Over at this link it talks about how Mack feels absolved of the mess that is Texas football because his first year at Texas was all on him, etc. etc. I don't honestly believe he feels that way; I think he's probably shaking his head at how lucky he was to get to 8 wins in 2013. I was going to post a thread about the 2013 recruiting class before the year began, but held off on the hopes that we'd somehow be competitive and not need to worry about having no Jrs and RS Soph's on the roster. The obvious problem was that out of 5 OL signees, some of them considered pure badasses and can't-miss starters by recruiting services, we ended up with 1 so-so starter and a so-so backup. Our OL hopes seemed shored up through Searels' determination and Mack's promise to fix offensive woes. Last Saturday's game just reinforced everything that was wrong with the 2013 class. Chevoski Collins - currently playing in front of about 200 people per game at Scottsdale CC. Got booted in the same fell swoop as Bergeron. I don't know if he ever would have amounted to much at Texas, so I guess breaking the core values had its merits for him. Antwuan Davis - I actually thought he didn't look awful against ND. He has decent closing speed. I'm not sure if he's ever expected to get much playing time once Boyd and Hill solidify the position, but Davis wasn't our worst DB on Saturday. Deoundrei Davis - a promising midterm enrollee, who immediately tweeted things like "if someone asks you who da shiidd, tell em me" after enrolling early. Was kicked off the team for stealing the same week that Harrison/Estelle were booted. He looked pretty good in the Spring Practices that year. He is not found on any roster, anywhere. Strong probably has a lot to do with that. Rami Hammad - buried at Center on Baylor's depth chart, he'd probably be starting here. I'm not sure if I blame him or not for his decision to move on. At least being buried on a ranked team isn't as "painful" as being starter for what we witnessed last week. Desmond Harrison - Say what you will about his inability to keep weed out of his system, he's actually quite the Orange Blood through and through. Still tweets about Texas players and has very positive things to say about the program. Just a bonehead. I think if he had half an inkling to follow through with Charlie's forgiveness regimen, he'd be starting at LT right now. Naashon Hughes - liked what I saw on most of the plays Saturday. Not all. He's really not a Fox end in the sense that Omenihu will be. He's more of a Tyrone Jones type... rangey and should probably be playing a rush LB on 3rd downs... not every down. I feel like he's panned out better than most from this class, but is that our standard? Erik Huhn - A Longhorn through and through... just not on the field. It's a shame because he looked like a good hitter at Cibolo. Can't blame him for his health issues. Darius James - A strange situation. He'd be playing right now, but I think the staff kind of gave up on him. Too many injuries to overcome, and I'm guessing he's gone because he couldn't handle the staff's recovery demands. Auburn is super-excited about him. Already calling him a starter for next year. I doubt it, considering the situation in which he left. Montrel Meander - next court date is in about a month. Jake Oliver - I hate being wrong about skill position players on offense. I can usually tell when someone has "it," and I thought Oliver was one of those guys. A big possession receiver who could spin into a slot or H-back role and catch passes like Dan Buckner did for that year when we went to the championship and his girlfriend drove him insane. The man set the record for receptions in HS, for Christ's sake. I'm not sure if it's his speed or size or whatever, but he just hasn't been utilized and isn't going to be utilized. Especially with our dumpster fire OL and QBs who don't know how to QB. I didn't bold his name because he's never recorded a single stat here. Kent Perkins - It was valiant to move him around on the right side of the line Saturday. But it was in vain because of Vahe's problems. He's a serviceable starter who would probably be getting tons of playing time at any other Power-5 conference program. His strengths would be more apparent if there wasn't a jailbreak every down. I like him and his potential, but he should probably be playing guard, and Wickline has no options (none, literally). Jake Raulerson - Can't bold his name because of his relegated status. He looked bad in 2014, but he was a freshman playing a difficult position in a difficult situation when we should have been playing a healthy Espinosa. I doubt he'll get much PT with Doyle ahead of him, and it's apparent that they're not going to use him at any other OL position because of his size. He's kind of in the same boat as Oliver right now. Geoff Swaim - Didn't do anything here other than drop passes and block. He was a good blocker. Not great. He wasn't much of a threat to do anything at TE, and I hope the enigma of "not coaching TEs to do anything" has been removed with Bruce Chambers. He's obviously talented, as making a pro roster is no small feat. I think it's more a matter of "what the f**k were your coaches doing to you at Texas?" and not "wow you really improved at Texas." Tyrone Swoopes - can't not bold him because of his starts. But he's going to be supplanted. I've documented my thoughts about him on all the other threads. He's a project who never figured out what the rubric would be. He was a man among boys on a piss poor HS team, and his leadership/numbers during his Jr and Sr years there should have been enough to yank his scholarship offer. I don't care if we play Heard or Locksley or Buechele or direct snap it to Malik Jefferson. Anything would be preferable to him. Jacorey Warrick - didn't bold him because he hasn't and probably won't amount to much. Especially since we can't get any WRs the ball except Daje in a bubble screen or an occasional deep ball. That's barely a player (maybe 2 if you count half-players) who amounted to jack **** from a class that should have been the leadership one. We're in a world of hurt because of the negligence of the former staff. I know we're past excuses now, and we need to see improvement immediately, but what would we be if like... 5 guys had panned out? I don't think that's too much to ask.
Some of these guys still stand a chance to write their ending. Still that's just Davis, Hughes, Warrick, Perkins, Oliver and Raulerson. Wow. I completely agree about Swoopes. He was a nice 2A HS player but a classic example of a guy who got highly rated based solely on his offer from Mack. There at the end, our recruiting was like a snake eating its own tail.
