According to Rivals, the top 5 players in Texas this year are all going out of state. One of those guys has parents who both went to UT.
Mack just said on his press conference that "We're going to win with Texas players." He also said if they think they can get an out-of-state player then they'll go after them, but in-state players are their focus.
Mack just said in his press conference that it's important to recruit mostly in Texas. He said it's important to the players and the state high school coaches. He said he will only go out of state if the player has some ties to Texas. He said we will win championships with mostly Texas players
DuffMan, Do you not believe the relationship Mack has with Texas HS coaches is important to our ability to recruit? John Mackovic never bothered to establish a good rapport with them, and look at how many of our top Texas players were going to Michigan, Florida, Miami, UCLA, OU, Nebraska, Colorado, and Tennessee (those were the prime out of state raiders just going by memory, there may have been others I'm overlooking) during his time. And look at his record with the kids he did get. So to answer your question why? Because it's smart. The HS coach may not make the final decision, but you can bet your *** he'll communicate his personal feelings about Mack Brown and UT to his players. I'd much rather have a coach saying good things about our program than bad, because you never know how much influence that voice may have in any given case. And yes, those coaches have egos, and they can get their feelings hurt by having a coach from UT bypass their star players in favor of some kid from out of state without being given a good explanation as to why that's happening. Good explanations can include that the OOS kid is clearly more talented, has better grades, is a legacy, etc. But if that coach feels like your program is ignoring his kids, he may start steering them to schools he feels are more friendly to him and his program. If that's ******** to you, then so be it. It makes damned good sense to me.
If a typical Mack class has one or two top shelf national recruits, and the rest Texans, I doubt seriously that high school coaches in Texas are gonna get in a tizzy. If any do, they have way too much time on their hands and need to spend it better getting their team ready to win next fall. USC, Notre Dame, Miami, even blow-u have put considerable effort into being recognized on a national level, and it pays off for them in recruiting season. Texas doesn't, and that's Mack's decision, good or bad.
Texas produces about 300 division 1 players a year. Coaches at other states don't have that luxury so that's why it appears others come to raid this state. If Mack took the best 22 players each year in this state, that still leaves 275 players for everyone else.
Very good thread. I've always been very curious about this, and why Texas doesn't seem to recruit nationally. By choice or they can't do it very well? Who knows. I had thought it impossible to win a national title with nothing but in-state recruits, but Mr. Young proved that theory incorrect
Look at other teams rosters such as ou, osu, ksu, and so on they have rosters of almost 50% Texas players. We don't really have to go out of state though we have some in the past.
For clarity- The state of Texas is our bread and butter for recruiting. It always has been and it always will be. It’s the Mecca. I think everyone from Mack Brown to Hornfan poster are all in 100% agreement on this point. Ok Now, the point I’m trying to make is that we should consistently add an out of state CHERRY or three on top. These two points are not mutually exclusive. I will go further. I submit that we MUST consistently add one to three elite out of state players each year if we want to achieve the kind of consistent success that is demanded by our fans. Other top “elite” schools like SC and Florida ALSO focus PRIMARILY on their in-state/region talent, but then add 5-star guys from around the country. OU does this as well. We must do this if we want to consistently win conference championships and BCS bowl games. Either we add the elite players from out of state or do a much better job at locking down the elite players from Texas like we did with Vince’s class. Vince’s class had SIX five star guys and look what we got: a national championship and another Rose Bowl. This year the state of Texas has three 5-star players. All of them are headed for OU. The top five players in Texas are headed out of state. Ohio State and Michigan have three of the top 12 players in Texas. When have we every pulled an elite guy out of their region? texas has a lot of talent to go around, but I’m talking about the best of the best, which is what it takes to achieve the kind of success we demand.
I'll say it again, since people seem to be missing the point: For clarity- The state of Texas is our bread and butter for recruiting. It always has been and it always will be. It’s the Mecca. I think everyone from Mack Brown to Hornfan poster are all in 100% agreement on this point. Ok Now, the point I’m trying to make is that we should consistently add an out of state CHERRY or three on top. These two points are not mutually exclusive.
I remember Macovick only concentrating on OOS players due to his retarded relationships with Texas HS head coaches. Mack famously came in and opened the doors to the HS coaches and the rest is history. Scott is OOS. Does that count. The in state talent is where you concentrate. The gold is here.
Burnt Orang For Life I'll state this again... For clarity- The state of Texas is our bread and butter for recruiting. It always has been and it always will be. It’s the Mecca. I think everyone from Mack Brown to Hornfan poster are all in 100% agreement on this point. Ok Now, the point I’m trying to make is that we should consistently add an out of state CHERRY or three on top. These two points are not mutually exclusive.
There are 300 recruits in Texas every year, and UT can only sign 20-25 total. We have worked hard on establishing a network of high school coaches who trust the recruiters word from the University of Texas. We want Texas kids first, and they are more loyal to the school, more likely to stay all four years, less likely to transfer out. And I think Mack Brown does not like to be rejected, so goes after more of the "low hanging fruit," like many people. Some knock on every door and don't mind getting one out of one hundred positive answers. Other people don't like being in that position. The best players in Texas can win big time games, but sure, there are always a few out of state stars that you would like to see in the orange and white. It is just much harder to go after and sign them. It's much more Periloux.
Good grief. I think we all understand your point. And it has been answered - Mack prefers to target, almost exclusively, Texas kids. This, for better or worse, is his strategy. We don't get more out of state recruits becuase we don't go after them and, the ones we have gone after, just haven't happened to come here recently. That's it. Asked and answered over and over again. And we know, Texas is the cream of the crop, but we need a few out of state cherries, blah blah blah. We get it. Unless someone has something NEW to add to this thread....
