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Part 2 of 3 Parts
Recruiting Enters New Phase Saturday College coaches get to start calling recruits again Saturday after a layoff of more than three months, and that usually means good things will start to happen again for the Longhorns. Coach Mack Brown and his staff have revolutionized recruiting in Texas with the their early commitment blitz, and it worked again this year with an even dozen early pleges by August 2, including six who have been mentioned on one or more national top 100 lists. There haven't been any new ones since DT Tully Janszen of Keller picked Texas over Oklahoma and Texas A&M back on August 2. Under NCAA rules, college coaches get to call each recruit one time in May, then they get to start calling them once a week on September 1, which is this Saturday. Those weekly calls probably will produce at least one or two more commitments in September. WR Marquis Johnson of Champaign, Ill., had planned to come to New Mexico State season opener, and he had said there was a good chance he would commit on his visit. He still strongly favors the Longhorns, but wants to take his official visit before committing. One important thing to note here is that out-of-state kids can take official visits during the football season. Texas kids cannot take official visits because the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for high school sports in Texas, has ruled that any player who takes an expense-paid trip prior to the conclusion of football season loses his eligibility for that season. That means the only kids making official visits to Texas and other in-state schools in September, October or early November will be from other states. The Longhorns will have a lot of fine high school prospects as their guests at the New Mexico State game, but they will be in Austin unofficially, which means UT can give them a ticket and they have to pay for everything else, including their transportation, food and lodging. Here are the Longhorns' 12 early commitments: Quarterbacks (1) Billy Don Malone, 6-2 1/2, 185, 4.7, Paris North Lamar Tight Ends (1) David Thomas, 6-3, 210, 4.55, Wolfforth Frenship Wide Receivers (1) Dustin Miksch, 6-0, 167, 4.35, Round Rock Westwood Offensive Linemen (2) Brett Valdez, 6-4, 310, 5.2, Brownwood Neale Tweedie, 6-5, 255, 4.9, Allen Defensive Linemen (4) Sonny Davis, 6-1, 320, 5.0, Austin Lanier and Gulf Coast, Miss., JC Earl Anderson, 6-3, 265, 4.8, San Marcos Lyle Sendlein, 6-4, 260, 4.8, Scottsdale Chaparral Tully Jantzen, 6-4, 255, 4.8, Keller Linebackers (2) Brian Robison, 6-3, 243, 4.6, Splendora Marcus Myers, 6-3, 220, 4.5 Pflugerville Connally Athletes (1) Clint Haney, 5-11, 185, 4.27, Smithson Valley * * * * The Longhorns probably won't get another quarterback. Vincent Young, the great prospect at Houston Madison, says he is going to go out of state. The only running back still on the UT radar screen is Albert Hardy of Galena Park, the state's top back. At tight end, Texas is still trying to get Eric Winston of Midland Lee, but he comes from Aggie stock and is a long shot. The Longhorns hope to get two more wide receivers, headed by Marquis Johnson and then probably Biren Ealy of Cypress Falls. Robert Timmons of Flower Mound Marcus is the state's most talented wideout, but he is serving a three-week suspension to start the season and he played only two games last year because of eligibility problems arising from switching schools. A wild card here is DaBryan Blanton, the small but lightning fast running back from Forney. He could be a wide receiver in college. Texas is recruiting him. Texas is still recruiting two offensive line prospects and probably will try to sign both Justin Blalock of Plano East and Tony Ugoh of Spring Westfield. The defensive line crop is loaded this year, and Texas is trying to sign DEs Chase Pittman of Shreveport Evangel, Bryan Pickryl of Jenks, Okla., Travis Leitko of The Woodlands, Larry Dibbles of Lancaster and Dontriel Coates of Anahuac. The Horns won't get all of them, of course, but they hope to get several of them. The North Carolina game on Sept. 8 has been dedicated to the memory of Cole Pittman, Chase Pittman's brother who was killed in a tragic automobile accident while returning to UT in February. He was a promising sophomore DT. The situation at DT is much like the one at DE. Roderique Wright of Alief Hastings, Marco Martin of Mesquite, Joseph Edwards of Dayton, Tuaren Brown of Katy Cinco Ranch, Kasey Studdard of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and Loren Howard of Scottsdale, Ariz., are all being recruited, and, hopefully, at least two or three of them will sign with Texas. At linebacker, outstanding middle backer Aaron Harris of Mesquite and speedy outside backers