By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — If former football head coach Mack Brown was considered Mr. February for his prowess in signing great high school players for Texas, what will Tom Herman be called after hauling in the nation’s third-ranked class this winter in his first complete run at recruiting to restock the Longhorns roster?
Maybe Herman can be called “Mr. Freeze” because of his cold-season success and his either-take-our-offer-or-don’t attitude … or maybe “The Collector” for his ability to corral with a minimum of wasted effort a majority of the players he and his staff sought.
One thing is for sure: the buzz surrounding UT’s haul of top prep talent over the past two-and-a-half months is the loudest [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]it has been since Brown’s 2012 class, which included defensive tackle Malcom Brown, running back Johnathan Gray, defensive end Hassan Ridgeway, linebacker Dalton Santos and cornerback Duke Thomas) and carried similar national ranking and provided three players who are in the NFL today.
Texas signed eight players Wednesday including three of the nation’s top defensive linemen, adding to its 2018 recruiting class that began with the inking of 19 prep student-athletes Dec. 21.
In all, Herman and his staff hauled in a class that is heavy on defensive backs (six), offensive linemen (five) and defensive linemen and linebackers (three each). The class includes a pair of quarterbacks, two wide receivers, two players categorized as athletes, and a running back, a tight end, a kicker and a punter.
The class features three players carrying five-star rankings from 247Sports.com in cornerback Jalen Green from Houston, and safeties DeMarvion Overstreet from Arp and Caden Sterns from Cibolo, as well as four-star safety B.J. Foster from Angleton — a quartet that made up 247Sports.com’s top four players in the state. Nineteen of the Longhorns’ signees earned at least four stars from 247Sports.com.
“I’m really excited about this class for a bunch of different reasons,” Herman said. “Depending on what service you subscribe to, 11 out of the top 15 players in the state of Texas signed with the University of Texas. I said it on Dec. 21st, I’ll say it again: that needs to not be an aberration — that needs to be the new normal. When this place was winning championships on a regular basis, that’s the way it was.
“We know we’ve got to do a great job in our state, and our bordering states, mainly Oklahoma and Louisiana, to make sure the bulk of our roster stays at Texas. Then we have to do a great job of selecting the out-of-state players that can come in and fit in our culture and provide us with a spark and with some depth, also probably give us something that is not available in a certain class, in a certain cycle.”
Nationally, Texas finished third in 247Sports.com’s ranking behind Georgia and Ohio State, each of which signed 26 players. The Longhorns were runaway winners among schools in the Big 12 Conference, lapping the likes of Oklahoma (ninth, according to 247Sports), TCU (25th), Baylor (30th), Oklahoma State (33rd) and West Virginia (35th). Texas finished 14 spots ahead of Texas A&M.
Herman reiterated that the core of every one of Texas’ signing classes is going to be from the state of Texas.
“(With) the numbers of good football players in the state it makes no sense not to do that,” Herman said. “Kids grow up wanting to play for the University of Texas, so you have a bit of an in there. But when we go out of state, it is because we have evaluated every position in the state of Texas that we feel like you can win a championship with.
“Now, some years you might take four defensive linemen, you might be slotted to take four defensive linemen, but only the top three in the state you feel are good enough to win a championship with. Where do you get the fourth one? You got to go out of state, right Maybe you have to go out of state for two of them because the top three you feel are good enough, but one of those had a mom and dad that might have them growing up with maroon pajamas or something like that. But the bulk of every one of our classes from now until the time we leave here is going to be from the state of Texas.”
For the most part, the Longhorns got the players it wanted and did so efficiently. Herman told reporters at his signing day press conference Wednesday that the Longhorns finished with the fifth-lowest number of documented offers to prospects in the 2018 signing class, behind only Stanford, Northwestern, Clemson and Washington.
“It’s very important that everybody knows that when we say the word ‘offer’, the young man can say yes on the spot right then and there, and we’re going to be doing cartwheels and backflips down the hallway and celebrate because we got our guy,” Herman said.
“It’s really important for me to continue to spread that message, that we are going to be very diligent in our research with guys that fit what we do.”
It is likely that the class could end up even better with the signings of grad transfer and junior college players between now and the opening of spring drills in March 20. Expect the size of the class to increase by at least two players, and maybe as many as four, with the biggest target former Rice left tackle Calvin Anderson, a player who could step right in and start for Texas next season.
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