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Give it 1- 3 months. We all know we play the slow game on seeing development, etc. Just no more bread please. Hoping we land OL and DL targets. 

Kinda concerning that we drop from chasing 5* to 3* . Especially on lines and and LB.   

Edited by hornlife

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Crowell - high doubt unless he meets and greets super.  Sark's offense will utilize a great back but the delta on his price may not work for us. Weisner is an example. I'd rather go trenches both sides.   

13 minutes ago, hornlife said:

Give it 1- 3 months. We all know we play the slow game on seeing development, etc. Just no more bread please. Hoping we land OL and DL targets. 

Kinda concerning that we drop from chasing 5* to 3* . Especially on lines and and LB.   

I don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about. People were concerned last year to in June/July and Sark closed strong.

49 minutes ago, hornlife said:

Give it 1- 3 months. We all know we play the slow game on seeing development, etc. Just no more bread please. Hoping we land OL and DL targets. 

Kinda concerning that we drop from chasing 5* to 3* . Especially on lines and and LB.   

Cause beyond the obvious players star ranking before they even start their senior year means dick all 

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46 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Travis Hunter at 2 is stupid

Eh, he's top 5ish and has the recency bias. Being on a dogshit team doesn't mean he wasn't a filthy 2-way player and deserved Heisman winner.

40 minutes ago, texifornia said:

Eh, he's top 5ish and has the recency bias. Being on a dogshit team doesn't mean he wasn't a filthy 2-way player and deserved Heisman winner.

Jeanty deserved more. He wasn’t a good DB. 

2 hours ago, hornlife said:

Give it 1- 3 months. We all know we play the slow game on seeing development, etc. Just no more bread please. Hoping we land OL and DL targets. 

Kinda concerning that we drop from chasing 5* to 3* . Especially on lines and and LB.   

Show your work, please.

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12 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Jeanty deserved more. He wasn’t a good DB. 

I mean, this is just wrong. He graded out at 90.3 with PFF, 3rd highest for a CB (Jahdae was first at 90.9). Tied for 9th in passer rating allowed, 4th for INTs. Passed the eye test with some awesome plays and did it all while basically only coming off of the field for special teams. 

Colorado and Deion are annoying but Hunter was pretty great on both sides of the ball.

21 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

He wasn’t a good DB. 

lulz

1 minute ago, UncleSonny said:

I mean, this is just wrong. He graded out at 90.3 with PFF, 3rd highest for a CB (Jahdae was first at 90.9). Tied for 9th in passer rating allowed, 4th for INTs. Passed the eye test with some awesome plays and did it all while basically only coming off of the field for special teams. 

Colorado and Deion are annoying but Hunter was pretty great on both sides of the ball.

That’s cool. I watched the games and he continually got smoked for touchdowns. Watching nfl draft he came up in a ton of pac/big 12 receiver highlights 

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1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

That’s cool. I watched the games and he continually got smoked for touchdowns. Watching nfl draft he came up in a ton of pac/big 12 receiver highlights 

Weird considering he gave up 1 touchdown and just over 200 yards for the entire year. I'm sure you're right, though.

10 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

That’s cool. I watched the games and he continually got smoked for touchdowns. Watching nfl draft he came up in a ton of pac/big 12 receiver highlights 

You just don't like Deion and are letting that cloud your judgment on Hunter. The things you're saying are just factually not true.

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19 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

That’s cool. I watched the games and he continually got smoked for touchdowns. Watching nfl draft he came up in a ton of pac/big 12 receiver highlights 

I watched the games and Bert Auburn literally did not miss a field goal last year.

Elic Ayomanor from Stanford ate Hunter’s lunch in ‘23, and that’s probably what BO&W is recalling. It did leave a mark. Funny enough, they are both now in the same division (Ayomanor drafted in the 4th by Tennessee), so potentially more matchups.

15 minutes ago, Vito Andolini said:

Elic Ayomanor from Stanford ate Hunter’s lunch in ‘23, and that’s probably what BO&W is recalling. It did leave a mark. Funny enough, they are both now in the same division (Ayomanor drafted in the 4th by Tennessee), so potentially more matchups.

