Per 247Sports: Class of 2016 offensive tackle JP Urquidez played his sophomore season at Copperas Cove, Texas before his father was transferred to Washington D.C. Urquidez spent his junior season at Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha but he is now back in the state of Texas [and] back at Copperas Cove. "DeMatha was great but that's just the life of a military brat," the elder Urquidez said. Urquidez picked up offers from all over the country, especially while at powerhouse DeMatha, but he had always been interested in the Texas schools. Per BurntOrangeNation: Urquidez's size and stability allow him to effectively handle bull-rushing defensive tackles and ends - he holds his ground against bigger linemen in pass protection, and uses his arms well to neutralize moves to the inside. He protects pressure from both gaps equally well, and keeps his center low and steady - making him nearly impossible to displace without getting pushed off the ball. On the ground, his quickness is a major asset to the rushing game - he is almost always the first offensive lineman off the line of scrimmage in goal-line formations, and he reliably fights his way to the second level. It will be interesting to see how he handles the swift defensive ends and linebackers of the Big 12. [H]is massive frame, excellent balance and physical tools make him a huge target for coach Strong as he seeks to mold Texas' offensive line into a dominant unit over the coming years. YouTube Link From a Horns Digest blurb on October 2, 2014: J.P. Urquidez: "Coach Strong is not letting kids who don't have their head on the right path play for him it's plain and simple," Urquidez said. To me, if every college team focused more on the core values then there would be fewer problems in the NFL. I think he had to kick off several people to make an example of them and because they were in the wrong." Junior Day 2015 tweet:
Godz, I think this kind of multiple-blurb posts are much nicer for us to do than posts with single article abridgement. Probably leaves us less criticized by the paysites for copying large chunks of their livelihood pieces ... It also avoids too much of single-sided opinions from some of the writers, who are sometimes off the mark and we wouldn't even know. But it takes patience to put this kind of stuff together though. You have more of it than me for sure!
It seems our staff has not been pushing for commitments at all. I think this guy was ready to pull the trigger if we pushed this weekend (I think Horns247 said, "it took a lot for him to not pull the trigger" ) .... I don;t think the staff is actively asking them not to commit, but they may be generally telling them that leaving it open till they have all their offers and go through the process of visits, is better for both parties. If a player starts doing poorly in the senior year or other late-developers become more attractive at his position, this allows the staff to slow-pedal a guy to give the hint that he may get lost in the shuffle at Texas (he can be recruited "over", that is). He can then commit to a place where he is valued more and gets "offered" more playing time. That kind of slow-pedaling and recruiting-over to get a guy to go elsewhere is less cool to do to a player that has already committed. It is a fine balance to strike and takes careful work, when you send offers to a lot of guys, including some chancy offers on currently lower-rated guys who we actually may not prefer to commit to us just yet. Sorta like the Alabama and Ohio State scheme. But JP Urquides is a take anyway though. I don't think the staff expects to be too cautious on him and will take him if he commits anytime. He just might. He seems pretty damn high on us.
After I posted that, Dion and I just had a PM chat, trying to figure out what is best for us to do, in terms of how much we should quote from other sites, while still remaining fair to the other sites. So, I thought I would type up something here for everybody to consider (though it's mainly Godz and I who post such articles; well, actually Godz, as I goof off ) ... I think plagiarism by itself is not an issue because we always put in proper references and links. Just that we should be careful not to affect the livelihood of paysites and take away clicks and subscriptions from them. So maybe the following could be a general scheme we can use. 1) Single articles that we post in a thread, probably should have no more than say 1/3rd of the article or 4-5 sentences quoted (whichever is smaller). This could be the main item that we want to discuss here; and preferably not ALL the main items. That way there is a reason for our readers to click the link and go to the sites to read the stuff that their paid writers or info-gatherers have put together. This applies whether the link is a free link or paid link (can add a $$ to the link to indicate that it requires subscription) 2) And if it is a multiple-blurb type post like Godz's post above, then the blurbs still should have a link to the article (and if not possible, at least to the site itself). Again the blurbs shouldn't be too long, as in (1) above. In either case, since we are bringing attention those other sites from such quoting, it is of advertizing value for them, and we bring them more readership. I think they would welcome that, as long we don't overdo it and prevent people thinking of joining such sites or reading them. One thing we just should not have is what some free sites seem to allow - which is to quite entire items from recruiting and other paysites, verbatim. That is, stuff like "Jason Higdon/ Bobby Burton's chat last hour" which used to appear in its entirety in other sites during peak-recruiting season. That is just unfair to do. In such cases, write some key points or news in your own words to inform people of something that may have hit the news. Doing much more than that is just wrong. Actually I was surprised that other free sites just allow that - and more so, that the original paysites were not complaining. In any case, it is just not fair to do that to people who work hard to find and bring in news and has that as their livelihood. I think Godz has been quite careful in what he has been posting (thanks a lot!). Just making sure that everybody else will also be careful in quoting. Of course, you can just say lazy stuff like I do - "multiple sites are discussing that recruit XX is butt-hurt about not getting an offer" or "everybody seems to think that recruit YY is not as good as ZZ" and generally stay safe, because after all it is still just one's own opinion of what one is seeing elsewhere ... But you should still know of some sources to justify what you said, because smart readers will catch you otherwise! This is not to make strict rules, but just something for us to keep in mind. Just use judgment, basically. Let us try it, and if everybody is okay with it, we will go with that. Sort of setting a style of operations for the recruiting threads, based on a brief PM chat with Dion.
