August 28th, 2009 at 11:16 PM ^
for Mack Brown to ever leave the state of Texas to recruit. Each year, his Junior Day takes care of 90% of his recruiting.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:21 PM ^
Hey, that's a good strategy. Lets get all our players from Michigan, then we can be an awesome team like Michigan Sta...oh wait.
Seriously, though, every football coach in the country must be envious of Mack Brown's easy recruiting. Heck, even Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer travel around a bit to get their players.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:37 PM ^
does a great job establishing relationships all over the state. He obviously does really well there because they are far and away the best program in that state.
I have heard some people voice his concerns about his inability to land the elite five star guys in the state in the past few years. Guys like Lache Seastrunk, Russell Shepard, Craig Loston, few others..... When he does go head-to-head with schools like USC he isn't as successful in recruiting.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:44 PM ^
didn't want russell shepard at QB, he wanted lache seastrunk of course, craig loston was originally committed to a&m. basically, you can't get them all but he gets most of them.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:45 PM ^
Texas could've had Shepard if they wanted him. But they had their QB in Garrett Gilbert.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:48 PM ^
they OWN Tejas like Dantonio OWNS MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICH
they will win 4 ships in a row, BOOK IT.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:54 PM ^
Mack Brown is in a very unique situation. He is in a talent rich state where the majority of the kids grow up dreaming of playing for his college. Despite the fact that there are a few other "major" programs in Texas, it is obvious that UT is king.
From my understanding, Mack Brown just offers the kids on Junior day and says you have a few days to think about the offer, otherwise I am offering it to the next player down the line and you will be out of luck. So they have a limited time offer and either jump or he moves down the line. Hence his class fills up in the first few weeks practically.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:37 AM ^
will have the same approach to recruiting at Michigan soon.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:18 AM ^
What's crazy is that even after Mack gets all of his recruits from instate, there is still tons of quality talent coming out of Texas getting recruited from out-of-state schools.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^
that this required a new thread topic. Would have been nice for some of your thoughts or a question rather than a three sentence statement of fact.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:47 AM ^
Didn't know you were an idiot. Now I do.
August 29th, 2009 at 4:04 PM ^
Just meant to point out that it's pretty easy to assemble an amazing recruiting class when you're the top dog in the state and have that sort of talent pool to draw from. Can you imagine an entire class -- especially one that highly ranked -- based just on kids from Michigan?
August 29th, 2009 at 12:55 AM ^
Ahmad Dixon eschewing Texas for Baylor is hilarious. Drop in the bucket relatively, but Baylor? He is from Waco but seriously. Lolz.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Ahmad-Dixon-822…
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=3745678
August 29th, 2009 at 1:36 AM ^
Don't forget Oklahoma and Oklahoma st get about 75% of their players from Texas too.
I've always believed that players from the same state has a better chance at knocking off the "top dog" in the state. TCU beat Oklahoma because all of the players are familiar with each other from HS days. It wasn't surprising to see Texas Tech beat Texas last year.
If Michigan continues their balanced recruiting and get players from Texas, California, Ohio and Florida, then our players will be spread out and retain a degree of familiarity with opponents from out of state. I've always developed this theory of 2 teams with same in-state players and eliminating the underdog factor.
USC does not recruit in California exclusively, so I thought it was always hard for the other Cal or pac-10 teams to beat them. Notre Dame had this advantage for a long time, but they're just lost and do not get great players all over the country like in past years.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:12 AM ^
Did you just suggest TCU beat Oklahoma because they had guys who played against each other in high school?
That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:30 AM ^
I do believe Sam Bradford's concussion had something to do with that loss...
August 29th, 2009 at 11:21 AM ^
I believe that was when Rhett Bomar was kicked off the campus and OU didn't have a quarterback. Bradford was in HS.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^
Do you not understand the culture of Texas football? I have many people tell me stories they played this or that person in HS and do feel familiar with the players, even when they are in the NFL now. Football teams hate familiar opponents because it becomes easier to lose.
College athletes, especially when they are the underdogs, love to play against people they are familiar with because they think they know what to do differently next time to win.
August 29th, 2009 at 5:18 PM ^
I once got struck out by Jeremy Bonderman in a baseball tournament in high school. I'm very familiar with him, so familiar that I would never hit anything but homeruns off him ever again.
Oh I'm sorry did that not make sense? Cool we're in the same boat.
Athletes love to play teams twice because it gives the underdog an extra chance to pull the upset.
Teams don't hate familiar opponents because it is easier to lose. They hate familiar opponents because they are normally a divisional foe and losing to one of those hurts your playoff chances more.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:56 AM ^
I went to a dinner with Mack Brown a few weeks ago. He told a story of a defensive recruit who said "coach, y'all are one of five schools."
Mack looked the kid in the eye and said "son, your'e one of five linebackers."
August 29th, 2009 at 8:27 AM ^
I read a top 10 list of states ranking the number of NFL players they have produced. Texas, Florida and California were the top tier. After a significant drop off, Georgia was 4th, and I think Ohio and Louisiana were the next two. Michigan made the top 10.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:26 PM ^
Brown is an underrated coach. Texas's program was nowhere near this level under his predecessor, John Mackovic. They were behind Texas A&M in the state's pecking order.