That dude, Washington state dude, Utah dude, etc 

Gerry Hamilton

 

 

Wednesday afternoon recruiting notes

Here are a few notes from the recruiting trail. 

5-star Lamar Brown ...

The 5-star DL out of Baton Rouge (La.) Southern Lab has been talking with Steve Sarkisian, LaAllen Clark and Kenny Baker weekly for the last 5-6 weeks. Obviously, that is giving Texas the feeling they can position themselves with a successful weekend to be right there battling Texas A&M, LSU and Miami. 

Texas A&M has been recruiting the 6-foot-5, 285-pounder as a defensive lineman the longest. Both LSU and Texas began recruiting Brown as an OL, but changed to DL as Brown began to lock in on wanting to play DL. Kyle Flood went to Brown's school in 2024. 

5-star Xavier Griffin ...

Source close to the recruitment remains confident in the Longhorns' chances for the 5-star LB out of Gainesville (Ga.) High following last weekend OV to Ohio State. Griffin is scheduled to make an OV to Alabama this weekend before heading to Austin June 13-15. 

4-star+ Vodney Cleveland ...

The Florida Gators made a big move for the Birmingham (Ala.) Parker high defensive lineman last weekend, a locked in source told OTF. OTF has been reporting that Cleveland and a person in his circle prefer he go out of state for college to experience something new and different. If that remains the case, a Florida vs. Texas decision is likely with the Gators ascending. With that being said, Georgia is hosting the 6-foot-3, 310-pounder this weekend, prior to Texas June 13-15. Cleveland is also scheduled to visit Miami June 20-22. Auburn hosted Cleveland May 16-18. 

4-star+ Bryce Perry-Wright ...

The circle of the 4-star+ DL/EDGE out of Buford (Ga.) High has been in contact with members of the Texas staff since the Clemson visit last weekend. There is some confidence out of Austin that the Longhorns are very much in this fight with Clemson and Texas A&M. A Miami OV this weekend serves as a wildcard prior to trips to Texas and Texas A&M. There is at least one family member that has warmed up to the idea of Texas as a real possibility. Perry-Wright is a distant relative of former Clemson and current NFL defensive lineman Grady Jarrett.

4 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Jeanty deserved more. He wasn’t a good DB. 

That’s just fucking silly…

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Jermaine Bishop (5-star ATH, Texas commit) has cancelled his OVs to other schools;  will only OV to Texas.

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(FULL NOTE WITH A FEW OTHER UPDATES, BELOW.) 

 

Scattershooting recruiting notes as Texas preps for the Longhorns' first summer official visit weekend
Jordan Scruggs (Horns 247)

 

Spoiler

 

Scattershooting recruiting notes as Texas preps for the Longhorns' first summer official visit weekend
Jordan Scruggs (Horns 247)

 

After hosting dozens and dozens of prospects at Sunday's Texas Elite Camp where the burnt orange offered 22 prospects from the 2027 and 2028 classes, the Longhorns' summer recruiting focus now has official visits front and center. 

The Longhorns are set to host 14 visitors this weekend, 24 visitors the June 13-15 weekend, and 16 more visitors the June 20-22 weekend before the summer recruiting dead period goes into effect at midnight the night of the 22nd. 

That said, Horns247 has been gathering loads of different info over the last few days whether it comes to campers from Sunday or upcoming official visitors, and here's a scattershooting of recruiting notes.

 
Let's get into it!

Petal (Miss.) Top247 DL Corey Wells
Horns247 has confirmed that Corey Wells will be making an official visit to Austin this weekend. The Longhorns are now on the official visit schedule alongside Ole Miss (May 30-June 1), Auburn (June 3-5), and Mississippi State (June 20-22). 

Ole Miss is believed to be the front runner with Auburn in second place, but you also can't ever count either of the two Mississippi schools when it comes to in-state prospects. Texas hosted Wells for an unofficial visit earlier this spring, and they'll be looking to capitalize off the visit when the 6-foot-5, 300 pounder arrives on campus on Friday.

Temple Top247 EDGE Jamarion Carlton
Jamarion Carlton will trip to Texas on Friday to begin his official visit that'll end Sunday. Though my crystal ball has remained on Texas since I placed the prediction in a year ago as of tomorrow, this recruitment has been fluid throughout the spring as several schools have taken turns having momentum. 

