OTF Premium Twenty years later, what can we learn from the success of the 2005 recruiting class?

National Signing Day occurred on Wednesday without fanfare for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. That’s a good thing, considering the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in the 2025 cycle was wrapped up before Texas took on Georgia in the SEC Championship on Dec. 7.

The Longhorns haven’t recruited at their current pace since Mack Brown was stacking one elite class on top of another early in his 16-season tenure. The 1999 and 2002 cycles produced the nation’s top-ranked hauls, setting the foundation for nine consecutive seasons with 10 or more victories, two Big 12 titles and a national championship.

With that said, Texas fans weren’t on Cloud 9 when Brown and his staff put the 2005 recruiting cycle to bed.

When Brown sat down for the first time to break down a 14-man class in front of the assembled press 20 years ago, the questions had to do more with who the Longhorns didn’t get.

Two elite out-of-state prospects — quarterback Ryan Perrilloux (Reserve, La./East St. John) and wide receiver Fred Rouse (Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln) — spurned Texas at the last minute, choosing instead to stay closer to home and sign with LSU and Florida State, respectively. The Longhorns also lost a hotly-contested battle with Texas A&M for Alief Taylor tight end Martellus Bennett, one of the top prospects in the Lone Star State.

When the dust settled, Rivals.com ranked the class No. 20 nationally. Scout.com was a little more generous, ranking Brown’s seventh full-cycle class No. 13, but the second-winningest coach in school history had to let it be known that he had “no disappointment in guys that don't come.”

“Things have a way of working out and guys go to the places they need to go to for whatever reason,” Brown said on Feb. 2, a few weeks after Dusty Mangum’s walk-off field goal lifted Texas to a memorable Rose Bowl win over Michigan on New Year’s Day. “We’re excited about the ones we got.”

Who the Longhorns got in 2005 made up arguably the best class Brown ever signed. From a pound-for-pound standpoint, it’s hard to argue against a class in which half of the recruits were drafted or played at least one NFL season.

We’re not talking about fringe players, either.

Cushioning the 11th-hour blows Texas suffered by losing Perrilloux, Rouse and Bennett were Colt McCoy, Quan Cosby and Jermichael Finley. Twenty years later, they’re still among the all-time best Longhorns to play their respective positions.

McCoy, Finley, Jamaal Charles and Roy Miller were selected within the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Henry Melton transitioned to the defensive line late in his career and became a Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears.

Roddrick Muckleroy was a two-time All-Big 12 linebacker and a fourth-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. Chris Hall and Charlie Tanner were multiple-year starters along the offensive line, while defensive lineman Aaron Lewis started 13 games over the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

The 2005 class proved that it doesn’t matter how a recruiting class looks on signing day if the signees themselves don’t develop. The program’s culture was at a place in 2005 where the 14 newcomers learned the standard immediately and what must be done to protect it daily.

Sarkisian and Texas have almost all of the superbly talented 2025 class on campus right now, going through winter conditioning ahead of spring practice. The 22 signees who enrolled early are joining a program that’s made consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals thanks to outstanding player development.

The conditions are as ripe as they were 20 years ago for the Longhorns to maximize their recruiting class. If the trend of exceptional player development continues, the 2025 class will have a historical significance long beyond a recruiting cycle.