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Part 2 of 3
Horns Heading for Another Top Recruiting Class Texas has an even dozen commitments, after getting a pledge from DT Tully Janszen, 6-4, 245, 4.78, of Keller on August 2 He picked Texas over Oklahoma. He had considered only Texas, OU and A&M, and had offers from all three. The Longhorns, who have had three straight top five national recruiting classes, are on track to make it four in a row. They already have pledges from six recruits who have been on one or more national top 100 lists, including three other DT prospects - Sonny Davis of Gulf Coast JC in Mississippi and formerly of Austin Lanier, Earl Anderson of San Marcos and Lyle Sendlein of Scottsdale Chaparral, the two-time defending Arizona state champion. The other UT commitments who have been on some top national lists are OLs Brett Valdez of Brownwood and Neale Tweedie of Allen and TE David Thomas of Wolfford Frenship (a complete list of all the Longhorn pledges is on page 7). Janszen said the Longhorn coaches told him they want him to play DT, and he said they told him they like his quickness and aggressiveness. He said when he called Texas head coach Mack Brown to tell him he wanted to play for the Longhorns. "He seemed real happy to hear from me." While Brown can't talk about specific recruits until they sign, he has said he wants defensive linemen who can really run because of all the spread offenses that are the vogue in the Big 12. Janszen has great explosion at the line of scrimmage and is very fast for a DT. He said he picked Texas because "I liked the way I was treated by the coaches and players. They are like a big family." After informally visiting all three of his finalists, he said UT was an easy choice. "The players and coaches are so much friendlier than at other places. I really felt at home there." He alo said his sister lives at New Braunfels, which is between Austin and San Antonio. "Her husband is a coach at Converse Judson," he said. "It will be good to have family that close." Janszen said he had 10 sacks and about 15 other tackles for losses last year. He has a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and has a 22 ACT score, which is well above the qualifying score. * * * * When I quoted Marquis Johnson's mother in my last issue as saying he made it to Texas, but never got to Austin, it turns out she didn't know the whole story. Johnson, a national top 100 receiver from Champaign, Ill., visited with a friend in the Dallas area and told me they drove to Austin one weekend and looked around, but said his mother didn't know that when I talked to her. "The coaches didn't know I was coming that day and they weren't around," he said, "but we looked around a lot and I really liked what I saw. Austin is a nice town and I've always been a fan of the University of Texas football team." Johnson told me he is very close to committing to Texas and probably will take his official visit the August 31 weekend and see the Horns' September 1 opener against New Mexico State. He said there is a good chance he will commit during his visit. Out-of-state recruits can take official visits during football season. Texas recruits have to wait until their seasons are over or, under UIL rules, they would lose their eligibility to finish their high school football season. Johnson is a great prospect because he is big and fast and doesn't mind making the tough catch in traffic. He also has great hands and seldom misses a catchable ball. "I like to make the catch and get out of trouble as quick as I can," he said, "but I don't mind taking a hit, too. It's a challenge to hang on to the ball when someone is hitting on you." There are three big-time recruits I think the Longhorns are almost certain to sign. They are Johnson, DT Kasey Studdard of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and DT Rodrique Wright of Alief Hastings. Wright is the top defensive tackle prospect in the country and the best player in Texas. Studdard is one of the top players in Colorado and Johnson is one of the top recruits in Illinois. Texas also leads with several other top players, including LB Aaron Harris of North Mesquite and DT Marco Martin of Mesquite. Harris is the state's top inside linebacker. DE Chase Pittman of Shreveport Evangel, the younger brother of Cole Pittman, the sophomore DT at UT who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in February, has narrowed his choices to Texas and LSU. The Longhorns have dedicated their second game, against North Carolina, to Cole Pittman, and the Pittman family will be in attendance. I expect Chase Pittman to announce his college choice very quicly after that. Pittman and another nationally recruited DE, Bryan Pickryl of Jenks, Okla., both plan to graduate in December and enroll in college in January so they can go through spring training. Pickryl hasn't narrowed his choices to two teams, but he has a big three of UCLA, Texas and Missouri and the Longhorns are at least tied with UCLA for the lead at this point. Oklahoma