Bobby Burton

The only thing about safety is that it would have probably taken an even greater toll on his body.

I think it’s too early to judge recruiting rankings. Hindsight is what will determine who was right and who was wrong. I disagree with them often, particularly in the state of Texas. I feel like they overcompensate, they overthink things. Individually, I also have a hard time believing Ryan Wingo is rated as low as he is by On3.

CJ and I look at SEC. Who is over- and under-rated heading into 2024 and where the Horns sit in the conference pecking order. https://youtu.be/zZNxhuURGu4 View full news

I think it all depends on how he looks this season. The best thing for Texas would be for him to start for two years. But if he comes out and dominates, all bets are off.

Two things: 1. Simms clearly broke his pinky playing football. That's a football player's pinky. 2. He is looking more and more like his dad, especially in that picture.

The OL coach would be big.

Let's look at where players were ranked and what we thought of them coming out of high school. Class of 2021 TE, JT Sanders, Denton Ryan Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: On3: no. 60 national, no. 9 player in Texas; in every other ranking, Sanders was rated as a five star - Sanders was a man among boys in high school. But he rarely played a true tight end; instead, he frequently lined up flanked outside for jump ball opportunities. He also played some defense. Ultimately, he eschewed defense altogether and focused on learning to play a more conventional, NFL-style tight end for the Horns. Takeaway for me: Good player but not an overwhelming athlete. Often "out-physical'ed" opponents in high school which doesn't always translate in the college game and beyond. Still, the overall athleticism and play-making ability were rare for a player his size. Not a five star but a definite high four star was the correct call. WR, Xavier Worthy, Fresno Central East Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: On3, ESPN, and Rivals already had him pegged as a top player in the country; On3 was the highest at no. 18, while 247 was the lowest at no. 99. In actuality, this will likely end up as a win for the On3 Consensus ranking which had him at No. 56 overall, which is just about where most NFL draftniks think he will land. - Worthy's speed was his calling card. He initially signed with Michigan but the Wolverines could not get him in to school as a mid-year enrollee. Steve Sarkisian, who was fresh on the job at Texas after recruiting Worthy while at Alabama, found out about it, and immediately made Worthy a priority. Worthy's top-end speed and impressive agility - his ability to start and stop on a dime - made him an elite recruit and both remain his calling card to this day. Takeaway for me: Several players each year have legit big-time speed. But what else do they have? Can they move laterally, do they play tough, do they compete within the game? It can't just be straight speed. RB, Jonathon Brooks, Halletsville Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: On3: no. 114 national, no. 8 running back, no. 17 player in the state of Texas; the next highest ranking was the no. 41 player in the state, according to Rivals. - When Brooks first committed to Texas, half a dozen analysts thought Texas had lost their minds. Houston was the only other school that had offered. While a lot of people were busy pontificating that then-Texas RB coach Stan Drayton had lost his marbles, I watched the tape. I immediately took to the boards to defend the offer, vehemently. This all happened well before Brooks' incredible senior season, where he was the singular force behind Halletsville state championship appearance. He's been under-rated his entire career. A small school Texas boy who has proved them all wrong. Takeaway for me: The film doesn't lie. And it doesn't matter who else has offered, or when they offered, if you like the tape. DL, Byron Murphy, DeSoto Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: There wasn't one. The highest Murphy ranked from any group in-state was No. 45 at 247Sports. But that's a far, far cry from where he will be drafted. - Murphy was the lesser-known and more lightly-recruited of a dominant duo at DeSoto, playing alongside Shemar Turner who inked with Texas A&M. Murphy flipped from Baylor to Texas relatively late in the recruiting process, yet still before Tom Herman had been fired. Murphy is a former middle school running back who just kept getting bigger and bigger. He also earned his associates degree (60 hours of college credit) while still in high school. Takeaway for me: Never overlook or underestimate one of a pair of strong defensive linemen. Think of the combo of Colin Simmons and Alex January in this recruiting class. Also never underestimate desire and the willingness to go the extra mile. Perhaps Murphy's associates degree should have told us a little more about who he was on the inside. WR, Adonai Mitchell, Antioch (Tenn.) Cane Ridge Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: Clearly, On3 had a better