Recruiting Articles
Signing Day Sundry
Posted by Vasherized on February 3rd, 2012 under Recruiting
BO KNOWS RECRUITING
This was a textbook recruitment by the Texas staff on How to Steal An OOS Stud on Signing Day
They never pushed for an early switch from the in-state favorite, knowing local pressures would likely turn him back like the Gator-chomping Ocalans did with Johnny Brantley. But Bo Davis kept in close contact and continued to develop what was already a strong relationship, both with Shiro and his mom, Regina Shivers. Once things soured in Baton Rouge after LSU lost to Bama, combined with the news that freak Tiger DEs Montgomery and Mingo would be returning, the staff sensed Shiro might be wavering and reaffirmed their desire to see him in burnt orange, making multiple trips to Shreveport in January. But backing off on the in-home turned out to be a masterstroke. The kid just needed some time to think it over without feeling pressured and the staff knew the groundwork to turn Shiro had already been laid.
Texas was wooing late. Three assistant coaches — including Bo Davis — came on back-to-back Fridays. The relationship with Davis turned out to be a big factor. Davis first started recruiting intently at Alabama, but when he moved to Texas, so did Torshiro Davis’ interest in the Longhorns. Davis said he felt “more at home” at Texas. There he’ll also fill in holes immediately and play defensive end — a position he’s more comfortable in playing.
“For a year I’ve been committed to LSU,” Davis said. “After awhile a relationship got built with coach Davis. To me, whenever I talk to him, he never talks about football. He talks about life and life after football. Football is a short-time game.
“I almost could have gone either way, but I feel like the people at Texas care more about me not as a football player but as person that attends the University of Texas.”
The Orakpo comparison Mack threw out at the signing day PC is a bit optimistic but Shiro’s films shows an elite first step off the edge and natural instincts in pursuit. Orakpo came in long and lean, putting on about 40 pounds of muscle by basically living in the gym at a time when Madden really left it up to the player to max out his fitness beyond the standard workout schedule. If Shiro can add 20 lbs of good weight, he’ll be occupying Big 12 backfields once Jeffcoat and Okafor move on to the NFL.
This class was already excellent but Davis’ commitment put it over the top, sealing a top 3 haul despite going 12-12 over the last two seasons. Witchy work on the recruiting trail by Mack & Co. Time to get it done on the field now.
SB Nation’s Bud Elliott crunched the aggregate rankings of the 2013 classes by all four pay sites in this easily digestable chart.
| Overall | Team | Commitments | 247 | ESPN | Rivals | Scout |
| 1 | Alabama | 26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Texas | 28 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Florida | 23 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 25 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Florida State | 19 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 6 | Michigan | 25 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| 7 | Stanford | 22 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 6 |
| 8 | Miami (Fl) | 33 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 25 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| 10 | Georgia | 19 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 13 |
| 11 | LSU | 23 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 7 |
| 12 | USC | 15 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 20 |
| 13 | Auburn | 19 | 17 | 17 | 11 | 14 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 21 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 17 |
| 15 | UCLA | 28 | 18 | 19 | 12 | 11 |
| 16 | Clemson | 21 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 16 |
| 17 | South Carolina | 25 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 12 |
| 18 | Oregon | 21 | 14 | 18 | 15 | 15 |
| 19 | Notre Dame | 16 | 16 | 10 | 22 | 19 |
| 20 | Tennessee | 21 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 24 |
| 21 | Washington | 25 | 28 | 23 | 20 | 22 |
| 22 | Virginia Tech | 28 | 23 | 25 | 21 | 25 |
| 23 | Mississippi State | 28 | 25 | 26 | 30 | 18 |
| 24 | Texas Tech | 27 | 30 | 20 | 26 | 23 |
| 25 | Virginia | 26 | 20 | 26 | 27 | 27 |
Fans of teams that didn’t finish well will claim that recruiting rankings don’t matter. History could not disagree more, however, as the rankings are incredibly predictive of success on the whole. Still, there are always exceptions, and one poor recruiting year does not doom a team to years of future failure.
