Agree, Sark just has a different and more mature way of handling head coaching responsibilities than the predecessor. Off the field, i would give Sark an A+ including recruiting and the way he handles press conferences. He answers questions with style and grace. However, seems to me he has made questionable play calls and deçisions during game time. In his defense, however, he may have been handcuffed in some ways. I would give him a B grade.
It seems to me the best teams are generally the ones with the best players. Sometimes a lot of those best player happen to be from Texas. Oftentimes, more of those best players are from other states. IMHO- The argument that Texas produces more Div 1 players every year than any other state doesn’t really tell the whole story.
Orangey, I cannot disagree with your post, but Texas does produce over 300 signees a year, with over 200 of those going out of state. It has been that way for 50+ years. (Now, in the days of 50 signees, the SWC school kept higher numbers in state) When I started following it, Texas was close to producing more than California & Florida combined. Ironically, the most per capita has long been Mississippi followed by Louisiana.
I also think it has a lot to do with UT being down for a while now. I'm not sure we would even be talking about this if we were not down. While today with social media, NIL deals and the portal are making this a bit of a wild west show, I also think the home state team always has an inherent advantage for a number of reasons, and the loyalty, as much or little as exists today, will typically be stronger to the team the kid grew up rooting for. Teams populated with those guys (assuming they are equal talent) who come from the same regional culture and whose families can come to all the games and be apart of the experience are more solid. If we were having the long term success of 13 -20 years ago, we could be coming much closer to locking down the state for all the stud recruits. When you can populate 80-90% of your class with 5 and 4 star guys from you state, you can then cherry pick the even better ones from out of state. We are just trying to get 4 and 5 star guys from anywhere right now, and doing a pretty good job of it, really through Strong, Herman and now Sark, despite the bad years. I know, that sounds a little shocking. But, if you look back at the W/L records, the embarrassing losses and then at the guys we were still able to bring in, we've been pretty fortunate. We were ever in the recruiting class of a KU or Tech.
You are absolutely right about Jacoby Jones. While his contribution had not been noticeably evident, his loss significantly decreased the effectiveness of the D from there on out. Paradigm shift. Same could be said for losing Okafor in the TCU game. The OL was never the same, nor even close. Funny thing was, I kept seeing Okafor missing blocks and assumed he was not pulling his weight, but his net effect was obviously positive and significant because the OL was a shell of itself without him. Depth. We obviously had none.
It is also much cheaper and more time effective to recruit in state. Not just because they are closer, but because their coaches are closer to you and you can develop and work on those relationships face to face year round, and year in and year out.
On3 Recruits@On3Recruits ·5-Star TE Duce Robinson likes the possibility of teaming up with Arch Manning at Texas Story from @ChadSimmons_ (On3+): https://on3.com/college/texas-longhorns/news/5-star-te-duce-robinson-likes-the-possibility-of-teaming-up-with-5-star-plus-qb-arch-manning/… 9:58 AM · Jul 5, 2022
FWIW, Aggy with 5 total commits and currently ranked 59th just behind Vanderbilt at 53rd. Wonder if the cash pipeline has dried up after just one season?
A&M 247 reporting today it looks like Baylor will hold on to QB Austin Novosad of Dripping Springs. Jimbo still looking for his guy.
Have to agree. They signed a monster D class so if they can produce, thats a formidable piece. Unfortunately they are still in colleyville so there is that drawback.
Justin Wells from IT said that Toviano was on his way to his Michigan visit when Arch committed He said he couldn't concentrate on his visit, just kept thinking about Texas. Wells said to look for him to be at the July BBQ and he wouldn't be surprised if he jumps on board at that time. We'll see.
I like both their coordinator hires. If they can get their qb situation squared away they could be a beast. But they are aggie so time will tell.
He may just want to get out of Austin. ND is a great school and looks to be a contender so can't blame him.
If I had a nickel every time that comment was directed to me by like minded friends after I had just downed the last of many beers and was climbing off my F150 tailgate in the middle of a pasture.
Grad, The first time there, I pulled into a gas station before returning a rental car and I recall wishing that I had a piece on me.
Just for fun just looked it up but ND has almost 9000 undergrads. By comparison St Ed's has a little over 4000. I always thought ND was closer to St Ed's in student population. Rice has about 4200 undergrads by comparison.
