Cougar14.2

​If they want to play against the best in the SEC then why don't Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Vandy recruit at a high level? Why can Louisville out recruit Kentucky on a regular basis? Find the article where Clarence McKinney talks about why Sumlin connects with the urban kids and you'll see it has very little to do with the SEC. Kids want to play on the big stage but they also don't want to lose 59-0. Eventually they just go join the best instead of getting beat down by them. As the nostalgia wears off A&M will slowly regress back to the mean, they're basically already there now. Trust me when I say that probably less than 10% of the kids A&M signs actually saw them play a game on TV growing up against someone other than Texas. On the other hand 90% can tell you about memories they have of watching Texas on TV. If Texas and A&M end up with the same record again you'll see Texas finish with a better class again. You can hang on to the SEC coat tail all you want but that's just more for us to point and laugh at also.

​I was talking about both. Lampkin is probably the only kid that won't eventually get to campus. That pales in comparison to A&M's 2013 class of which probably only half of the signees are still there. While A&M is in the SEC and it helps their recruiting some it's really not that big of a factor in overall recruiting. The facilities are good at A&M but a barber shop in the locker room or interactive lockers won't sway many kids who are being offered by other big programs. It may help Bama, LSU, Florida and Georgia but those are traditional powers, A&M isn't. Most of the quality players come strictly to play for Sumlin.

​You're technically right for now. A&M is ahead of Texas because they have over twice the commits right now. If you look at the player averages Texas' commits are rated slightly higher right now though. If you look further into it you'll see that even though A&M signed three 5 stars they still finished behind Texas in the class rankings last year and only finished .005 of a percentage point higher in player average. I think that's pretty interesting, tells me more top recruits are buying into what Strong is preaching but waiting to see A&M's win total.

​Shawn Robinson is a 2017 commit. TCU has the #5 2017 class so far. Ag's problem is that kid realize they have to live in College Station once they enroll. I said it once before and it wasn't popular but the majority of the reason A&M recruits the way they do is because of Sumlin. If he wasn't there you would never get the urban kids to commit at the rate they do. Very few kids with real options from those places chose A&M before and if Sumlin leaves they'll stop again. Another mediocre season at A&M and I think Sumlin bolts for the NFL while he still can. I doubt A&M can ever consistently challenge at the top of the SEC like some Ag fans think.

​Ok, there's 90k students in a 30 mile radius between UT and Texas State. You want to see a real spectacle, go to 6th street on Friday night. It makes Northgate look like the strip in a dairy farming community. I can't lie and say Northgate isn't a great place to close the deal but it usually takes a little more alcohol than it does on The Hill at SMU or on the river in San Marcos.

​My high school teammate used to kick for the Bobcats and his girlfriend(now wife) was a cheerleader. Bikini tops are a common sight on campus late in the Spring semester and during summer school. The girls at the Dixie Chicken wear cutoff bib overalls and boots with no socks.

​Lol, A&M make the list for one girl that won Miss America 15 years ago . The list you posted proved my point, 95% of the hot coeds will be from ASU which is #1 on the list. I'm telling you from first hand experience. I used to go party with Johnny Jolly when he went to A&M so I've been around the groupie girls and one of my wife's best friends is in one of those sororities so we would road trip sometime to visit her and be around those girls too. I used to go to Austin to watch and visit my cousin Barrett Matthews when he played for Texas. My cousin Christian Matthews who played for Kansas played qb at Arl. Bowie which played their home games on UTA's campus. We went to Denton several times a semester to attend frat parties, etc. I can keep going but I think you get my drift. I've been to every FBS/FCS campus in Texas except UTEP and I'm telling you A&M is down the list. Having 50k+ students also helps Ag get on that list but as far as the ratio goes A&M is no competition for even places like Texas State.

​You're just getting a little older Mack. Other than the people from a place like Caldwell or Nederland you won't find hardly any young males around the state that rave about the coeds at A&M. I would also throw A&M in front of Lubbock but the schools in major metropolitan areas like UH, Texas, SMU, UTA, UTSA, TCU and North Texas smother A&M in that category. Very low cankle and under-arm roll ratio at those places compared to College Station. A 9 grazing the pasture at College Station is a 6 in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. A&M girls do drink the most and are the most fun after midnight though.

​Yes, and 95% of them will attend Arizona State. I think even A&M fans would admit they have the highest cankle ratio of any FBS school in Texas.

