Longhorn Success at Recruiting.

Terry O'Keefe · Mar 14, 2007

Interesting article for 2 reasons. 1) Mack Brown claims his current situation is a result of pressure from Ohio State, Notre Dame, Mich and Penn State offering Jr's early. 2) Macks approach to the verbal commitment, he and the staff take great care to outline to the kids and parents what they believe is involved with an early commitment.

With the late decommits the Irish had, it was reported that Charlie called Mack Brown and discussed this with him and has adopted a lot of Macks approach.

The Texas Longhorns are, by most accounts, the premier recruiting machine in college football.

A little more than a month after national signing day for the Class of 2007, Texas already has verbal commitments from 15 prospects in the Class of '08, a number that likely will approach 25 by August, if scholarship numbers allow.

Few teams have the luxury of focusing almost all their recruiting efforts on underclassmen at this early stage. By comparison, USC has six verbal commitments from the Class of '08 at this point and Florida has none.

So, when did all this early-commitment business begin, anyway? How did the Longhorns reach the pinnacle of early commitments, and how have they kept those kids committed through the first week of February? The recruiting landscape has changed dramatically in the past 10-12 years, and every major college football power at some point had to change its strategy and philosophy on recruiting underclassmen to remain competitive.

For Texas coach Mack Brown, that point was in the mid-1990s, and Brown and his staff were not blazing a trail -- they actually were behind the curve.

"When we were at North Carolina, the Ohio States, Michigans, Penn States and Notre Dames of the world, who we were competing against, began offering juniors, and we weren't," Brown said last week, just before he hit the field for spring practice.

"We fought it and did not want to offer juniors, but quickly realized it was time to rethink our philosophy if we wanted to get where we wanted to be. High school coaches were calling us in the spring and asking us why we hadn't been in to see this kid or that kid and that he already had 10 offers."

So it was back to the drawing board, and right around that time (1998), Brown and his staff were headed to Texas, where their recruiting prowess ultimately would broaden, likely without having to leave the state if they played their cards right.

The challenge was simple: Reach as many prospects as possible within the rules and begin developing and maintaining relationships with coaches and prospects. The Texas high school system is massive and widespread, and if massaged correctly, it could catapult the Longhorns into the recruiting stratosphere without their having to recruit outside of state.

This was a process years in the making that included spring football recruiting, junior days after signing day that did not take away from a special day for the previous class, and on-campus camps.

Camps

The strategy for Texas, and all schools for that matter, with summer camps is to get as many kids and coaches as possible on campus and get them acclimated to what Texas football is all about. This allows direct contact with prospects, along with instruction, plus developing camaraderie and a feel for each other.

"One of the main reasons our camps have been so vital in the recruiting process is our staff continuity," Brown said. "The kids come in as ninth-graders on up, and each year they see the same faces of Texas football."

But simply being Texas -- the tradition, the status, Bevo, everything that should make recruiting at Texas easy -- makes it hard not to have a leg up with in-state recruits. But Brown says the Longhorns' dominance in recruiting is about more than just tradition.

"Winning, above all else, is why we have been able to escalate our recruiting efforts," Brown said. "When these young men we have been recruiting the last few years were growing up, all they have seen and all they know is that Texas has won an average of nine games per year since we arrived, and that is what counts."

When you couple winning -- including a national championship -- with camps, spring recruiting and a staff that has been together for quite some time, it is easy to see that although these are just a few of the components that make up Texas' recipe, the overall model obviously works.

Keeping verbal commitments

But obtaining an early verbal commitment -- and turning it into a signature the next February -- isn't always easy. Texas' philosophy here is quite simple: honesty, above all else, every step of the way.

From the onset of a prospect's recruitment, it is made very clear to the student-athlete, coach and parent(s) how the process will work, and there is no gray area whatsoever.

"We never offer a young man over the phone," Brown said. "We make an offer in person, alongside the coach and parent, and very clearly outline what a verbal commitment means.

"If there is one thing we want to get across to the prospect, it is that if you are not ready to commit to the University of Texas at this time, don't commit. If you want to take visits elsewhere, do not commit. Do not embarrass yourself, your family, the state of Texas or the university by changing your mind if you are not ready."

There are clearly two sides, the university and the player himself, when it comes to committing early. In this day and age, the public doesn't blink when a player changes his mind, decommits and goes elsewhere. But if a school changes its mind and decides to rescind a scholarship offer to a prospect, the university is cast in a bad light. Fair? No. Reality? Yes.

Texas, by all accounts, avoids any misperception of what a verbal commitment means by always following up a scholarship offer with a written letter to the parent and coach detailing the stipulations of such a commitment. One of those stipulations is that if a player chooses to take an unofficial or an official visit to another school after he commits, then all bets are off. Vince Young only took one visit -- to Texas. Same for Cedric Benson.

However, let's not forget that schools like Texas have top prospects lining up to play for them, which gives the school quite a bit of leverage. But that kind of reputation once again goes right back to winning.

With a penchant for securing so many verbal commitments so early, no one in college football would benefit more from an early signing period than the Longhorns. Not surprisingly, Brown believes there should be three signing periods -- one in the summer, another in the late fall and the final one in February.

"When that first and second signing period comes up, you would know how serious a player is about their commitment by whether they would actually sign or not," Brown said, "and that would give you an idea of what you need to do if they don't sign."

Opponents of an early signing period argue that schools like Texas would have an unfair advantage because they hypothetically could sign 10-15 rising senior prospects in the summer, then be able to deploy a few assistants to get a head start on recruiting the rising junior class. It is a valid argument, and one that cannot be ignored when the topic of an early signing period comes up.

What's next?

If Texas keeps winning and playing it straight on the recruiting trail, not much will change. Outside of USC and Florida, most other programs are having to play catch-up, including Texas A&M. Although the Aggies are making some headway, they will be No. 2 until they prove they can beat Texas on the field consistently and become a 10-game winner year in and year out.

By Brown's own admission, Texas does not recruit nationally as much as it should or might like, but what's the need? Why interfere with a model that works?

But beware college football: If Texas chooses to pursue top prospects from other states and lands a few elite national recruits -- much the same way USC has proved it can -- it would only strengthen its roster. Brown is always up for a new challenge.
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Longhorn Success at Recruiting.

Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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Longhorn Success at Recruiting.

Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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