A source Horns247 spoke with today mentioned Baylor, LSU, Texas, and Texas A&M as the four schools in contention and then shortly after Carlton dropped a top five with those four programs along with Texas Tech. Though LSU did a good job hosting Carlton for his official visit this past weekend, sources in Temple continue to believe Carlton will end up staying in-state. That said, Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M seem like the three most likely programs to end up landing Carlton, and those are the three official visits remaining on Carlton's schedule.

With a commitment date set for July 10th, the expectation is that Carlton will take the official visits before mulling over all of his options in the weeks between the last official visit and his commitment date. Though the Aggies have the most recent crystal ball and are probably who I'd pick if I was forced to call things right now, the source that spoke with Horns247 earlier today believes that Carlton is relatively open and that he doesn't have a concrete order of schools at this point.

That said, my crystal ball will remain on the Longhorns until things seem to be definitively trending away from Texas. The Longhorns were the school multiple sources in Temple predicted Carlton would eventually end up at about a year and a half ago before all of the offers from big time programs started coming in, and there's been a lot of dialogue between the Longhorns staff and Carlton over the years as he's already been on campus at least six times. Led by LaAllan Clark, Texas will do what they can over the weekend to establish themselves as the frontrunner once again.

Prosper punter Mikey Bukauskas
Jeff Banks and the Longhorns extended a full-ride scholarship offer to the Prosper Punter on May 12, and by the end of the afternoon the next day, he had an official visit scheduled to see Texas the June 6-8 weekend. According to a source in Prosper, the Longhorns immediately became the frontrunner after offering, with the source believing it was likely Mikey Bukauskas would end up announcing a commitment to the Longhorns while on campus for his Texas official visit this weekend.

While that's still very much a possibility, Bukauskas did pick up an offer from Clemson late last night which is a significant development. I'm told by the source in Prosper that Bukauskas is quite devout in his faith and reads his bible every single day. So as you can imagine, a full-ride scholarship offer from Dabo Swinney's program is quite enticing for Bukauskas, and the source in Prosper isn't as bullish on Texas' chances as he once was.

I'm unaware of what Clemson's punter outlook currently is, but if Bukauskas was to end up in Austin, he'd likely be the starting punter as a true freshman with Jack Bouwmeester set to exhaust his eligibility after this upcoming season. I'd expect Banks and the Longhorns to really push that this weekend, along with the fact that Bukauskas could potentially team up with the two other specialists — kicker Jake Collett, Texas long snapper commit Trott O'Neal — that are officially visiting Texas the same weekend. Regardless, with Bouwmeester gone after this year, Texas will have to add another scholarship level punter to the roster ahead of the 2026 season whether that player comes from the high school or portal ranks. 

Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton three-star LB Beau Jandreau
There's previously been dialogue between Beau Jandreau and Johnny Nansen going back to when Nansen was coaching at Arizona, but this will be Jandreau's first ever time on campus in Austin. Oregon (June 13-15) and Oklahoma (June 20-22) are the only programs remaining on the official visit scheduled after Jandreau trips to Austin this weekend, and it's the Sooners who many view as the team to beat with Jandreau's twin brother Niko committed to Oklahoma as a safety.

With Oklahoma being the only program actively recruiting both twins, a source believes Beau will eventually join Niko in Norman unless Texas or Oregon is able to blow him away on their respective official visits. Oklahoma is set up well to close with both brothers taking their official visit to Norman the final weekend before the dead period goes into effect. With Texas scheduled to host five other linebackers on official visits this summer, Horns247 is curious to see how much Texas pushes for Jandreau, and if they do, will it be enough for Jandreau to commit to the arch rival of the school his twin brother is committed to?

Port Arthur Memorial three-star linebacker Tank King
Speaking of linebacker official visits, Tank King was previously scheduled to officially visit Texas the June 13-15 weekend but the trip has been cancelled. Texas A&M has been the longtime favorite in this recruitment, and though there were times when things between King and A&M were rocky this spring, I fully expect King to end up choosing the Aggies when it comes time for him to make a decision on the Fourth of July. Texas never seemed to be all-in on the 409 area linebacker which in turn put the Longhorns behind other programs like Texas A&M and Notre Dame for the majority of the recruitment. Horns247 believes the decision will come down to Texas A&M and Notre Dame with the Aggies winning out.