4 more commits for UH yesterday. Not as high level as the earlier commits but good depth at a place of need. Herman now has 11 commits with only Bowman Sells(Lovejoy QB) being from outside the Houston area. Now that Williams has committed to TCU I think DSC and Tyrie Cleveland are the lynchpins that could turn the buzz around UH's program into roar. [Hidden Content]

The #HTOWNTAKEOVER adds two more. UH now has commitments from two of the top three defensive tackles in the state and two of the three best offensive guards in Houston. [Hidden Content] I think UH has a 50% shot at landing Tray Williams Friday night. I also think they're the leader for Manvel standout OLB Jordan Carmouche, with that could come a second 5-star commit for the Cougs in Deontay Anderson. It is also widely thought that UH is the leader for Ed Oliver's Westfield teammates, Dillon Sterling-Cole and the electric Tyrie Cleveland. I don't know if Tom Herman can coach but if he recruits like this for a couple of years I see UH dominating the AAC like Urban Meyer did at Utah or Chris Peterson did as Boise State.

​This is probably what you were referring to. [Hidden Content]

Well. . . I tried to call it. . . Not only did UH get the best defensive tackle in the state, they now have a commitment from the third best DT in the state to go with him. They're also expected to get a commitment from Hightower DE, Michael Johnson Friday. Shortly after the Oliver commitment UH also picked up a verbal from the Lamar road grader, Dixie Wooten, who I think is the second best guard in Houston. Don't be surprised if the best guard in town, Crosby's Keenan Murphy, also commits soon. UH is also in great position for Tray Williams even though I think he's going to A&M or TCU. Dillon Sterling-Cole and Tyrie Cleveland are thought to be a package deal by some and UH is in prime position for at least Cleveland who's probably the best receiver in town. Don't be surprised either if they pick up some elite local DB talent in this class. The kids are hash-tagging their commitments with #HTOWNTAKEOVER. They're probably just a few commits from finishing with a top 20 or maybe even top 15 class for this cycle.

They actually had over 40,000 people attend when they opened the stadium. The stadium is empty for one, because they don't win that much anymore, and two, what do you expect when you have conference home games against teams like Temple, Tulane and Tulsa? None of which move the needle. Houston has over 6 million people in the metro area and the largest contingent of local alumni, if the product on the field is decent people will come. When one of your biggest games of the season is against UTSA you're probably going to have problems putting people in the stadium though. I don't think the kids commuting is an issue, Miami probably has a quarter of the enrollment of UH with a metro that's probably 5 times smaller than Houston but when they were winning they didn't have a problem putting 75k in the Orange Bowl. With the Big 12 being left out of the playoff due to no conference championship game you can almost be assured they'll expand a couple more teams if their petition for a championship game with 10 teams is denied. They've even talked about putting North Dakota State and Boise State in the Big 12, two teams who do fill the stadium. I'm sure UH would be taken before either of those schools or any of the other Florida schools they talked about.

They didn't have the stadium and new facilities, they played in C-USA instead of the current conference, and neither of those guys made what Herman currently makes when they left even though they were going to give Sumlin a raise. It's certainly still a stepping stone job but it's strictly due to conference affiliation. You'll be hard pressed to find a school with the proximity to high level recruits, quality of life you can get in Houston for the price, plus the fact that there's no state tax in Texas. If UH can some way get into the Big 12 you'll see what I mean.

IDK, Shock Linwood still had over 250 carries in Baylor's offense last year with Petty throwing it as much as he did. In today's pass happy schemes which are usually up tempo teams run close to 100 plays a game, even if you cut that number down to 85 there's still going to be about 35 or 40 carries to split between the backs so if Perine can get about 20 per game which is where he was last year he might actually have a bigger season with less people in the box. It could be a moot point anyway though if Mixon beats him out.

The rest of the conference doesn't have many explosive players either though. I certainly think he'll leave for a bigger job once he wins too, just don't be surprised if he passes in a couple that have been deemed a step up prior to him getting there. With how weak the conference is all he has to do is get a qb every few years and keep 3 or 4 top prospects a year at home. He already started by getting Tyrik Grey to stay home last year and this year he's in good position to get the #1 DT in the state, Ed Oliver. He darn near got Toby Weathersby last year too. If he can get a kid like Jalen Hurts or DSC to stay this year his program will be off and running. IMO if he wins it might be a little harder than some think to get him away from Houston. UH is probably the 3rd largest school in the state at around 40,000, is in the hottest recruiting bed in the state, has a brand new stadium w/ NRG to play in if needed, and is a public school so if 3 million is needed to keep Herman around he can probably get it. I think UH could be a national power again if the people in power wanted it to be.