beed on this one. On3 was the only staff to mention him as a national recruit, ranking him at no. 105 overall. - Mitchell started his high school career in Fort Bend ISD. While there, the previous Texas staff had decided not to recruit him; they didn't think he was fast enough. But his body control and catch radius were outstanding, and his speed was clearly better than they thought. He signed with Georgia and won two national championships before transferring to Texas and returning to the College Football Playoffs. Takeaway for me: If a receiver isn't a flyer, but still runs in the 4.5s, the prospect needs agility, a wide catch radius, and the penchant for making the contested catch. It helps if they know how to create separation with their body, too. Class of 2020 LB Jaylan Ford, Frisco Lone State Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: As with Murphy, no one was particularly close. ESPN was the worst, ranking Ford the no. 160 player in the state of Texas. - Like Murphy, Ford was a relatively late flip in the recruiting process, this time over Utah. Ford had long arms, a good motor and was clearly a smart player coming out of high school. But he was more of a ball of clay that needed to be molded. Of course, that's what Texas did. Ford ended up leading the Longhorns in tackles in back-to-back years. Takeaway for me: Sometimes linebacker is more about prototype and then how well they develop. Ford "developed" into a good linebacker, but he always had the frame and mental make-up for the position. Class of 2019 WR, Jordan Whittington Cuero Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: Probably none of them. Every single service ranked Whittington among the top 60 players in the country. Even though he was a terrific player for Texas, it was mostly as a role player and never a focal point, which would have been more indicative of a lofty national rating. - Whittington was a do-it-all player for Cuero. Running back, receiver, defensive back, etc. He literally could do it all, and did, helping Cuero to the state championship in what will remain one of the best single game performances you will ever see in high school. As a recruit, some college coaches thought he might have been a better safety than offensive player. But Whittington really didn't want to hear about defense during his recruitment. Could Whittington have somehow been a better answer for Texas and the NFL at safety than receiver? Probably so but he would have had to stay healthy. Takeaway for me: Players who are better situated for one side of the ball than the other should probably be graded for the side of the ball they want to play on. DL, T'Vondre Sweat, Huntsville Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: I'll go with 247Sports even though they weren't really correct., ranking him as the no. 48 player in the state. They were just so much better than everyone else. The next highest ranking for Sweat? The no. 94 player in the state, according to ESPN. - I was working with Horns247 at the time. EJ Holland was the recruiting analyst for the site, and this is one EJ deserves heavy credit for. I asked EJ who the best prospect he saw that year in person was. Without hesitation, he said Sweat. But Sweat wasn't just a three star, he was actually the lowest rated recruit in the entire Texas class, according to the On3 Consensus. Hats off to EJ who has never actually been in the rankings process at any of his stops while covering recruiting. Takeaway for me: Listen to people who go see players in person and mention a player as the best they've seen. It has happened to me a couple of other times to me as well - once with Gerry Hamilton and Earl Thomas. Another came from a writer who worked for us in the state of Georgia. He said he would rate Calvin Johnson the best player in the country if it were up to him. He was right. But we didn't even make Johnson a five star because he ran a 4.55 40-yard dash at some camp. Class of 2018 OL, Christian Jones, Cy Woods Most accurate recruiting ranking in retrospect: 247Sports as the No. 77 player in the state. Rivals and ESPN had him outside the top 100 in the state. - Jones will be the 9th recruit in the 2018 class to end up making a roster in the NFL, a class that was ranked no. 3 in the country. With nine NFL players, that lofty class ranking wasn't far off. However, the individual rankings weren't exactly spot on as Jones' ranking can attest. Jones will make two of the bottom four recruits in the class of 2018 who will end up being NFL players. The other? Cameron Dicker. Takeaway for me: Jones was recruited to Texas primarily by then-assistant Corby Meekins. Meekins was a former high school coach from the area. Meekins went out on a limb here. He liked Jones' mental make-up and athleticism. Jones was a former soccer goalie and only started playing football in high school. My takeaway? When a former high school coach takes a guy from near his area, pay closer attention. See Jeff Traylor and East Texas. View full news

Love the Chuck K reference.

All good. $4mm is low but that's not their entire total either.