Kahuku (Hi.) Top247 linebacker Talanoa Ili
Staying on the topic of linebackers, Talanoa Ili recently switched his Oklahoma official visit dates of June 6-8 to see USC instead. The Trojans have been building steam in this recruitment throughout the spring and many on the West Coast believe USC will be able to close on Ili either on his official visit or shortly after it ends. That said, I'm not so sure Ili will be making it to Austin on June 13-15, and it's something we're monitoring over the next few days. Even if he does make it to Austin for the visit, it'll be an uphill battle as the OV will be Ili's first time on the Forty Acres.

Converse Judson 2028 OT Jai’Storm Knight
At 6-foot-8, 340 pounds, Jai'Storm Knight has been viewed as an eventual Texas offer by Horns247 since he burst onto the recruiting scene a few months ago. After camping on June 1st, Knight picked up his offer from Kyle Flood and the Longhorns. Though this was one has a long long time to go with Knight being a 2028 prospect, a source close to the recruitment tells Horns247 that Knight prefers to stay in-state lines and that the recruitment will have a major focus on the programs in the Lone Star State headed forward. With Texas on its way to becoming an NFL offensive line factory under Kyle Flood, the Longhorns are set up incredibly well in the infancy stages of the recruitment of one of, if not the biggest humans I've ever covered.

San Antonio Roosevelt 2027 Top247 OT Kaeden Scott
Staying on the topic of offensive lineman from the greater San Antonio area, Kaeden Scott is one of the state's top o-line prospects and has already been to the Forty Acres three times this year alone. After competing at Sunday's Texas Elite Camp, Scott told the media that Texas and Texas A&M are the schools at the top of his recruitment. A source confirmed that with Horns247 earlier today, and mentioned that the race for Scott's commitment is likely to eventually come down to the same two programs, with the source leaning towards the Longhorns. Several sources over the last few months have had similar intel with those sources favoring the burnt orange over the Aggies as well, and at this point I'd say Horns247 currently feels better about Scott eventually ending up in Texas' 2027 class than we do for any other o-line prospect in the rising junior class.

Prosper Top247 IOL Zaden Krempin
Horns247 spoke with a source close to the recruitment about a week ago who mentioned Texas and LSU as the frontrunners with Texas A&M and Michigan behind in a second group. Zaden Krempin officially visited LSU over the weekend and the Tigers only improved their standing, and it'll be up to Texas to strike back and improve their standing when they host Krempin the June 13-15 weekend. Texas A&M will host Krempin June 5-7 and Michigan will close things out the June 20-22 weekend. A source was adamant that Krempin will wait to make a decision until he's taken all four of his official visits. That source also leans Texas over LSU when all is said and done, but mentioned that prediction is banking on Texas having just as good of an OV, if not better than what Krempin experienced at LSU this past weekend.

Willis five-star ATH Jermaine Bishop — Texas commit
Since this story isn't all sunshine and rainbows for the Longhorns, I figured I'd end it with some good news. Though sources weren't worried about the other trips when it came to Jermaine Bishop's commit status, a source in Willis did tell Horns247 earlier today that Bishop's official visits that were set to USC (June 6-8) and Houston (June 12-14) have been cancelled. Bishop's only official visit of the process will be to Texas the June 20-22 weekend, where he'll be joined by fellow Texas commits Dia Bell, Chris Stewart, Max Wright, and Nic Robertson.

 

 

On 6/3/2025 at 12:58 PM, Hornius Emeritus said:

In my opinion, it was his 2006 knee replacement surgery that stopped him in his tracks. It didn't go well and he was in a lot of pain afterward. He was a different man/coach/recruiter.   

It was the string of arrests in '07. We had six players arrested in just four months - Robert Joseph, Andre Jones, James Henry, Sergio Kindle, Henry Melton and Tyrell Gatewood. Plus Billy Pittman got suspended for something compliance related. Brown had to apologize to the UT admin and put a 'zero tolerance' policy in place. His recruiting went downhill from there.

