspan that measures over seven feet.
Admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch here since Kent Perkins is still on the board and Perkins could be one of the top players in the state regardless of position, but Thomas is the pick here because he's the prototypical left tackle prospect with his combination of size, length, and ability. Consider that Thomas played tight end last summer on the Weimar 7-on-7 squad and balls it up on the hardwood. That's an athletic pedigree that a lot of college coaches who went through Weimar last spring probably fell in love with.
It's hard to say right now why exactly the shine is off of Thomas a bit mere months after he surfaced on the radar and it's probably not a great reflection on his most current evaluations. Watching him on film, I'm a little bit concerned about his flexibility, one of the major requirements for an offensive tackle, especially a tackle who has to sit in his cylinder while moving backwards in pass protection. Still, he's a man-mountain with the type of size, length and nimble feet that are incredibly rare, even if currently housed in a raw package. As long as Stacy Searels can vet his flexibility and come up with positive answers, Thomas should be high on the recruiting wish list for Texas.
Round 4, Pick 2 -- BFLT
Lake Highlands OT/DT Kent Perkins
When I saw the chance to get book end offensive tackles, I jumped at the chance. Perkins has the best punch of the 2013 offensive tackles. Perkins bends his knees and explodes into the defender and knocks them on their backs. He shows good foot work, and I really like how smoothly he moves. He shows good speed while pulling, and has a natural feel for the position. He makes the proper block at the right time. He's more advanced as a run blocker, but is excellent at pass protection.
Perkins pad level could be better, but it's common flaw of prep offensive lineman. It's easily correctable.
It's likely a TAMU vs. Texas battle for Perkins' signature. He is a life long Longhorn fan, but the Aggies have given him something to think about by pursuing him as a defensive player. Perkins' recruitment doesn't feel like a Michael Starts redux. I think Perkins love for the Longhorns wins out over positional preference.
Round 4, Pick 3 -- GHG90
DeSoto APB Dontre Wilson
With the new Harsinwhite offense (and the Applewhite offense when Harsin moves on, which is looking like it will be sooner rather than later), Texas will be focusing heavily on the utility back position in the near future. Back in GDGD's tenure, the running back position was usually employed so generically that there was no need to recruit nuanced players that didn't fit into his simplistic offensive scheme.
Even when a diamond in the rough like D.J. Monroe (originally recruited at DB/WR) would fall into his Santa-Clausianly inviting lap, we used the excuse that Monroe couldn't block. That didn't work out so well because people figured D.J. was just trying to fit in with the OL, TE's, and the WR's. So we instead made up that he was too big of an idiot to learn the napkin playbook. Yeah. He seems to be REALLY struggling with Harsin's infinitely larger and more complicated version, which is less napkin and more tome. What is D.J. averaging now, like 14 yards per carry? Oh...wait, no, that's Johnathan Gray. My bad.
If you're wondering when I'm actually going to start talking about Dontre Wilson, thanks for hanging around so long. I'm sure you're just waiting to read GoBR and BFLT's stuff anyway.
BUT I DI-GRESS.
Wilson is a burner with incredible change-of-direction ability who can line up at running back, motion from a wide receiver position for sweeps and reverses, and dominate in the return game. He's also an excellent receiver out of the backfield and a true big play guy. Most don't view him as an every down back, but as I've already stated, that's simply not necessary under Harsinwhite.
I personally don't think he's that small and wouldn't be a big weakness running up the middle unless we're jamming him into 4-4 fronts. He should be fine in the blocking game too. I think we'll use him in a combination Fozzy/Monroe role. He's more explosive than Whittaker and has better pure RB ability (read: vision, hands, jump cuts, etc.) than Monroe. Not as fast though, obviously.
Coming from pipeline school DeSoto, you have to like UT's chances with Wilson at this juncture. He's interested in Oregon and a lot of others as well, the former being somewhat $cary becau$e he fit$ $o well in their offen$e. I can't $ee any other rea$on$ why he'd go to the Duck$, though.
I know Roy is a big fan of Wilson after seeing him in person. He was supposed to upload some videos he took at the game, but those have yet to be seen and I'm starting to believe Greg Davis confiscated them in order to not reveal anything to OU before the RRS once Dontre arrives on the 40 (EDITOR'S NOTE: I was slow, but you can watch that video below). Two years from now. Hey, if you don't show it to ‘em, HOW WILL THEY DEFEND IT?
DeSoto's Dontre Wilson returning punts (via GhostofBigRoy84)