Boo! Hiss! Astros fan here. 😉

Jonerz, short answer is yes. Check this thread for more info and discussion overall.

I just can't believe this. How bad a situation must UCLA be for coaches right now?

He's regressed it feels like because he started trying to make every play a touchdown. And Riley didn't rein him in. He needs to go back to basics. That's what Reid did with Mahomes. Kingsbury had let Mahomes get too free and loose as well IMO.

Columbus should be so happy they can't see straight. Odds of Ohio State winning a championship will go up today is my bet.

I truly love it when Gerry goes on the road.

I've been in the process of writing a piece for this website about the Texas players who are expected to be selected in this year's NFL draft. I wanted to give a deeper look of just how those players were perceived as recruits. I'll finish and post that article later this morning; it includes some hard and soft data, and it could spark a conversation that I think will prove interesting and informative. Well, as I was researching and writing that article last night, it was announced that the University of Texas had placed another former player into the NFL Hall of Fame. Steve McMichael, who his former teammates at Texas affectionately to this day call "Bam Bam", was one of the Longhorns' most dominant defensive linemen ever and went on to be a key member of the 1985 Chicago Bears defense that many consider among the best ever. McMichael came slightly before my time. I saw him play when I was young, but I didn't really know his back story. So I was curious. Who was Steve McMichael as a recruit? I found this from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times: "Besides playing football, McMichael lettered in basketball, track and field, baseball, golf and tennis." That's SIX varsity sports. How is that even possible? Golf and tennis? Baseball seems to have been his second best sport. As a catcher, he was offered a minor-league deal by the St. Louis Cardinals. ** This morning, I spoke with one of McMichael's former Texas teammates, Les Koenning, to see what I could learn. First, the Bam Bam nickname stemmed from the old Flinstones cartoon. Like the Bam Bam in the cartoon, McMichael had "muscles everywhere" and he loved the nickname, according to Koenning. But what about McMichael does Koenning remember the most? "He was so dadgum tough," Koenning, who was a year below McMichael in school, said. "He was a real type of tough, tough to the core. Strong, too, and just a determination. He had a will to him. He wanted to win no matter what, he was just so competitive, strong and athletic." Koenning called McMichael and his fellow defensive tackles Steve Massey and Bill Acker the "heart and soul" of the team. Koennnig even laughed about one memory of McMichael that revolved around spring break. It's not a tale of debauchery that you might normally think. While Koenning and some of the other players would go home, to the beach, or try to find a job to make some spending money during spring break, McMichael and Acker, who were both from the small south Texas town of Freer, had other plans. McMichael went went home every spring break to the "Rattlesnake Roundup", where, you guessed it, he would try to catch rattlesnakes bare-handed. Koenning said McMichael also wasn't much for team speeches, at least not ones from the coaches. But he recalled a time where McMichael addressed the team before a game after the coaches had left the room. It was a pre-game speech. "I want everybody on the kickoff team to stand up," McMichael said. They all stood, and he addressed them in front of the entire team. "Listen here, we're gonna beat the shit out of this team. But y'all better start it right. You better go down there and knock the crap out of them or, you and me, we're gonna have a little talk about it after the game, and you're not gonna like that." McMichael then sat down. The kickoff team, made up mostly of younger players, remained standing for a few seconds in awkward silence before sitting down. Suffice to say, the kickoff team gave maximum effort. ** McMichael's nickname morphed from Bam Bam at Texas to "Mongo" later in life. He was a colorful person. After the Bears, he even took a turn at pro wrestling. Unfortunately, like so many former football players of his era, McMichael has been fighting ALS for several years. Former Texas players and friends visit him often. But the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a fitting end for a tennis-playing defensive tackle from Freer, Texas, who was a Longhorn through and through. ** McMichael becomes the sixth Longhorn to become a member of the Hall of Fame. He joins Earl Campbell, Bobby Layne, Tom Landry, Bobby Dillon and Tex Schramm. View full news

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Rod and Coach Shipley deliver this week’s Football Theory. https://youtu.be/dnUAZslhmqo

Spring ball, track, basketball - anything where he competes.

Love doing that. Only way to ever get better is to look back and see what mistakes you made and then try to improve.

I think it's going to be Texas vs Texas A&M. Could see it going either way.