It’s also important to note that thanks to improvements in technology (better cameras, the advent of youtube and digital film), better quality film is being prouced, and more people are able to view it each year. That leads to better rankings, as does the increase in investment in the industry. There are now four major recruiting services, and countless minor players. The chance a talented player goes unseen in 2012 is exponentially less than it was just a few years ago. More, more, more: It all adds up to less. As in, less sleeper recruits, less chances for teams to score big with unknown players, and less of a chance for the little guy.
Well said, Bud. Texas found a few sleepers in Caleb Bluiett and Adrian Colbert and the few questionable takes in this class were pretty accurately rated. In summary, the rankings are improving but you still need to look at aggregate rankings of all four to discover the outliers. i.e. ESPN has Cayleb Jones ranked as the 18th best prospect in the nation whereas he barely cracks 247′s top 150. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Clemson – Ranked #9 by ESPN and #22 by 247. The Tigers class is backloaded with plenty of 3 and 4 star guys but no elite players. This does not concern ESPN, as they earned a top 10 ranking.
FSU & USC – Pound for pound probaby the two strongest classes, but USC was limited to 15 schollies and FSU to 19. If you took a small class, Scout showed you no love. Whereas Rivals and ESPN ranked the Noles #2 ahead of Texas. The Trojans’ average star ranking of 4.07 is a record in the modern era (the 1906 Texas squad would have a strong claim) and especially remarkable considering the school is still on probation and the coach is Lane Kiffin, who just recently upgraded from Underoos to big boy briefs. Keep an eye on Sarkasian, Lupoi and the Huskies; who poached half of Cal’s class to finish at #21.
Florida – One hell of a haul by Muschamp against a surging FSU program (threatening relevance since the late 90′s!) considering the Gators went 7-6. He clearly learned this skill from Mack Brown. Stealing 5 star DE Dante Fowler, Jr. from the Noles on was a polite BOOM MOTHERFUCKER to Jimbo Fisher from the coach that bleeds. We should see some good Florida/FSU rivalries with Muschamp and Fisher in the years to come.
Missouri – The Tigers won the DGB sweepstakes, but joining him are 15 3-star dudes that will be carrying his equipment, managing his busy dating calendar, an doing his laundry for three years. Pinkel needed a few more studs to be able to compete in the SEC. Not unlike …
A&M – Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! From Matt Davis showing his ass on Twitter on signing day to Bralon Addison and Corey Thompson fleeing the sinking ship that was the 2012 class, it was high comedy as usual on Texags on Wednesday. Trey Williams standing firm was surprising and that kid will be a bitch to bring down … IN THE S!E!C! He’s of no concern to you, Texas fan. And that is pretty much true for the entire A&M program. Watching them crater from afar will be a joy.
There were plenty of other theatrics on NSD, as we know who still wears the pants in Landon Collins’ family, and learned quite comically that Texas dodged a bullet with Thomas Johnson, but this signing day will be remembered for a footballing samurai named Shiro who chose burnt orange over the bayou bengals.
On to Junior Days … we already got one in the bag and a few more are about to drop.
Care to guess who’s next?
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Scipio Tex said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Awesome recap.
Bo Davis played that recruitment like a violin.
Were you going to say something about Mizzou?
For me, Stanford has to be the story of signing day. That class is beastly. Harbaugh showed what can be done there and Shaw is building on that base beautifully.
Jake Lonergan said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Naashon Hughes, then Darius James. Jesus and Tipsy done told me so.
Vasherized said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:02 pm
I accidentally deleted the mizzou portion so I just thumbed a quick recap while driving down mopac in heavy traffic. Turner Gill nods his approval.
Stanford’s OL haul alone is insane. Barry Sanders, Jr. will pile up some yards running behind that line.