can't be counted out, but he took an unofficial visit to OU about 10 days ago, and came home saying the Sooners still hadn't moved into his top three. His grandmother and two uncles live in Austin, but his father graduated from UCLA. He's also an excellent student who wants to go to a very good academic school, which probably is a major reason Texas, UCLA and Missouri rank ahead of OU. * * * * My list of the top 25 players in Texas includes three players (No. 3 DT Earl Anderson, No. 17 LB Brian Robison and No. 23 OL Brett Valdez) who are already committed to Texas. The Longhorns also are in strong contention for No. 1 DT Wright, No. 3 DE Travis Leitko of The Woodlands, No. 6 RB Albert Hardy of Galena Park, No. 7 DE Larry Dibbles of Lancaster, No. 8 Ath Edorian McCullough of North Garland, No. 9 LB Harris, No. 11 LB Garnett Smith of Arlington Lamar, No. 14 OL Justin Blalock of Plano East, No. 15 DT Martin, No. 16 CB Ricky Wilson of Port Arthur Lincoln, No. 21 DE Dontriel Coates of Anahuac and No. 22 Ath DaBryan Blanton of Carrollton Turner. Wright and Hardy both attended UT practices last week. There are some other guys in my top 25 who are interested in UT, including No. 2 QB Vincent Young of Houston Madison, and No. 19 WR Robert Timmons of Flower Mound Marcus, but Young seems to be leaning toward going out of state and Timmons drew a three-game suspension from his coach last week for unidentified transgressions. There are some other great players in the group who have serious academic deficiencies. * * * * FB-LB Brandon Hancock of Clovis, Cal., has committed to USC. As I noted in my last newsletter, he said he enjoyed his unofficial visit to Texas, but was almost certain he would sign with a California school. A national top 100 prospect in California who has expressed some interest in Texas is QB Trent Edwards, 6-4, 185, 4.7, of Los Gatos, who completed an incredible 78% of his passes last year for 2,529 yards and 29 TDs. Stanford leads, however. Texas' Early Commitments These are the 12 recruits who already have committed to Texas: 1. OL Brett Valdez, 6-4, 310, 5.2, Brownwood 2. DT Sonny Davis, 6-1, 320, 5.0, Austin Lanier and Gulf Coast, Miss., JC 3. DT Earl Anderson, 6-3, 265, 4.8, San Marcos 4. DT Lyle Sendlein, 6-4, 260, 4.8, Scottsdale Chaparral 5. Ath Clint Haney, 5-11, 185, 4.27, Smithson Valley 6. QB Billy Don Malone, 6-2 1/2, 185, 4.7, Paris North Lamar 7. WR Dustin Miksch, 6-0, 167, 4.35, Round Rock Westwood 8. TE David Thomas, 6-3, 210, 4.55, Wolfforth Frenship 9. LB Marcus Myers, 6-3, 220, 4.5 Pflugerville Connally 10. OL Neale Tweedie, 6-5, 255, 4.9, Allen 11. LB Brian Robison, 6-3, 243, 4.6, Splendora 12. DT Tully Jantzen, 6-4, 255, 4.8, Keller Robison was named the outstanding male performer at the AAU Junior Olympics in Norfolk, Va. He broke his own national AAU Junior Olympic record by winning the discus with a 202-7 throw and was second in the shot and sixth in the javelin. FUTURE RECRUITING NOTE: John David Booty, 6-3, 185, 4.56, will be the starting QB in the Shreveport Evangel's famed passing offense this year, and, as a sophomore, he's already being featured in national sports magazines and compared favorably with past Evangel QBs like Brock Berlin. He has been a visitor at Longhorn practices and mentions Texas as one of his favorite schools. I know he won't be a senior for a long time, but write his name in your futures book if you have one because he'll be the top recruit in the country in two years unless he gets hurt. He already has a powerful arm, quick release, great accuracy and real speed for a QB and was the top signal caller at the Nike camp in Baton Rouge. Longhorn Notes . . * Although the team isn't in full pads yet, the one-on-one drills between offensive and defensive linemen get pretty fierce at times. DT Marcus Tubbs, DE Kalen Thornton and DT Maurice Gordon have been very impressive getting around and through the blockers, and OTs Mike Williams and Alfio Randall have been the best at keeping the rushers at bay in the drills I've watched. * The Longhorn defense is going to be less predictable this season. The team has been working on zone blitzes and other innovative schemes and even has defensive ends dropping off into pass coverage at times. "We want to disguise what we are doing and try to confuse the quarterback and make him hold on to the ball longer, which gives us a better chance to get to him," said head coach Mack Brown. * Senior WR Montrell Flowers has been one of the stars of the early practices. He got behind the secondary and caught two long touchdown passes from QB Chris Simms in the Saturday and Sunday workouts. The early battles between the receivers and the secondary have been exciting to watch. * Brown says TE Bo Scaife appears to be completely recovered from his knee surgeries. "Bo's a valuable part of this football teamm when he is healthy," he said, "and he's looking great. He's in the best shape he's been in and he knows he's well now. He can help us a lot this season.
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