 

Yall are looking way too much into it. Mack finally got a natty so he legit just got complacent. You saw it with the 2006 class where he didn't try to improve the class post national championship game when allegedly a ton of players wanted to come into Texas. Instead he settled and made terrible evaluations at QB.

23 hours ago, Frank Drebin said:

Adrian Peterson's college career is massively overranked by most fans due to his success in the pros.  He was great as a true freshman and then had two pretty good seasons.  I often see him ranked as the best college running back from the Big 12.  Nope.  No way.  Several were better.  And both Ricky Williams and Darren Sproles were far better college backs.

AD had injury issues after that freshman year. But he aced the "eye test" to a ridiculous degree. He grew up a Longhorns fan but that fucking 65-13 game ruined our chances for him, plus the depth chart situation helped them with Works leaving blOU and Benson staying at UT. Stoops also visited his dad in prison, then got the warden to ban other coaches from doing the same. 

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Quick, keep bringing up low points in Texas history, satya is almost there!

1 hour ago, satyanash said:

It was the string of arrests in '07. We had six players arrested in just four months - Robert Joseph, Andre Jones, James Henry, Sergio Kindle, Henry Melton and Tyrell Gatewood. Plus Billy Pittman got suspended for something compliance related. Brown had to apologize to the UT admin and put a 'zero tolerance' policy in place. His recruiting went downhill from there.

 

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1 hour ago, satyanash said:

It was the string of arrests in '07. We had six players arrested in just four months - Robert Joseph, Andre Jones, James Henry, Sergio Kindle, Henry Melton and Tyrell Gatewood. Plus Billy Pittman got suspended for something compliance related. Brown had to apologize to the UT admin and put a 'zero tolerance' policy in place. His recruiting went downhill from there.

 

Hahahahaha. WTF? Do you have a link to cite regarding Brown being forced to apologize to the UT admin? This is the first I have heard of such and it will either be entertaining to read about it or entertaining to see you passing on something absurd like this that has no foundation in reality. I can't lose. Thanks in advance. 

20 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Hahahahaha. WTF? Do you have a link to cite regarding Brown being forced to apologize to the UT admin? This is the first I have heard of such and it will either be entertaining to read about it or entertaining to see you passing on something absurd like this that has no foundation in reality. I can't lose. Thanks in advance. 

Oh no its true. After he was forced to apologize, they set up a workshop with Bianco and they came up with the "winning is bad for kids" slogan and made him use it

Edited by Foosters

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27 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Hahahahaha. WTF? Do you have a link to cite regarding Brown being forced to apologize to the UT admin? This is the first I have heard of such and it will either be entertaining to read about it or entertaining to see you passing on something absurd like this that has no foundation in reality. I can't lose. Thanks in advance. 

https://texaslonghorns.com/story.aspx?filename=080507aab_660&file_date=8-5-2007

Quote

I would like to apologize from our staff, players, and our coaches to the administration of The University of Texas, the athletic department, the student body, and our fans for the incidents that have happened this summer. It is something that we are not proud of, but I can promise you it is also not indicative of who this team really is. This team is as good a group of young men that we have ever coached, and they will continue to move forward after today and prove that on and off the field. At a time where we have had extra things happen outside of football that we are not proud of, I want to make sure that everyone understands that there are so many more young men on this team that will have the opportunity to show their class as well.

Andre Jones's issue will be handled through the legal process and he has been indefinitely suspended. That is not something we will deal with other than to be cooperative with the legal process and be supportive of him until findings come out. He will not be involved with practice or our team in any way.

The two young men that had DUIs earlier in the year, Henry Melton, and a few weeks ago, Sergio Kindle, will report today. They will be involved with community service and with a mother who works with Mothers Against Drunk Driving who had her son badly crippled in an accident and later lost his life. So during the first few days of practice, these two young men will be sitting down, visiting with her, and let her explain to them how dangerous it is to be in a car after you have been drinking. They will also do community service for us and alcohol counseling, and they will be rejoining the team as soon as they get some of these things done, which could be as early as the end of the week. But they will miss the first three games of the season. They will not dress for those ball games or travel to those ball games. They will not play against Arkansas State, TCU, or Central Florida. At that time, I will sit down with both young men and see if we feel like they have learned from their experience and are ready to move forward as teammates. Obviously that penalizes our team as they are both talented football players, but with the problems with drunk driving and drugs in society right now, we thought it was a great opportunity for our team to stand up and take a strong stance against both of those actions and help get the attention of young people and adults in society. Also, it is a time where I need to stand up as a head coach and take responsibility for anything that is negative, be a strong leader, send a strong message and move forward with our football team.