Louis L'am Jones said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Stanford’s OL haul alone is insane. Barry Sanders, Jr. will pile up some yards running behind that line.
I would call it without any historical parallel.
And forget Sanders. Booger from Revenge of the Nerds would be a kickass RB with protection like that.
Spastic Synapse said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Next up for the Horns… Hughes, James, Perkins, RSJ, Robinson and Swoopes before the end of JR Day 1 weekend…. or maybe Smith and Oliver and Samples. Or all of them
Another great class in the works. Fantastic things coming.
staylucky said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:44 pm
We got all the tools now….just need the qb position to click and we’re gone.
sedonajim said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Still can’t believe the Torshiro coup. Thanks for the behind the scenes story. Typsy has a short interview over on IT
sedonajim said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Also, got to love the young staff doing their homework and not being afraid to go after the OOS kids, even in the backyard of someone like LSU and even when the chance of rejection is higher than the commitment. As painful as 5-7 was, the attitude, work habits, and brains of the new staff goes along way to erasing that season.
lark47 said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Booger had some wheels, especially after downing a sixer of Bud Dry.
Thanks for the recap. LSU fans claim that there are unsavory elements to the Shiro Switcheroo. I think it’s fiction created by people who aren’t accustomed to losing recruiting battles against teams that play by the rules.
bigdukesix said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:27 pm
I’m all for ignoring the Big 10, but I would’ve mentioned something about Ohio State’s class. Meyer is going to rape and pillage that conference. Ohio State is also the best-positioned to take advantage of post-Sandusky Pennsylvania recruiting moving forward.
I think it’s probably going to come down to Florida and Ohio State for Stefon Diggs, who is apparently going to decide sometime in June. Must get for Muschamp imo.
java said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:41 pm
LSU hasn’t played by the rules in so long, they think that following NCAA regs are unsavory. They are just in a bad mood because they lost the Natty and Shiro
Hook ‘em, Shiro!
java said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:42 pm
is unsavory, oops.
Dagga Roosta said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Thanks sedonajim – great interview and highly recommended. Tipsy’s interviews are always a joy to read. My favorite bit:
So, imagine this. You’re Jameil Showers ERRRR Nick Florence and it’s third-and-long. Your O-line settles across from Okafor, Tank, Whaley, and Jeffcoat. Then out of one corner of your eye you see Hicks creeping to the line near the edge. On the other side Vaccaro creeps up as if to press; he’s still fifteen feet away but he’s staring you down. Byndom and Diggs show press too. Suddenly the D-line stands up and rotates three-card-monte style, and you see someone new creep up and put his hand on the ground. Shiro Davis. You’ve seen almost no film of this guy and neither has your blind-side tackle…but you do know his reputation. You know at least five guys are coming, maybe more. You also know that odds are, at least one will be rearranging your innards with blunt force trauma inside of three seconds.
Playing us will be a total mindf*ck for opposing QBs next year.
uh said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:01 pm
i played with the numbers in that table and came up with some values that summarize those numbers and quantify the differences from team to team. for example, alabama scored 99.7% of a perfect score, and at 98.3%, we would have had to do 1.4% better than we did to match bama. florida would have had to do 2.4% better than they did to match us, and etc down the line.
01. 99.7% —— Alabama
02. 98.3% 1.4% Texas
03. 96.0% 2.4% Florida
04. 95.3% 0.7% Ohio St
05. 94.0% 1.4% Florida St
06. 93.0% 1.1% Michigan
07. 91.3% 1.8% Stanford
08. 89.7% 1.9% Miami (Fl)
09. 88.3% 1.5% Oklahoma
10. 87.0% 1.5% Georgia
11. 85.0% 2.4% LSU
12. 84.3% 0.8% USC
13. 81.7% 3.3% Auburn
13. 81.7% 0.0% Texas A&M
15. 81.3% 0.4% UCLA
15. 81.3% 0.0% Clemson
17. 81.0% 0.4% S Carolina
18. 80.7% 0.4% Oregon
19. 79.0% 2.1% Notre Dame
20. 74.3% 6.3% Tennessee
21. 70.3% 5.7% Washington
22. 70.0% 0.5% Virginia Tech
23. 68.3% 2.4% Mississippi St
23. 68.3% 0.0% Texas Tech
25. 68.0% 0.5% Virginia
LosHorn said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Dagga, that made me drool a little.