I think you summed it up well Jay. I don’t really know what the appropriate web etiquette is with respect to quoting other sites, but I think your suggestions make sense and are fair to all involved. We can always adjust the policy later if we need to. Thanks all!
Those guys don't seem to be aggy material. Besides, they will look great in burnt orange, especially in the storm trooper white and not in what ever clown unis the ags trot out next year.
Per TFB: I got a message last night that I wasn’t really expecting. It was from Copperas Cove (TX) OT and Baylor commit, JP Urquidez telling me Texas OL coach, Matt Maddox was coming to visit him. Urquidez told me Texas has been talking to him for about a month since not being in much contact since he made his commitment to Baylor back in April. I asked Urquidez if he was just listening to Texas or if he was actually interested in Texas despite his 8-month commitment to Baylor and all he said was “it’s serious”. Urquidez committed to Baylor over Texas, Oklahoma, UCLA, and about 20 more schools but said Texas is really the only school trying to pull him away from Baylor. When I asked what is it that’s giving Texas a chance he told me “I always cheered for them growing up and it’s hard to say no to my childhood favorite.” Urquidez doesn’t have a date set but says he will definitely visit Texas in January. I get the sense JP really likes Texas, I got the same sense talking to him before he committed to Baylor. It seemed the Texas staff backed off of Urquidez some before he committed. So if Coach Maddox and the rest of the Texas staff recruit Urquidez hard until NSD, I feel there is a very solid chance he will end up a Longhorn at the end of the day.
Joining fellow Bailor jumper, Devin Duvernay, Urquidez is now a 'Horn. Per 247: Former Baylor Bears signee JP Urquidez committed to the Longhorns on Saturday in wake of Baylor releasing him from his National Letter of Intent on Thursday. Texas offered Urquidez, a four-star offensive tackle from Copperas Cove, early in the 2016 cycle but he opted to go to go with Baylor in April of 2015. However, Urquidez decided Baylor wasn’t the right program for him with the news of Art Briles’ firing and the sexual assault scandal that rocked the school.
Per HS: He has the size you look for as an OL coach so reshaping his body won't be too tall of a task, and he vastly improved as a finisher as a blocker. He is consistently getting after guys and looking to finish them. While he has good size, he still has to work on his pad level. It is going to be important that he becomes a knee bender more than a waist bender. He is also going to have to improve on keeping is hands within the frame of the defender and work on not being as grabby or else he will be a holding call waiting to happen. I like that he is going to get after guys, but he has to know when to disengage so that he doesn't draw flags. He has plenty of things to get cleaned up technique wise, but the improvements from junior to senior year have me more encouraged now than ever. I also think he ends up being a guard rather than a tackle due to him not having the ideal athleticism. He has the size to mix into the rotation at right tackle immediately, and he could also push inside to guard. He gives Texas immediate depth on the offensive line, and lessens the need to reach on any prospects in the 2017 class.
Going back over the thread, thought this bit from last year was worth quoting. Excited about this “package” wrecking things in DKR. A package of hot malice.