 

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The calendar turns to the month of June. The spring flowers have long past bloomed. April showers have sprinkled the landscape, refreshing the wildlife and plants, providing them much needed nourishment. The sun’s warmth lightly tans the skin. 

And goddam Texas best case class forecasts go up in flames and Satya emerges from his winter slumber to slather doom and gloom all over the recruiting thread. Rinse repeat. Like clockwork. 

37 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Hahahahaha. WTF? Do you have a link to cite regarding Brown being forced to apologize to the UT admin? This is the first I have heard of such and it will either be entertaining to read about it or entertaining to see you passing on something absurd like this that has no foundation in reality. I can't lose. Thanks in advance. 

They actually play the audio of the apology on The Ticket radio in Dallas every once in awhile, whenever someone has to apologize about something.  Hahahahahah 

12 minutes ago, satyanash said:

 

3 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

They actually play the audio of the apology on The Ticket radio in Dallas every once in awhile, whenever someone has to apologize about something.  Hahahahahah 

That is really grim shit. 2007-2008 I was working 70+ at a start-up I'd been at for 6+ years and also working nights putting together a new start-up that I was in the process of founding. I missed some shit and this was clearly one of the big ones. Glad I did. 

Manny Navarro: What the last 5 years of the NFL Draft tells us about college football recruiting

Quote

In many ways, the NFL Draft serves as the ultimate finish line in recruiting. It provides a final tale of the tape in determining which programs delivered on their promise of helping these athletes fulfill their professional dreams. NIL, the transfer portal and conference realignment have altered the state of college football quite a bit over the last few years.

But recruits still typically prioritize getting to the NFL when making their decisions. So, who has done the best job of that in recent years? We studied the last five years of the draft — all 1,294 picks and where those players came from — to try to figure it out. Here is a collection of thoughts on various subjects. Note: All recruiting rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.

Stars still matter

People love to criticize recruiting services, especially when players such as Cam Ward — an unranked prospect coming out of high school in south Texas — become the first pick in the NFL draft. But the reality is that blue-chip recruits (four- and five-stars) still dominate the draft. Ward is the anomaly.

NFL Draft (2021-25) by recruiting stars

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In the last five years, only seven players who were not ranked at all in the 247Sports Composite (4.3 percent) were among the 160 players taken in the first round of the draft. An overwhelming majority (80.1 percent) of the players drafted overall (not just in the first round) were ranked as three-stars or better. On average, there are roughly 32 five-star recruits and somewhere between 300 to 400 four-stars among the thousands of high school prospects per cycle.

In the recent five-year draft window, 65 percent of the first-round picks (104 of 160) and 52 percent of the players taken in the first three rounds (267 of 514) were blue-chip recruits coming out of high school.

State supremacy

Texas, Florida, Georgia and California have long been considered the biggest hotbeds for football talent, and nothing has changed. Those four states continue to be the biggest producers of NFL players, with Georgia (20) taking a small lead over Texas (19) for first-round selections. Here’s a look at the top 10 NFL talent producers over the last five years by state, including how many of those total selections were blue-chip recruits.

Top talent-producing states

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Years in school

One outside factor you have to consider when looking at all data is how the COVID-19 pandemic affected recruiting and draft results. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all players who participated in the 2020 season. That certainly didn’t stop the best players in college football from making a quick exit for the draft if they could.

Nearly one in five draft picks over the last five years still made the jump to the pros after only three seasons in school. Here’s a look at where players were drafted by the amount of time they spent in college.

NFL Draft picks by years in college

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Big schools vs. small schools

Playing for a Power 4 program — there are currently 69 — still gives a player the best odds of getting drafted. Just under 84 percent of the NFL Draft picks over the last five years played their last college game for a school that was in a Power 4 league (or Notre Dame) at the time.

