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Part 2 of 3 Parts
Big Recruiting Push Will Start at June Summer Camps The Longhorns are being very selective in making offers to recruits so far this spring, but that will change next month when they host some of the top blue chippers at their summer camps. The Aggies have two commitments to the Longhorns' one pledge from my 25 man "difference-maker" list on page 4, but that will all change in June. Coach Mack Brown is the one who invented early recruiting in Texas, and he did it through his June camps. That hasn't changed. The only thing that has changed is that the Aggies went out in March and April and gave offers to about 30 kids. There's nothing wrong with that, and I am not knocking their strategy. But Brown's strategy works and there is no reason for him to change it. If you look at the last three February signing days, you'll know why he doesn't need to change it. Meanwhile, the Horns got one offensive lineman they wanted when they got a pledge from terrific run blocker Bret Valdez of Brownwood. The Aggies got commitments last week from center Bob Morton of McKinney, the guy I have rated as the best offensive lineman in the state, and L'Tydrick Riley of Crockett, the top recruit in the state in the "athlete" category. Texas probably would have offered Riley a scholarship at some point if he had not committed to A&M, but the Longhorn coaches did not recruit Morton as hard as they are recruiting several other offensive linemen in the state. I think when the dust settles in February the Longhorns will have another great class signed and ready for delivery. They got 10 commitments last June en route to a national top five recruiting class, and they probably will have close to that number at the end of June this year. Most of those commitments last June were from big offensive linemen who were just what the Longhorns needed. Several of them this June could be from big defensive linemen, and that's where the Longhorns need to load up this season. DT Lyle Sendlein of Scottsdale, Arizona, younger brother of current UT LB Austin Sendlein and son of former UT and pro LB Robin Sendlein, told me he probably will commit to Texas when he attends the Longhorns' early June camp. He is the top recruit in Arizona and is being heavily recruited by top schools all over the country. DT Earl Anderson of San Marcos also plans to attend a UT camp next month and he is another possibility for an early commitment. In a year when the state is loaded with top defensive line prospect, he is a star among stars. The best DT of them all, however, is Rodrique Wright of Alief Hastings. He probably won't commit early, but he likes the Longhorns. Wright is a 300-pounder with outstanding quickness, and he does the best job of staying low and collapsing the line of scrimmage of anyone I have seen in the nation. If Texas can sign Wright, Anderson, Sendlein and Kasey Studdard of Highlands Ranch, Colo., they will be set at defensive tackle, and they have the inside track with all four of them. Studdard is the son of former UT and Denver Bronco offensive line star David Studdard. Anderson, like Keller DT Tully Janszen, is a super quick starter who could play end or tackle in college. At DE, the top guy in Texas is Travis Leitko of The Woodlands. He is a super student who is pretty wide open, but he likes the Longhorns and he also is friends with redshirt freshman QB Chance Mock and incoming freshman WR-DB Brian Carter, two Longhorns who are former Woodlands' stars. Chase Pittman of Shreveport Evangel, brother of Cole Pittman, who was expected to contend for a starting job at DT with Texas this year before being killed in a tragic auto accident, also is an outstanding DE prospect who is, like Leitko, very quick and very physical. He is strongly considering Texas. The coaches also want a super quick DE, and their best hope in Texas might be Nick Owino of Alief Elsik. They also are trying to get in on Zack Latimer, who led Colorado in sacks last year with 24 at Aurora Gateway. But Latimer is All-State in both football and basketball, and could opt for the latter in college. Owino and Latimer are the kind of outside speed rushing defensive ends the Longhorn coaches have been seeking since they arrived at Texas. * * * * The two fastest junior football players in the state are also two of the best ones. And that's no coincidence because you can't tackle something you can't catch. RB DaBryan Blanton of Forney broke the sprint records in Class 3A with a smoking 20.37 in the 200 meters and a 10.3 in the 100 meters. Not since the days of Roy Martin a quarter century ago have I seen a high school sprinter run a 200 meters like that. The times at the state meet are all fully automatic, which makes them officially .24 