No recruiting quick fixes for Herman, Longhorns
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Whether or not first-year coach Tom Herman can turn around the Texas program is yet to be determined but four-star running back commit Toneil Carter is convinced Herman is the right man for a difficult job.
Carter’s rationale: Look how well he did at Houston.
“He’s an awesome coach,” Carter said. “He won a national championship (as an assistant) at Ohio State. Now you’re putting him in charge?
“He went to Houston and wrecked shop. Come on now. Imagine what he’ll do at UT. UT has the athletes. U of H, you can pick out a handful. Now imagine what he can do at UT. It’s going to be crazy.”
Herman was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ohio State from 2012-14 and then went 22-4 in two seasons as Houston’s head man. He takes over at Texas for Charlie Strong, who went 16-21 in three seasons and never had a winning campaign in Austin.
The program has hit rock bottom.
Maybe Herman is the right choice to deliver the Longhorns back to national prominence.
“That was his dream job,” said four-star cornerback Chevin Calloway, who lists Texas, Arkansas and Ole Miss as his favorites.
“I can’t see him going anywhere, anytime soon. He’ll be pretty stable, him and his coaching staff. Herman is a great coach.”
Since Herman’s hiring, recruiting has been busy with a bunch of commits but not spectacular. The first commit in Herman’s tenure was a kicker. That was followed by the decision by Carter, from Houston (Texas) Langham Creek, the only four-star to commit so far.
After Carter’s pledge – he had previously been committed to Georgia – five three-star prospects have made their decisions to play for the Longhorns.
But where are the big fish?
Five-star offensive tackle Walker Little picked Stanford over Texas. The top player in the state, five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, doesn’t have the Longhorns in his top list. Ohio State has pillaged the state, taking three of the top seven prospects in linebacker Baron Browning, defensive back Jeffrey Okudah and running back J.K. Dobbins.
Nine of the top 10 prospects in the state are committed, none to the Longhorns. Only one of the top 25 recruits in the state rankings picked Texas.
Those are serious recruiting concerns that Herman must address immediately.
“He’s a good coach and his success at Ohio State especially juggling quarterbacks shows how good of a coach he is,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said. “He did a great job at Houston. He beat some pretty good football teams including Oklahoma, which is Texas’ rival. From the coaching side, they’re getting a home run.
“From the recruiting side, I expected more of a buzz than we’re seeing. I didn’t expect kids to suddenly drop everything and go to Texas but I did expect them to maybe get Walker Little, or get the eye of Marvin Wilson or Baron Browning. That hasn’t happened.”
Herman has had some time to galvanize the 2017 recruiting class but really the new Texas coach will be judged by his performance on the field next season and then starting with the 2018 class.
Texas has no 2018 pledges yet so there is a tremendous amount of work to be done but also a ton of opportunities. The state is loaded with top wide receivers and defensive backs so Herman and his staff have to get busy landing them.
Winning will cure a lot of these ills – kids still want to go to Texas – and so that is first on Herman’s agenda. And winning has never been a problem for the Longhorns’ new coach.
“Seeing what he did at Houston with two-star and three-star guys now he’s going to do it with five- and four-star guys,” Calloway said. “He’s going to make a huge impact if not this year, next year for sure.”
The Texas faithful sure hope so. It’s been a long winter.
