OTF Premium Sunday Scattershooting: Looking back at the 2020 recruiting class

I’m scattershooting this Sunday while wondering what happened to the original plaque President Richard Nixon presented to Darrell Royal and the 1969 Texas Longhorns after their thrilling 15-14 win over Arkansas.

— After rushing for 1,456 yards and 14 touchdowns in his second season with the Atlanta Falcons, Bijan Robinson was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time last Monday.

The winner of the Doak Walker Award in 2022, Robinson was selected to replace Saquon Barkley, who is gearing up to lead the Philadelphia Eagles into the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. Next Sunday’s game features three former Longhorns: Moro Ojomo is in his second season with the Eagles, while Charles Omenihu and Xavier Worthy will play significant roles for the Chiefs.

Robinson headlined the 2020 recruiting class for Texas, a group finalized on Feb. 5, 2020. Five years ago Wednesday, when the 2025 class will officially be recognized as the nation’s top haul on National Signing Day, Alfred Collins and Kelvontay Dixon put pen to paper to complete the program’s last full-cycle class under former coach Tom Herman.

Herman only coached the group for one season. Thankfully, Steve Sarkisian's regime maximized what they inherited, using the class led by Robinson and Collins to build a championship-caliber foundation.

— Only six of the 20 signees completed their collegiate eligibility on the Forty Acres. Still, the six who wore only burnt orange in their collegiate careers helped the Longhorns win 33 games in three seasons under Sarkisian, making the College Football Playoff semifinals twice and racking up a host of honors.

Along with Robinson, Jahdae Barron (granted a release from the National Letter of Intent he signed with Baylor after Matt Rhule left for the NFL) was a national award winner, becoming the third Longhorn to win the Jim Thorpe Award. Robinson (unanimous All-American in 2022) and Barron (consensus All-American in 2024) are two of the four All-American selections the class produced (Collins was a second-teamer in 2024 and Jaylan Ford was a third-teamer in 2022).

An Academic All-American and a finalist for the Campbell Trophy (the academic Heisman), Jake Majors started 57 games in a Texas uniform, more than any other Longhorn in history. If Majors and Vernon Broughton are taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, Texas could top the school-record 11 draft picks produced last spring; Barron and Collins are sure to join Robinson (first round in 2023) and Ford (fifth round in 2024) as draft choices to emerge from the 2020 class.

— What about the 2020 signees who finished their careers elsewhere?

Hudson Card, (Purdue) Kitan Crawford (Nevada), Andrej Karic (Tennessee) and Jerrin Thompson (Auburn) started for the Longhorns at some point before departing.

Xavian Alford, Prince Dorbah and Troy Omeire helped Arizona State win the Big 12 championship and reach the CFP in 2024.

Logan Parr also played in the CFP, helping SMU get into the 12-team dance as an All-ACC offensive lineman for the Mustangs.

Ja'Quinden Jackson averaged more than five yards per carry in his last two college seasons as a running back at Utah (797 yards and four touchdowns on 161 carries in 2023) and Arkansas (790 yards and 15 touchdowns on 149 carries in 2024), respectively.

It’s not the best class in school history. Still, a recruiting haul in which 20 percent of the signees become All-Americans with a projected NFL hit rate of 30 percent (assuming Barron, Broughton, Collins and Majors are drafted or make an NFL roster) is a tremendous group in today’s college football climate.

— Kudos to Texas men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry, who recovered from the flu in time to coach the Longhorns to an 89-58 road win over LSU on Saturday. Terry said he was “down and out for about 36 hours” following last Wednesday’s 72-69 road loss to Ole Miss, unable to join the team until the night before the 31-point romp in Baton Rouge.

Texas (15-7, 4-5 SEC) got 18 points from Tre Johnson and Tramon Mark and a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double from Kadin Shedrick. Terry credited the coaching staff for the Longhorns' sharp preparation before facing the Tigers in his absence and for the team bouncing back mentally from a loss to the Rebels that was there for the taking.

— The most impressive aspect of Johnson’s performance wasn’t scoring in double figures for the 19th time in 20 games (he leads the SEC in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game) or going 7-for-13 from the field (2-for-4 from 3-point range).

The freshman recorded a season-high and team-leading five assists with only one turnover in 30 minutes.

— Sources recently told OTF to start expecting more of 6-foot-7-inch sophomore forward Devon Pryor on the court. Pryor was on the floor for 21 minutes against LSU, scoring nine points on 4-for-6 shooting with a career-high six rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass.

— I love what Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said regarding the Longhorn pitchers after Saturday’s Alumni Game.

When he was asked about the live arms Texas pitching coach Max Weiner ran out to the mound on a sun-splashed afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, Schlossnagle was quick to remind the assembled media that while being chock-full of fireballers in the SEC is a must, the goal is to throw strikes.

“Nobody cares about how hard you throw ball four,” Schlossnagle said.

— Freshman lefty Dylan Volantis tossed three with no earned runs allowed against the Longhorn pros who stepped into the box. The 6-foot-6-inch, 212-pounder allowed two hits and struck out three before he was lifted for UTSA transfer Ruger Riojas.

Schlossnagle said the outing was the worst for Voltants "as far as controlling the strike zone.”

— Riojas, who OTF has reported could be in the same role 2024 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Evan Ashenbeck was for Schlossnagle and Weiner at Texas A&M last season, as the team’s top reliever who can enter a game at any point to get the Longhorns out of a jam, made his Disch-Falk Field debut in style by retiring Tres Barrera, Kody Clemens of the Philadelphia Phillies and Zach Zubia, who plays in the Miami Marlins organization, in order.

A Wimberley native, Riojas opened the second inning of his dominant three-frame outing by striking out David Hamilton of the Boston Red Sox.

“He’s going to be a super-valuable arm,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s such a really good strike thrower.”