Great write up Vash. I think one quote from TD says it all:
To me, whenever I talk to him, he never talks about football. He talks about life and life after football. Football is a short-time game.
“I almost could have gone either way, but I feel like the people at Texas care more about me not as a football player but as person that attends the University of Texas.”
You tell me a recruit feels that way and respects those qualities in a prospective coach, and I like Texas’ chances no matter who he is.
Vasherized said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:04 pm
bd6,
I agree Meyer will start pillaging the Big 10. Wiscy, Sparty and UM better adapt quickly.
Penn State is fucked for awhile.
Dagga,
I quite liked that vision, even if it reminded me of Texags right after Reggie McNeil committed. Or hornfans in ’99 after BJ, Sloan, and Roy came onboard.
Horncasting said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:43 pm
13 and 12. Why does everyone keep saying 12-12?
sedonajim said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Like the scenario also , Dagga. Those boys are going to be creating some real havoc next year under Diaz’s guidance.
Dagga Roosta said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Vash & co – yeah, I have some memories of overindulgent championship fantasies when the Big 3 signed. So I guess I should qualify it: passing downs on defense will be fun next year. I figure the run D should be OK, especially with more speed at safety. But we’ll be counting on newer guys like Moore and Edmonds to lock down the middle, whereas our returning starters are proven hell-on-wheels when they know a pass is coming. Throw in another offseason of reps and some Shiro and MBII and it could get downright brutal. Especially if we can learn over the next few months how to score points and put teams in a hole.
Nunna Yo Bizness said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:42 pm
LosHorn – Agree completely. The quote about Texas caring about him more as a person just jumped out for me. I love that this is the message our staff conveys.
With regard to Meyer, Bielema and Dantonio are already complaining about the SEC style recruiting tactics he brought in this year. They better strap up because Meyer is going be eating some people’s lunch if they think he’s going to constrain himself to the gentlemen’s agreements they’ve always honored.
bHero said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Gotta mention Georgia. The are no.5 in ESPN, yet in the 20′s everywhere else.
bHero said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:12 pm
dang, i retract my previous…. but the class is still over-rated by ESPN.
jtmva said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Davis’ coach got fired and arrested for slapping a student and will now move to Texas to pursue a coaching job. Davis’ mother is also moving to Texas and the plans were laida while ago. Not anything wrong done by the Longhorn coaches but just a little perspective as to why Davis switched. It was no accident.
MrBlondde said:
February 3rd, 2012 at 9:46 pm
“Texas dodged a bullet with Thomas Johnson”
Could you please elaborate on this statement.
Dagga Roosta said:
February 4th, 2012 at 1:14 am
MrBlondde – TJ decommits and within a day was repeatedly rumored to be hitting up recruits on behalf of Oregon. And then he goes to Aggieland. Not a horrible thing really. Many 18-year-olds will be flighty. But some 18-year-olds will make the biggest decision of their lives in a considered and considerate manner, and all other things being equal, those are the kids we want. Cayleb Jones, Marcus Johnson and Kendall Sanders have a very similar degree of talent to TJ and no questions about their level of commitment. And it’s not just that they chose Texas. DGB didn’t choose Texas but conducted his process impeccably. We’re disappointed he’s not coming here but I don’t think anyone will say we “dodged a bullet” with him. That kind of maturity should be understood as a plus for team chemistry and immaturity a minus, especially in the light of Darius White’s burning bridges.
