Herman's aggressive approach has put Big 12 on notice
MORE: Texas one of several hot teams in 2018 recruiting
Tom Herman has not coached one game at Texas yet and inherited a Longhorns program that hasn’t had a winning record in three seasons, hasn’t won 10 games since 2009.
Still, in his first few months on the job, Herman and his coaching staff have not taken a backseat on the recruiting trail. Instead, the new Texas coaches have been aggressive, convincing and successful.
The latest bit of good news came over the weekend when four-star quarterback Cameron Rising of Newbury Park, Calif., flipped to Texas from Big 12 rival Oklahoma. The Sooners have been a power program in the conference, they’re coming off a Sugar Bowl victory and had Rising locked up for months.
It didn’t matter. Herman flipped Rising after his visit for the Texas spring game and it came as a major surprise – and a major statement – that the Longhorns aren’t backing down.
“I’ve been covering recruiting for almost two full decades and it might have been the biggest shock I have ever covered,” Orangebloods.com senior editor Jason Suchomel said. “I did not see that coming and the timing of it and coming from a conference rival, it caught everybody by surprise.
“No holds barred is a good way to put it. He and his entire staff are extremely aggressive. They want to focus in-state but they are recruiting nationally and it’s not just select regions. It’s not just Louisiana or Florida like we saw under Charlie Strong.
“If there’s top talent out there, they’re going after it aggressively. It has not been unusual for them to go after players who are committed elsewhere. They’ve shown they’re going to throw their hat in the ring on everybody and anybody who they think can help get the program back on top. So far, they’ve had tremendous success.”
Another big flip in this class was four-star athlete Justin Watkins, out of Ocala (Fla.) Vanguard, who had been pledged to Florida State. The Longhorns also dipped into Oklahoma to land four-star quarterback Casey Thompson and three-star defensive end Ron Tatum.
For Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell, Herman’s recruiting style reminds him of how Ohio State's Urban Meyer handled business when he came to the Big Ten after winning two national titles at Florida - aggressive, hard-nosed and unapologetic.
An understudy of Meyer from 2012-14 in Columbus, it looks like Herman has taken those recruiting tactics to Austin in an effort to rebuild Texas not only into a respectable Big 12 player again but a national title contender.
Flipping Rising and Watkins was an opening salvo. There could be more.
“It reminds me a little bit of when Urban went into the Big Ten and there wasn’t a gentleman’s agreement,” Farrell said. “All bets were off. There were a lot of quarterbacks Texas likes and could have targeted but stealing one from Oklahoma is especially something Herman wants to do to send a message and get things rolling with a recruiting rivalry.
“The last time Texas flipped a kid from Florida and California in the same cycle was never. It doesn’t happen. The aggression Herman is showing and going after anybody, it doesn’t matter where they’re committed, getting them on campus and closing on campus, it’s a different vibe even in the end of the Mack Brown era and under Charlie Strong, that stuff wasn’t happening.”
Hope this season could help Texas even more. Very few are expecting it to return to national prominence overnight but top in-state prospects will be keeping an especially close eye on how the Longhorns perform under Herman and then make their decisions.
None of the top 16 in-state players committed to the Longhorns last recruiting cycle. That is hard to fathom. But there is a major opening for Herman and his staff starting in 2018 since only two of the top 15 players in Texas are committed, both to LSU.
The opportunity is there if the Longhorns can show some life this season.
“You’re going to have some guys see how the season goes or just make sure Texas is making progress,” Suchomel said. “Of all the guys I’ve talked to, they expect that to happen but they want to see it with their own eyes before they make any decisions on committing.
“There are some top in-state guys who have gotten really close to this Texas staff and behind the scenes Texas has a great shot at landing a lot of those guys. They just need to go out and win some games in the fall to seal the deal. They don’t need to win 10 or 11 games but if they can go out, show improvement, and win eight or nine games, this recruiting class including the in-state guys, it has a chance to really take off.”
The Big 12 is on notice.