1. Zeke Elliott - Ohio State 2. Samaje Perine - Oklahoma 3. Nick Chubb - Georgia *There are two high school running backs I've ever broken down and came back with 0 weaknesses. One is still a sophomore in high school by the name of Toneil Carter, the other is Joe Mixon who happens to be Perine's teammate at OU. If he keeps his head on straight, watch out.

1. LaQuan Treadwell - Ole Miss 2. KD Cannon - Baylor 3. Rashard Higgins - Colorado State

Depending on what A&M wants from the TE spot he might actually be a better fit than Jordan Davis who was more sought after last year. Davis is more of a pro-style TE and a much better inline blocker than Holcombe. Holcombe is the better pass-catching TE but probably needs a year to put on weight before he can show his skills. The high end projection I would make for Davis is Martellus Bennett and the high end for Holcombe is Jimmy Graham. Just depends on what you want? I know Kaden Smith is Aggie's top target but he's probably going to 'Bama and Holcombe is better than Chalk IMO. I think it's a solid get for Ag. If this kid got to play with Aaron Sharp there's little doubt in my mind he would be a 4 star recruit.

Spoken like a true Ag. Name the last west coast qb who's been successful in the south? Weak arms and bad feet, when they play out west in the great weather with no pass rush they don't get exposed until they hit the league. It doesn't take long on the south though.

Denial about what man? I've followed recruiting with a fine tooth comb for the better part of 15 years, you're an Ag fan so I know for a fact you can't say the same. Ag never had a reason to follow receuiting because all they ever got were Texas and OU's scraps. A&M fleeing the Big 12 had little to do with their recruiting classes. Sumlin is the sole reason A&M is viable in the SEC now. I don't care if Gary Pinkel was coaching at A&M now, he wouldn't get guys like Speedy Noil and Daylon Mack to come there, A&M never got those guys before and still wouldn't if Sumlin wasn't there. I'duch rather have UT's arrogance than A&M's complex any day by the way.

Sumlin's best year ended in a Cotton Bowl victory over OU. Even with 6th year record setting qb Case Keenum he couldn't beat Southern Miss to win C-USA. Once the film was in A&M started losing more and more, kind of like Muschamp at Florida. Even a lot of his coordinator success was due to the guys like Art Briles and Dana Holgerson who he was on staffs with. Sumlin is a great recruiter which is where a lot of his success comes from. Strong on the other hand, is a guy that after winning titles with Urban Meyer branched out and became even more successful. Tough first year at Louisville but a couple of years later he was beating his old team, Florida, in the Sugar Bowl. After that he follows it up with another 1 loss campaign and destroys Miami at the end of the season. Sumlin jumped out strong, wins two less games than his initial season, gets a raise them loses even more games. But hey, I know to Aggie fans finishing in 8th in the SEC is better than finishing runner-up in the Big 12 any day. Question is how long will recruits see it that way?

Oh well, so much for the #WRTS bull. Charlie was already a better coach than Sumlin, now he's getting better players. I wonder what he'll do after he wins 10 games or more? Mack signed the #2 class after a sub-par season though. I think this goes to show that through it all Texas will always be Texas. Very few elite players dream about being Aggies in Texas, Sumlin has done a great job getting kids to come live in a cow pasture but how long can it last? The kids that play in the Big 12 get to play against their friends and in some cases former teammates as well as their families. I think they're starting to realize that means more than playing in the SEC just to have the opportunity to lose 59-0 to 'Bama, especially to their parents. While A&M is putting in barber shops to entice recruits, Charlie is showing them his BCS rings and pointing to walls that accommodate national titles, all-pros and NFL hall of famers.

I don't think he'll playing qb at Texas. I expect Texas to give Heard an opportunity to compete with whatever graduate transfer the staff brings in. I think he'll eventually switch to wide receiver. Texas already has 4 offers out to 2016 qbs and will bring in Merrick on a grey shirt in January. I think that's pretty telling on how the staff feels about ALL of the guys they committed/on campus so far. I think his future is at receiver, Charlie just offered him a shot that FSU couldn't because they had three qb commits in their class.