And before anyone makes comparisons with our committment-switching haul over the last week – Santos, Cottrell, Daje – each one of those kids wanted to go to Texas first but wasn’t given the opportunity until late in the process. TJ could have picked A&M or UO a long time ago.
Mrblondde said:
February 4th, 2012 at 5:25 am
Thank you.
Newy25 said:
February 4th, 2012 at 6:40 am
“Cayleb Jones, Marcus Johnson and Kendall Sanders have a very similar degree of talent to TJ and no questions about their level of commitment. ”
Except two of those three were committed to other schools and Caleb tweeted that he wanted to visit other schools after seeing our offense.
I understand that TJ may not have handled it well but at the end of the day what he did was no different than what we did with several recruits committed to other schools.
Arriviste said:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Kind of unseemly that Ohio State gets busted for cheating, its program begins to regress, yet somehow parlays that into a coaching upgrade who then profiteers off of a horrific pedophilia scandal to reverse momentum and position them to become the lead dogs again.
Mysterious Package said:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:59 am
Oh come on! Sour grapes on TJ. Let’s just move on without impling we are better off without him. That’s just not the case. Mack talking about complacency while going to the bank every week to cash checks.
jet said:
February 4th, 2012 at 9:23 am
I think anytime you can rid your “team” of a SS or a potential SS, you’re better off to make that move.
Besides, were not talking about what coaches/schools are doing in regard to this but what students are doing.
I think Belmont had a headfull after reading THE tweets for the last few months coming after midnight and on SCHOOL NIGHTS.
It appears tha “shit stirring ” that went on during and after last years spring game by a quarterback and continuing with a wide reciever this past fall was too self evident for Mack to either ignore must less tolerate. The feeling was theythe were having to watch a slow moving train wreak and choose not to go that route AGAIN.
if you’ve ever owned/managed a business, you KNOW SS (shit stirrers ) and or “entitled” will mess up teamwork and continuity faster than you can fix it.
I think the new additions to the staff deserve a lot of the credit for not tolerating this type of bad behavior anymore and to make sure Mack was 100% on the same line of thinness mg.
No more reserved spots to land helicopters.
if you’re a Longhorn or longhorns fan you’ve gotta be loving how this is playing out.
lots of January bowl games are in the making.
Hook’Em
jet said:
February 4th, 2012 at 9:26 am
Oops….. same line of thinking
Snide Aside said:
February 4th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Beergut is saying that Mack is a liar when he says he take a kid that has deal’t with street agents. He offered Jinkens as an example.
What is the real story on Jinkens or has this all been conjecture?
Snide Aside said:
February 4th, 2012 at 9:45 am
damn it – “he won’t take a kid”
Vasherized said:
February 4th, 2012 at 9:56 am
If you saw TJ’s hat show or interview afterwards you know what I’m talking about.
“think long, think wrong…”
Yeah. Mixed up dude.
Love the kid’s talent just not sure he has it altogether upstairs.
quigley said:
February 4th, 2012 at 10:34 am
There is data out there, that I’ve linked to before, that indicates that OL recruiting is less correlated with STARS than other positions.
I’d like to understand what people that know the position think about this, and how they’d improve the algorithm to project OL recruits. Scipio’s comment regarding Riser’s determination in crushing defenders 20 yds away from the play seems relevant.
Mysterious Package said:
February 4th, 2012 at 10:56 am
I think you want the raw athletes scip suggested. Not the home grown SLC Riley dodge coaches son who grew up weight lifting (No offense to riley).You recruit raw and develop. That’s prob the best case scenario and doesn’t show up in stars. Although they would prob be 4 star category with this type of pure athlete.
Tipsy Gypsie said:
February 4th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Great write up V. I had long wondered how you’d top your ‘Bradley Marquez to Tech’ opus.
Regina Shivers Davis intimated to me that she would be making the trips from Shreveport to see Torshiro. It didn’t sound like she was moving to Texas, though I know she has a sister here in Houston. I didn’t press it though.
bigdukesix and I have our defensive grades coming out in a day or so. Then it’s time to peg the needle on the 2013 class.
