40 Acres Sports

The Longhorns have picked up commitment number thirteen from Brenham’s Ahmard Howard. The 6’4″ tight end prospect and his parents were in Austin and he gave Mack Brown his verbal pledge on Monday. Howard has spent the last two weeks telling pretty much everyone he’d commit as soon as he got a chance to sit down with Coach Brown and the rest of the coaching staff so this one’s not a surprise.

Howard is one of the state’s top tight ends and has excellent size and speed to go along with an impressive list of scholarship offers. Howard chose Texas over Arizona, Kansas, K-State, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State. Another good addition to an excellent 2007 recruiting class.

Texas’ thirteen man class is below…

*Note: The star ratings are just my best guesses based on the little bit of video I’ve seen of the recruits and Orangebloods.com’s Lone Star Top 100.

Kelvin Sampson says it’s the NCAA’s fault for not catching him doing it earlier.

I’ve been busy and haven’t had time to post about this weekend’s invitation-only junior day and the successful recruiting flurry that Mack Brown and the Longhorns had. The Horns picked up eight commits from some of the best athletes in the state. While I was putting off this post, three more commits rolled in today including a couple of big ones to bring the total to eleven. These early offers are only handed out to the players Brown and staff feel are true standouts. Other recruits will be evaluated more and decisions on them will be made later, so we know how highly they think of the group they offered.

Gilmer wide receiver Curtis Brown is probably the biggest star of the group so far. Big, fast, and physical he could see either side of the ball at Texas. The Horns are really assembling a monster class of offensive linemen, with five commits already onboard including future 4-stars Kyle Hix, Aundre McGaskey, and Matt Nader. They’ll probably hold a scholarship for blue chipper Tray Allen, but otherwise they’re probably done at the position for the year already.

With three of four members of next season’s secondary set to graduate, defensive back is a big need in the 2007 recruiting class and it’s already been addressed. Brown could end up at corner and athlete Earl Thomas is headed for that position as well. Ben Wells has the size to play either CB or safety. Highly rated Lennon Creer is also rumored to be a big Texas lean as well and could join the growing list of future Longhorns soon.

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to call this the best weekend ever in Texas recruiting, and possibly the biggest and best group of kids pulled in by any school in such a short time span.

Check out the full haul from the weekend below…

*Note: The star ratings are just my best guesses based on the little bit of video I’ve seen of the recruits and Orangeblood.com’s Lone Star Top 100.

Someone ought to tell A&M signee Terrence McCoy that Dennis Franchione gave him that wad of cash in a plain envelope under the table for a reason:

McCoy, who said he’s been looking forward to Wednesday since he watched Jaime sign his letter of intent a year ago, has received positive reports from his brother about A&M and the football program.

“They take care of you down there,” McCoy said. “I know from my brother they keep your pockets full, give you plenty of money, keep feeding you meals. Besides that all the help they give you with football. They keep you on your grades with private tutoring. Just good all-around.”

I know you’re not on campus yet Terrence, but I’m pretty sure you should know that’s the kind of thing you have to keep on the down low. I guess the Aggies have never been too good at this cheating stuff, but that sure hasn’t stopped them from trying.

Coach Franchione posted a clarification of McCoy’s comments, here’s an excerpt:

To explain in detail what a football scholarship provides for a student-athlete would take more time and space than either you or I have. Frankly, I doubt you could grasp the numbers. The meal plan alone costs hundreds–hundreds!–of dollars. But basically, they receive tuition, fees, books, room and meals. In addition, under certain specified conditions they are entitled to meal stipends – such as when the place they eat on their meal plan isn’t open, usually a modestly priced restaurant tab plus unlimited alcohol, which comes to around $200 a meal – or sometimes meal per diems when we’re traveling in our gold leaf painted, hot-tub equipped Aggie Land Cruiser with the twenty-sixes spinning. It ought to be a crime to be this hood! That kind of rhyme dropping keeps the street cred flowing like water, wodi.

[tag]Mack Brown[/tag] was hired in 1997 and brought early recruiting with him to the Big 12 from the ACC.

Recruiting early is one thing, but recruiting quality athletes and people early is a lot tougher. You can judge the measureables like size and speed, but how do you know a kid’s character and other intangibles in such a short amount of time?

Of course part of the reason for all of Texas’ early commits is the lack of competition from the in-state schools. With the Aggies down like they have been for a while now, if you’re a recruit in the state of Texas you better jump on a Longhorn offer quickly if you want to play for a top tier national team.

With a national title now on his resume, Big 12 schools and coaches across the country better watch out for the 2007 class Mack Brown is about to put together.

I’ll update this post from time to time today with any news on National Signing Day including who has sent in their letter of intent and any other rumors going around. Most of the guys should be signed by around noon and then we’ll just be waiting around for Jonas Mouton’s decision this evening.

