Great to see UT finally going out of state for recruits. 7 recruits are not from Texas and 5 of those are 4 star. Would like to see this trend of getting 1/3 of class from out of state.
And when they bring the attitude and edge... and start winning with some energy on the field... will spread to more top talent inside Texas.
Pharm you make a good point about the 1/3 comment. I believe Mack stuck with Texas recruits and went hard after them. I don't know how well Mack evaluated talent because he got players that were ranked high or the highest he could get, Those same players were either a hit or a miss according to their rankings. So if we had 20 opening for new recruits Mack would hit big time on about 5 to 7 of those players and then get maybe 5 to 7 more that filled the void with ok players but nothing special and then really 5 to 8 or 9 that would never make any kind of impact (not even on special teams) and weren't players Mack wasnt shooting for in the first place but had to settle because we didn't get the rest of the players he wanted in Texas. So now lets hope Charlie is successful with that 1st and 2nd tier of players recruited I mentioned above that Mack was successful at getting and then replace those players he had to settle for with players like were getting now out of state or in Florida. So now getting the Florida players will be up there with that 1st tier players from Texas broadening our 1st tier players and we are now having the 2nd tier of players of the bottom of our recruiting class. But those players were never recruits that Charlie had to settle for to fill our roster. Those are the type of players that will make our special teams so much better because in the past those players were getting playing time or starters on Def or Off.
Meanwhile, some nice news today. The national #1 player for the 2017 class, a long way away, just named his top-5 and we're in it. Dylan Moses (OLB/RB), 6-2, 220, University Labs, Baton Rouge, LA. LSU, Bama, Texas, Sothern Cal, UCLA. (He says in no order in his tweet, but gave it in that order, and he is currently "committed" to LSU). naming a top-5 implies that the "commitment" is not really a commitment. But two years of on-field results could change things. It will take a massive effort to pry him away from LSU, but it is nice to see us listed with good top porgrams like we always should be, and to see us working on these kinds of OOS kids.
^^ Mackovic went into California in about his 3rd year or so, because he was having trouble in Texas. Picked up some 4-5 guys for a couple of years, and struck gold (actually helped Mack strike gold) with a seriously underrated mid 4-star guy, Ricky Williams. He also got that unbelievable TE Pat Fitzgerald to transfer from a SoCal community college. But being open to recruiting from a variety of regions like Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, New Mexico etc, is a new thing for us.
Akers did a good bit on OOS for the blueist of blue chips to add to very good instate recruiting hauls. Comes to mind: A.J. Jones (Ohio), Parade High School Player of the Year Eric Metcalf (D.C., son of all-pro Terry Metcalf) SHOULD have gotten Marcus DuPree (see ESPN's 30 for 30 on DuPree and how OU ultimately got him, suggested to be deals with DuPree's uncle and preacher/advisor; sad story, but interesting input from Akers and his chief UT recruiter of DuPree). IIRC, also a couple of blue chip linemen/defensive types from Oklahoma and Colorado. Fill up the roster with 3-4 star Texas boys as the cake and icing, and put the cherries on the top of OOS superior skill positions. A lot of kids apparently still want to have their family and friends get to see them play in person (i.e., Texas), but the superstars recognize they may need to get national exposure on TV for their future professional options.
Some of the best Horns came from out of State.....Stienmark, Bertleson, Jam Jones, Applewhite, R Williams, Simms.....just to name a few.
blong, another guy from the National Capital area was Lovell Pinkney who came from D.C. itself, Anacostia (which at the time was a dangerous place to epic proportions). Metcalf, also from the NatCap area was from Arlington's Bishop O'Connell H.S. A former roomate of mine when I lived up there went to H.S. with him and ran on the track team with him, sort of. It's more like when Eric was a Senior and my friend was a Freshman my friend got hazed, so to speak.
I remember the “University of Metcalf” t-shirts when I was on campus. It was so much fun watching him play.
Akers did some really good out of state recruiting, but how can anyone leave out Adam Schrieber, Mike Reuther, Steve Hall who got the block to spring Earl for our TD in 1977, Rodney Tate (his getting the ball back on his fumble against SMU is one of the great plays in Texas history and a testament to our conditioning back then), then later Brian Westbrook and our big OL from Cali-prunia Please nobody bring up a certain MLB turned TV commentator. Still trying to forget him.
