It’s no secret that the state of Texas is a fertile recruiting ground. When looking at the blue-chip ratio from the last five years, Texas checks in at No. 3 behind Florida and California, with 12.1 percent of the national share of blue-chip recruits.
After Texas’ recruiting blitz, A&M has work to do in the 2019 class
Texas is cleaning up in the state, but A&M will have its shot in 2019.
Photo by Dannie Walls/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
That’s also part of the reason why the bigger programs in the state, like Texas and Texas A&M, are such desirable jobs when they open up.
Over the last two years, both were filled with the hiring of Tom Herman in Austin and Jimbo Fisher to Texas A&M. One of these coaches has more of a head start than the other.
Let’s take a look at how both programs have recruited in state in 2017-18.
Recruiting your home state is critical at any school, but even more so when that state is loaded with talent. Over the last two years, the Longhorns have put themselves drastically ahead of the Aggies when it comes to cleaning up the Lone Star State:
- In Herman’s first recruiting class of 2017, he signed just one Top-20 prospect from the state, national No. 4 quarterback Sam Ehlinger. The Aggies also just had just one, four-star linebacker Anthony Hines.
- Looking at the 2018 class, things are different. Texas has cleaned up the state so far, and we aren’t even at Signing Day yet — Herman has landed the top five prospects in the state and a total of 10 blue-chip recruits. Five-star safety BJ Foster was a huge get for the class as the No. 1 prospect in the state. Four of those top five are defensive backs, the most recent commit coming from four-star CB Anthony Cook:
Four-star cornerback Anthony Cook committed to Texas. Cook is the No. 2 player at any position out of Texas, according the 247Sports Composite, and ranked No. 33 among the 2018 class and No. 5 at the CB position. He’s the sixth top-25 defensive back in this class to commit to the Longhorns. That’s never happened before.
Each of the six top-25 DBs already signed to the Longhorns is an in-state prospect. They come from all around the state: Two in Houston and three in smaller towns around Central, Southeastern, and Northeastern Texas.
Texas A&M has a bit of leeway, given that the Aggies went through a coaching change from Kevin Sumlin to Jimbo Fisher, but the improvement is still there, albeit slightly. The Aggies have two top-20 prospects from Texas, in four-star receiver Jalen Preston and four-star defensive end Max Wright.
The Aggies have done better in picking up blue-chippers in state than last year, but it’s not even close to the jump Texas had. First-year recruiting classes during a coaching change are typically transitional, but the head start Texas got with the 2018 class alone, with eight more blue-chips from the state than TAMU, is huge. Fisher is an exceptional recruiter, but he’s got some major ground to cover in the coming weeks and years. The Aggies need to salvage the 2018 class, and kick things into overdrive come 2019.
Other conferences are recruiting the state hard, but the Big 12 remains king.
- The Big 12 benefits from being both inside and so close to the state, having hauled in 19 of the blue chips from Texas in 2017, and it improved recruiting inside Texas this year, getting 24 blue-chip prospects.
The rest of the conferences are moving in the opposite direction.
- Last year, the SEC had 14 Texas blue chips, and the conference missed a few kids from the state in 2018, with 11 blue chips heading to SEC schools, the majority of kids both years going to Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU.
- After getting seven blue chips in 2017, the Pac-12 doesn’t have any blue chips from Texas less than a month before Signing Day.
- The Big Ten had five in 2017, but just Michigan and Illinois are getting a pair this cycle.
- Florida State landed the No. 1 prospect out of Texas in DT Marvin Wilson last year, but the ACC doesn’t have any so far from Texas. Notre Dame had two last year, but it’s missed so far this cycle.
There’s obviously some time for things to change as we approach National Signing Day on Feb. 7, but there are some obvious trends happening in Texas — the Longhorns are surging and cleaning up the state, but their Big 12 counterparts are doing just fine. The SEC missed a few, and TAMU still has some ground to cover, with respect to top-20 kids. The Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, and Notre Dame have fallen off this cycle, too.
