re: 2014 Recruiting Discussion

Rumor mill says he got kicked off his high school team because he wasn't going to be eligible in UIL due to grades. Definitely not going to make the grades needed to qualify for SEC and A&M.

Hate that for him. All that talent.

Shorter commits to tu

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“I did some research and looked at how SEC backs are always banged up and they don't go really high in the draft” - Kevin Shorter

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that's what I find so interesting about this. It's pretty clear they filled his head with a bunch of negative stuff. He made a comment about our depth chart last week (both Ark and Texas have a pretty nice stable of backs as well). Then he says this about the SEC (which is laughably untrue) - he actually added after the above:

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It's usually guys from the Big 12 and the Pac-12, conferences like that. That's what helped put Texas over the top.

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Running backs in the 1st three rounds of the 2013 NFL draft
2.5 - Bernard, Giovani (UNC)
2.16 - Bell, Le'Veon (MSU)
2.26 - Ball, Montee (Wisc)
2.29 - Lacy, Eddie (Bama)
2.30 - Michael, Christine (A&M)
3.34 - Davis, Knile (Ark)

I didn't bother going further. But of the top 6 backs taken, three were SEC. None were from the Pac or Big 12. Does anyone really think he "did research?" Given both of these non-nonsensical quotes came after visits to Austin, it seems pretty apparent where these ideas are coming from.

Recruiting is about being negative at times. All's fair as far as I'm concerned. It's sales and you sell why your program is better than someone elses. But this case is one that looks, well, like they pulled the wool over a kid's eyes and now they have 8 more months to keep him in the dark. I don't think this is over and I'd hardly be shocked if he ends up at Arkansas.

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OT Zach Ledwik committed today.

He's sort of an interesting story as the sites don't rank him for shite. He went to the sips' camp 2 weeks ago and received an offer on the spot. Then he came to ours and also received an offer. Clearly an under the radar type. I know olinemen are always the hardest to rate but I'll be curious if he gets majorly upgraded by the services.

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well, this took awhile but I believe this is Rivals first re-ranking since he committed. He was a 2* on Rivals til today when he was bumped up to a 4* and #177 in the country.

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It will be very interesting to see how the OL recruited by this staff develop. I have to say that's what probably worries me the most going forward about our offense (and probably the only thing). Once all these great linemen that Sherman helped recruit and develop are gone, will the OL be able to maintain a similar level of play?

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I could not agree more, I trust KDS to do work but the future OL has been a big question mark to me for a while.

Eh whatever. We have great backs on campus and a few more waiting in the wings. He would have been the definition of a luxury signing

I guess I'm comparing the fact that we pulled in Joeckel, Matthews and Ogbuehi as elite OL targets in the same year a while back. 2012 had M. Matthews and G. Ifedi who are outstanding and 2013's only stud (to me at least) was Ishmael Wilson. I know I am definitely over thinking it at his point though ha

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I'm more concerned with the ability of the current staff to develop O Line recruits. A guy like Jarvis Harrison, who was a 2 star project and has transformed into an absolute beast.

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I'm gonna go with no, they can't do this. No one can. Sherman is it

That can't be the expectation. And btw, Mike Matthews, Ifedi, and Tipoti were all Sherman recruits. So the history of OL recruiting is even thinner. But you can add in Koda Martin.

This staff hasn't missed on a lot of OL guys they've gone after this year. They just haven't necessarily gone after the ones that the sites have ranked hightest. We flat passed on Pruitt, Cuney, and Barrett this year and most of the sip guys for next. I think Knox is the only instate guy we missed on and we really didn't pursue him hard. The rest don't fit what we are looking for. We want extremely athletic guys. We'll see how that works out, but it isn't like we are offering guys and missing on them.