Morgan shocks Aggies and Seminoles

4-star linebacker Michael Morgan was expected to choose between Florida State and Texas A&M last night and surprised everyone when he announced he’d be headed to USC next fall. While the Trojans were in his final three, most experts believed he was headed to FSU or possibly to the Aggies if he decided he wanted to stay closer to home.

The announcement sent the Aggie fans into meltdown mode. He was a critical recruit and one they had been very confident about landing for a while. The Aggies had a down year on the field this season and it’s been reflected in their lack of success in recruiting, Morgan would have been a very nice addition to an otherwise average class.

Latest on Mouton

Seems like most experts are predicting Jonas Mouton will pick Michigan tonight when he announces his decision on Fox Sports West. There’s still people predicting Texas or USC and Mouton has kept things pretty close to the vest, so these are all just guesses and gut feelings. I think in the end Texas just got in too late to have a chance to completely win him over.

Signed letters of intent as of 9 a.m.

According to Geoff Ketchum over at Orangebloods.com, 19 players have already signed their letter of intent to play for the Horns as of about 9 a.m. The following players have been confirmed by the Orangebloods staff:

• [tag]Ben Alexander[/tag]
• [tag]Chykie Brown[/tag]
• [tag]Buck Burnette[/tag]
• [tag]Antwan Cobb[/tag]
• [tag]Dustin Earnest[/tag]
• [tag]Brian Ellis[/tag]
• [tag]Sherrod Harris[/tag]
• [tag]Robert Joseph[/tag]
• [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag]
• [tag]Hunter Lawrence[/tag]
• [tag]Vondrell McGee[/tag]
• [tag]Steven Moore[/tag]
• [tag]Jared Norton[/tag]
• [tag]Phillip Payne[/tag]
• [tag]Jevan Snead[/tag]
• [tag]Greg Smith[/tag]
• [tag]Roy Watts[/tag]
• [tag]JMarcus Webb[/tag]
• [tag]Montre Webber[/tag]

Steve Moore was the first one in this morning at around 7:30 and there’s been a steady flow since. I’m glad to see Ben Alexander‘s name already on the list as I had a slightly bad feeling about him. He’s out of state and several schools from the ACC and SEC have still been recruiting him since he committed back in June.

All letters of intent are in (11 a.m.)

The last six of the 25 man class are signed and Orangebloods has confirmation on them. Add the following names to the Class of 2006:

• [tag]Deon Beasley[/tag]
• [tag]James Henry[/tag]
• [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag]
• [tag]Eddie Jones[/tag]
• [tag]Josh Marshall[/tag]
• [tag]Britt Mitchell[/tag]

Now just waiting on Mouton…

Mouton to Michigan (4 p.m.)

His press conference isn’t for several more hours but it appears Jonas Mouton has already made his decision. Lloyd Carr’s official press release on the Wolverines’ signees confirms that Mouton has signed his letter of intent and makes tonight’s press conference just a formality.

That wraps up things for the Longhorns today as everybody we knew about is already in and no one new is really left out there. We’ll have an overview of the entire class soon as well as a position-by-position breakdown of next year including the new guys in the coming days/weeks.

National Signing Day is finally upon us and Longhorn fans will unexpectedly have something to look forward to.

With a fantastic class in both quality and quantity mostly wrapped up months ago, the only recruit that Texas has offered that has yet to announce is 4-star safety Jonas Mouton out of California. Texas didn’t get in on Mouton till after the US Army All-American Bowl three weeks ago but made a very strong push and has a great shot of landing him. It’s a three team race between Texas, Michigan, and USC.

He’ll be announcing his decision at a 8:30 p.m. CST press conference on Fox Sports West and we’ll have that info as well as any other news or rumors here as soon as we hear them.

Lemming again busted trying to sway recruits to Notre Dame.

Brown and Carrol have different methods, but both get the job done.

Todd Wills from the Dallas Morning News has written an article on the effects of text messaging and the lack of rules regarding them are having on NCAA football recruiting. In addition to being a quick and “hip” way to instantly get in touch with any high school kid, text messages are considered “electronic transmissions” and aren’t restricted in any way. The dead periods that limit the communication between coaches and recruits also don’t apply, so coaches seem to be even more text happy during these times.

Some good quotes in the article from recruits (“It felt a little weird.”) as well as examples of the text messages coaches send. Personally I think it’s kind of lame and it would mean nothing to me to get a message from a coach. They take 3 seconds to send and there’s no thought behind them at all. Seems like most of the recruits interviewed agree and find it annoying or pointless.

Urban Meyer’s messages look particularly stupid, “it’s a great day to be a Gator.” Wow, it must make you feel really special when you get that completely and other completely impersonal messages almost every day. Wishing a player good luck before a game or checking to see how he played is one thing, but in general it seems like something that would have little effect on anyone’s college choice. If a kid is flaky enough to pick a school because of a coach’s “l33t txting skillz” than you’re probably have trouble down the road.

I’m sure the NCAA will finally get around to regulating them a little better as soon as texting isn’t cool anymore.