seconds slower than hand times. In the old hand-timed days, he would have had a 20.13. He also anchored Forney's 400-meter relay team to victory in 41.1. Blanton is an outstanding running back, but he probably will be a wide receiver or defensive back in college. He is pretty wide open on his college choices, but he is considering Texas. CB Edorian McCullough of North Garland won thge 5A 100 in 10.32, finished second in the 200 in 21 flat and anchored his team's 400-meter relay team to second place, making up a lot of ground to pull from fourth to second. McCullough was undefeated in the 100 meters this year. He is a top RB-CB prospect who favors Texas over Oklahoma. * * * * The talent level in Texas this year is very high. About 20 Texas players have been listed on one or more national 100 groupings, and there are some other outstanding players who are equally talented, but who are not as well known yet. One interesting factor this year is geography. In most year, the Houston area has most of the really elite prospects. Houston is very strong at the top again, with the top two and three of the top five players on my "difference-maker" list on page 4. But the Dallas-Fort Worth area runs deeper in talent this year than the Houston-Gulf Coast area, with a 10-6 edge on my list of the top 25. The other nine players on the list include four from East Texas, three from West Texas and two from the Austin area. The talent runs very deep at defensive tackle and defensive end this year for the first time since Brown and his staff arrived in Austin. There also are some big linebackers, like Glenn Jackson of Carrollton Turner, who are big-framed guys who already weigh 200 and might grow into 250-pound defensive ends in college. Jackson runs a 4.6 and is an outstanding pass rusher from the corner. There also is a lot of talent at quarterback, and if a school misses on a top signal caller in this recruiting class, there are a pair of kids who will be juniors this season who already have college recruiters salivating. They are James Battle, 6-2, 190, 4.6, who ran Recruiting . . (continued from page 5) and passed a Denton Ryan team that was 1-9 in 1999 deep into the Class 4A playoffs last year, and Devon Williams, 6-3, 185, 4.5, of Arlington Houston, a quick-footed runner with a powerful arm. Both will be top national recruits next year. The Longhorns also want to sign a great running back every year and, while the class of running backs doesn't run very deep, Albert Hardy of Galena Park is a power runner deluxe with fine speed, and he likes the Longhorns. There are some very good wide receivers in Texas this year, but the best one I have seen on tape is Marquis Johnson of Champaign, Ill. If he played in Texas, he would be high in my top 25 and would be easily the No. 1 wide receiver. He likes the Longhorns, and super UT recruiter Tim Brewster was in Champaign last week to visit his high school. He only lives three blocks from the Illinois campus, so let's hope he has a yen to travel. He is a big, physical receiver who has speed, moves and great hands. There is one receiver in Texas I haven't seen play, but I have heard good things about him and I saw him run a fine leg on Klein Forest's third-place 1,600-meter relay team at the state meet. He is Anthony Wright, another big guy with speed who has a reputation for being physical. I plan to see him play in early September and might move him up on the list after that. Texas needs to sign a tight end, too, and it will be an uphill fight to land Eric Winston of Midland Lee, who is easily the top one in the state. He comes from an Aggie family, but says he will consider Texas, too. Horns 3rd in Baseball, Play Ags Texas wound up third in the Big 12 baseball race and will play No. 6-seed Texas A&M Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Oklahoma City in the first round of the conference tournament. Texas finished 19-11 in the Big 12 and 34-22 overall. The Aggies were 15-15 in conference play and 30-26 overall. The Longhorns beat the Aggies twice in Austin and lost to them once in College Station during the regular season. The winner of the UT-A&M game will play the winner of a game between No. 2 Texas Tech and No. 7 Oklahoma at 5 p.m. Thursday in a game that will be televised by College Sports Southwest. The loser of the UT-A&M will play the loser of the Tech-OU game at 10 a.m. Thursday in an elimination game. The third-place finish was the Longhorns' highest placing in the five years of the Big 12's existence. Junior outfielder Matt Rosenberg of Grand Junction, Colo., made the Verizon Academic All-District VI Baseball team for the second straight year. To make the team, a player must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
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