Dagga Roosta said:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Gaddammit Newy, if you can’t read how can you write?
Ahhhh just kidding…but maybe I should make the distinction clearer. There are two kinds of commitment switches: vacillators who get cold feet and upgraders who weren’t counting on an offer coming from their favorite school. The difference is so profound it’s archetypical. Don Draper is a vacillator, his fiancee is an upgrader. Such is the primordial stuff of tragedy.
TJ’s a simple vacillator. He had a favorite and then he had a different favorite and then another one. Cayleb had one overpublicized moment of doubt – and an understandable one, given what our offense had shown to date – but he never took any official visits let alone switched commitments. Marcus and Kendall are upgraders. They came running as soon as the offer was on the table and haven’t looked back.
If you want to say there’s no difference between the two, I’d agree in the sense that I wouldn’t suggest that anyone take any of it personally. The kid’s not Perrilloux. He’s not deliberately trolling the Texas staff and fanbase (or at least not yet; he is now an Aggie after all). He just changed his mind.
But if I’m on the Texas coaching staff and you offer me one kid who knows his favorite school is Texas and another who doesn’t, give me the first kid. Especially when you’re in rebuilding mode on the offensive side of the ball, you need a bunch of kids in the galley who will all be dedicated to put in their fair share of time on the oars. It’s hard to get that from a kid who doesn’t want to be here.
Vasherized said:
February 4th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Tipsy,
You forgot the one about some guy named Baron Flenory…
Every great religious figure utilized Ghostwriters.
java said:
February 4th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
I think Flenory should be exiled to Four Corners, New Mexico (NM, AZ, UT, CO) and have no access to phones of any type, or the internet. Oh, and no flight privileges. That should take care of the problem.
java said:
February 4th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
He could lead tours in Mesa Verde.
Mysterious Package said:
February 4th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
How does aggy already have 5 commits. A couple are pretty highly ranked. Surely this won’t be a trend?
ChrisApplewhite said:
February 5th, 2012 at 11:47 am
It’s already a trend. They do it every year. The next trend is when other schools come and take them.
Queer said:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:37 am
Thomas Johnson is a top 5 WR in the nation and would have immediately been the highest rated WR recruit on the UT roster. Good thing you guys dodged that bullet, ya’ll didn’t need him at all.
Jake Lonergan said:
February 6th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Are you related to Gay?
Capt. Insano said:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Thanks for explaining what SS was.
I was having visions of the Waffen-SS strapping on football pads for a moment.
Davey O'Brien said:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
I find it interesting so much time and energy gets spent defending the ratings when I still don’t believe it is truly possible to evaluate recruits evenly across the country and project their upside.
The NFL has more resources than anyone short of the federal government, has a multitude of people who do nothing else but evaluation of talent, how a mass testing, and multiple individual work-outs and they miss over half the time.
Thing is it really doesn’t matter. You look at the Texas class and you see some great athletes who have yet to reach their upside. A guy like Gray is desired by everyone, but the true strength of the Texas class are in players like Hughes, Kennedy, and Davis who seem to be just starting to develop. You see almost no one talk about a kid like Orlando Thomas and yet he is just as good an athlete as Sanders, Johnson, or Echols.
Biggest keys are do the pieces fit what you are trying to do schematically, can the talent get better, and can you develop it.
The Stanford class is really interesting and I like what Shaw did with continue the trend to the power running game. Most interesting is the rumors of his leaving Stanford didn’t seem to hurt the class at all.
Big Ern said:
February 6th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Aggie already has 5 commits, but Tulane hasn’t offered any of them. Yet.
naa said:
February 6th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
so queer is aggy and aggy is queer.
no surprise in my little corner.
noone said:
February 7th, 2012 at 9:38 am
This place is quiet.