Tom Herman’s 1st full Texas recruiting class could top Oklahoma in the Big 12

The last three years went poorly for Texas. The Longhorns went 16-21 under Charlie Strong, fired him, and replaced him with Houston head coach Tom Herman. The Herman hire was widely praised, but on his first National Signing Day — just a few weeks after taking his new job — Herman succumbed to a common problem for new coaches. He wasn’t able to secure a great recruiting class.

The Horns had never signed a class outside the top 20 in the recruiting rankings era, but Herman’s first class finished 26th. Herman is known as a prodigious recruiter for, among other things, having lured five-star defensive tackle Ed Oliver to Houston in the class of 2016. But he had to do damage control in his first few months in Austin, securing Strong’s commitments and adding whatever he could. That wasn’t much.

That was then. This is a new cycle, and Herman’s off to an excellent recruiting start.

On Wednesday, UT landed four-star Putnam City (Okla.) defensive end Ron Tatum. He verbally committed to the Longhorns over in-state Oklahoma. He was the fifth Texas commitment of this month, and all five of them have held OU offers. The biggest news was four-star quarterback Cameron Rising’s flip from OU to UT earlier this week.

It’s been a great run of recruiting wins against the top program in the Big 12, no matter the differences in each player’s recruitment.

Wescott Eberts explains for Burnt Orange Nation:

Those pledges include Sooners legacy Casey Thompson, a quarterback prospect from Moore in Oklahoma, former OU quarterback commit Cameron Rising, and high-upside edge rusher Byron Hobbs, in addition to projectable offensive tackle Reese Moore.

So not only has Herman stemmed the tide of advancing crimson and cream creep in the state that climaxed with the 2017 class after a prolonged absence from the Lone Star State, he’s gone into the state of Oklahoma and landed several of its top prospects.

With Rising now in the mix and Bob Stoops and his staff now in hot pursuit of a flip from Thompson, there is a potential weakness in the growing group.

However, if there’s one thing that’s clear about the 2018 class for the Longhorns, it’s that the majority of the group has already decided to become anti-Sooner, despite a handful of deep ties to that state’s flagship school and the state itself.

In the 2017 class, Oklahoma signed seven Texan prospects, including five players rated four stars or better. The Sooners took clear advantage of uncertainty at Texas and longtime Texas A&M, and they made the Lone Star State their own.

So far this year, that’s not happening. The Longhorns went to bed on Wednesday with the country’s No. 15 class for 2018, according to the 247Sports Composite. That’s tops in the conference, and Texas still only has six commitments. There’s lots of room for Herman to keep building, and his history as a recruiter suggests he’ll do just that.

Oklahoma’s class finished Wednesday at No. 24 nationally. That’s not horrible, but it’s not what Bob Stoops would prefer. OU blog Crimson And Cream Machine:

Sooners fans have every right to be perplexed and disappointed about this month’s returns. Two weeks ago, everything was looking great: Oklahoma was about to debut amazing new facilities that are supposedly wowing recruits, had just hauled in a top-ten class and was barreling towards another. The Sooners are prime College Football Playoff contenders and will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future.

It makes no sense that all this would happen right now. It leads to understandable questions.

But every new decision, every commit and every development is a chance for Oklahoma to get back on the right track. The top priority is finding a quarterback. Grab a good one, and the momentum has started again.

It would take a lot for Oklahoma to pull a top-10 class out of this. That’s really not likely anymore. But the OU coaching staff takes this far more personally than we do, and I’m sure they’re doing some intense soul-searching and re-evaluating right now. There are no guarantees in recruiting, but after last season, I’m confident this staff will still give us a class to be proud of.

Oklahoma currently has one Texan commitment for 2018: three-star Lancaster cornerback Jordon Austin. There’s time for the Sooners to do better, but Texas is off to a strong start. The Horns have a great shot to finish atop the Big 12.