The Athletic talking about how bad tOSU is kicking our *** inside our own state
Tom Herman was hired at Texas a few months before the 2017 recruiting class signed, but his nightmare had already started: Another program came into his talent-rich state and took three of the most coveted players away. Herman’s program should be the one — when things are humming — that is the natural landing spot for these elite-level prospects.
Herman was familiar with the program that had infiltrated his state, too. He helped it win a national title a few years earlier. And ironically, he was instrumental in starting the Texas-to-Ohio pipeline while an assistant under Urban Meyer from 2012-14.
You can’t blame Herman for what occurred in 2017, when Ohio State signed five-star cornerback Jeff Okudah of South Grand Prairie High, five-star linebacker Baron Browning of Kennedale High and four-star all-purpose back J.K. Dobbins of La Grange High (also a top-50 national prospect). He had, after all, not been on the job long enough to form any kind of relationship with those players.
But you can blame him that the 2017 class was not merely a blip on the radar. It’s still happening more than four years later.
On Monday evening, Ohio State earned a commitment from Class of 2022 five-star receiver Caleb Burton of Del Valle High — less than a week removed from the Buckeyes landing five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers of Southlake Carroll, the No. 2 overall player and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2022 class. Ewers was once committed to Texas, but he broke his pledge to the Longhorns less than a month ago before ultimately committing to Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. The second Ewers decommitted from Texas, Ohio State became the clear favorite to land him.
So let’s do the math here: Since 2017, Ohio State has landed seven five-star prospects out of Texas, and that doesn’t include Dobbins, who was a high four-star and the No. 46 overall player in the class. During that same span, Texas has landed only four five-star prospects in its own state.
OSU vs. UT, 5-stars from Texas since 2017
2022 Quinn Ewers QB tOSU
2022 Caleb Burton WR tOSU
2021 Donovan Jackson OG tOSU
2021 Ja'Tavion Sanders ATH Texas
2020 Jaxon Smith-Njigba WR tOSU
2019 Garrett Wilson WR tOSU
2019 Jordan Whittington ATH Texas
2018 Cade Sterns S Texas
2018 B.J. Foster S Texas
2017 Jeff Okudah CB tOSU
2017 Baron Browning OLB tOSU
If you want a reason Texas isn’t “back,” this would be a good place to start.
Yes, it’s unreasonable to expect Herman to dominate his state in the same manner as other coaches at prominent state schools because Texas is an extremely difficult place to recruit. It’s an enormous state geographically, and given the depth of talent, Texas couldn’t possibly land close to all of the top players. Also, there are multiple Power 5 schools in the state — including TCU, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor — and every SEC powerhouse recruits Texas as well.
So does Ohio State, clearly.
But patterns like this? They are troublesome for Herman, especially when you’re talking about a prospect such as Ewers — a program-altering, homegrown quarterback who could be the missing link between middling around in the Big 12 and actually winning the conference, and, dare to dream, even more.
Day and his receivers coach, Brian Hartline, deserve a ton of credit for these recruiting wins. Here’s an attempt to explain just how much talent they are accumulating (and it sounds like hyperbole, though it isn’t). If you were to take only the receiver and quarterback talent the Buckeyes have either signed or have committed from 2019-22, it would be enough to prop up multiple other conferences. You read that right — conferences, not teams.
Let’s put that to the test. Each team gets two:
• Jack Miller and Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• CJ Stroud and Julian Fleming
• Kyle McCord and Caleb Burton
• Quinn Ewers and Garrett Wilson
There are the quarterback and receiver building blocks for at least four teams that could eventually lead to a conference championship. Four of the eight players listed above are from Texas. That is downright absurd.
The main reason Ohio State is an annual national title contender is how much pure talent it amasses. You may think, “Well, half of those players are going to transfer in the next few years.” Maybe so, but that means Ohio State’s 2022 roster will comprise the best versions of these elite-level prospects, all while keeping the leftovers off of a potential rival’s roster — for a few years at least. It’s pretty remarkable.
There’s no telling what the future holds for Herman, who, in fairness, has “Crystal Ball” predictions on 247Sports for two other five-star prospects in Texas in the 2022 class. But one thing is certain: It’s hard to imagine the Longhorns as a legitimate national title contender until this trend changes.
It’s truly incredible what Ohio State is doing in the Lone Star State.
It’s also very concerning for Herman and Texas.
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Last edited: Nov 24, 2020