Garnett Smith of Arlington Lamar and Glenn Jackson of Carrollton Turner are the main hopes. Texas probably will try to sign one or two defensive backs and the top one who is considering the Horns is Ricky Wilson of Port Arthur Lincoln. Speedy Edorian McCullough of North Garland would be a fine cornerback, but he wants to be a running back. He likes Oklahoma and Texas. RECRUITING NOTES: LeKeldrick Bridges of Dallas Hillcrest, one of the state's top athletes, has given up football to concentrate on basketball, so he will be disappearing from all the football prospect lists, including mine. . . The strength of the this year's recruiting class statewide is in the defensive line. There are more outstanding defensive linemen in the state than in any other year since I've been doing this. Injury Update Senior starting LB Lee Jackson has a turf toe and probably will miss the opener, with Tyrone Jones replacing him. Jackson is expected back for the second game, but toe injuries sometimes are tough to shake off. Junior DE O. J. McClintock is out indefinitely after suffering severe hand and arm cuts in a household accident. The coaches hope he'll be back by mid-season. Junior WR Kyle Shanahan, a walk-on who is one of the Longhorns top four receivers, is still recovering from a puncture wound in his leg. He tried to jump a fence and didn't make it. He will miss the opener, but might be back for the second game. Subscribe To The E-Mail/Fax To Get Year-Round Football & Recruiting Scoops ! Save Big As An Internet Subscriber ! Whether you live close to Austin or far away, the True Orange E-Mail/Fax Service is the way to keep up with Longhorn football and Longhorn recruiting - instantly. It has about 110 to 120 timely e-mail/faxes a year, primarily about football and football recruiting. To subscribe, send your check to True Orange, Box 26530, Austin, Texas 78755, and copy or clip the coupon below and fill in the blanks. If you want it mailed, or by E-Mail, just include the right numbers. o I'm enclosing $99 for the 99-fax package for the next year o I'm enclosing $130 (an $11 saving) to renew my subscription to True Orange and to subscribe to the 99 faxes. o I'm enclosing $79 for the 99-fax package for the next year by E-Mail (a $20 saving) o Here's $110 to renew my subscription to True Orange and to subscribe to the 99 faxes by E-Mail (a $31 saving) o Here's $99 to subscribe to True Orange via the Internet and to subscribe to the 99 faxes by E-Mail (a $42 saving) Name Fax No. (or E-Mail or mailing address) Horns on Short List Five Longhorn football players - senior OT Mike Williams, junior DE Cory Redding, senior CB Quentin Jammer, senior MLB De'Andre Lewis and junior QB Chris Simms - have been named to the watch lists for three of the nation's most prestigious post-season awards. Williams and Redding were named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List, Jammer was tabbed for the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List. Lewis was selected for the Dick Butkus Award Watch List and Simms was chosen to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List. Established in 1970, the Lombardi Award honors the nation's outstanding linemanwho best exemplifies the character and discipline of Vince Lombardi, the legendary head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Established in 1986, the Thorpe Award honors the nation's outstanding defensive back. The award is named after the legendary Jim Thorpe, who was a first-team Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American in 1911 and '12. Thorpe also won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics, played professional baseball and was elected the first president of what would later become the National Football League in 1920. The Butkus Award goes to the nation's top linebacker and is named for former University of Illinois and NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus. Simms was named as one of 30 candidates for the O'Brien award. The O'Brien Award is named in honor of the late Davey O'Brien, the All-American and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for TCU in the late 1930s. Hayter Will Transfer Junior RB Kenny Hayter plans to transfer to another school to try to get more playing time. he has been granted a release. With backup DE Adam McConathy transferring earlier and two freshmen, CB Adam Ross of Tyler and LB Yamil LeBron of Killeen Ellison, failing to enroll for academic reasons, the Longhorns are down to 79 scholarship players. Ross was practicing with the team last week when it was determined that he had problems with the NCAA Clearinghouse. He plans to return in January. LeBron says he will attend junior college and then return to Texas.
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