The transfer portal has affected those numbers, with many of the Power 4 players drafted having started their careers at a lower level. In all, nearly a quarter of the players drafted over the last five years (26.4 percent) signed with a junior college, FCS, Division II or Group of 5 program out of high school.

Portal powering up

The reality, however, is that three-fourths of the players taken in the draft over the last five years played for only one college program. That number, however, is decreasing as the number of transfers increases every year. Of the 257 players selected in this year’s draft, 96 transferred at least once.

That’s 37 percent. In 2021, only 10 percent of the draft picks (27 of the 259) were transfers. Only two first-round picks in both 2021 and 2022 were transfers — quarterback Justin Fields and edge rusher Jaelen Phillips in 2021 and receiver Jameson Williams and guard Zion Johnson in 2022. That number jumped to five in 2023, peaked at nine in 2024 and dipped to seven this year.

Top schools

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the top 50 programs in terms of producing NFL Draft picks over the last five years reside in Power 4 conferences. It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that the four programs that won national titles over the last five years top that list.

NFL Draft picks by college

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The last five drafts include players from the 2015 through the 2022 recruiting cycles. Only one of the top 15 programs in terms of producing NFL talent over the last five years ranked outside of the top 25 when it came to average recruiting class rankings: South Carolina, which still ranked in the top 30. What’s far more impressive from a development standpoint are the Power 4 programs that ranked outside of the top 40 in recruiting rankings yet produced NFL talent at a top-40 level.

The Pitt Panthers top the list among those schools with 20 draft picks over the last five years, including two first-rounders — second most in the ACC behind Clemson (22). Of those 20 picks, only three were transfers, and among the 17 homegrown talents, only one was a blue-chip recruit coming out of high school (safety Damar Hamlin).

Before he left for Wisconsin in November 2022, Luke Fickel did an equally impressive job stocking the shelves with NFL talent at Cincinnati — and did so before the program joined a Power 4 conference. The Bearcats have had 18 players drafted over the last five years. Four were transfers, including the only three blue-chippers to get drafted from Cincinnati. The rest were rated three-stars or lower, including top-five pick Sauce Gardner, who was the No. 1,605 prospect in the 2019 cycle.

Kansas State, Iowa State, Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota all ranked in the top 40 of NFL talent producers with 13 picks each despite ranking outside of the top 50 in the recruiting rankings. These are the top non-Power 4 talent producers over the last five years. (Oregon State and Washington State are not on this list since they were both P4 programs during the recruiting cycles. Neither are BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF since they are now in a P4 league.)

Non-P4 programs

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Positional U

Schools love to claim they’re the best at producing talent by position. We’ve gone ahead and done the homework to end the argument, at least for recent history.

Quarterback: Alabama, Florida and Ohio State all have the right to call themselves the best at producing pro talent at the moment, with three draft picks each at the position over the last five years. We’d give the slight edge to the Buckeyes, considering Fields and C.J. Stroud were first-rounders and Stroud is an entrenched NFL starter.

Running back: Texas and Michigan lead the way with five draft picks each over the last five years, with Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina not far behind with four each. You could make the argument that Pro Bowler Bijan Robinson gives Texas the edge with how he’s performed early in his pro career.

Receiver: Ohio State has produced five first-round picks at the position over the last five years, including top-10 picks in Marvin Harrison and Garrett Wilson. And Jeremiah Smith could be the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. But don’t forget about LSU. The Tigers have had six receivers taken in the last five years and have stars Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. doing damage in the league now.

Tight end: Nobody has produced more draft picks in the last five years at tight end than Penn State with four, and that includes 2025 first-rounder Tyler Warren. But it’s hard to ignore the impact of Georgia’s Brock Bowers, and the Bulldogs are one of a handful of programs (Miami, Michigan and Ohio State are the others) to have three tight ends drafted since 2021.

Offensive line: Georgia leads with 11 picks, but only two were first-rounders. Ohio State is next with nine, including three first-rounders. LSU and Michigan have produced eight, with Will Campbell representing the Tigers in Round 1. No O-linemen from Michigan, meanwhile, have been drafted in the first two rounds.

Defensive line: Georgia has had 11 defensive linemen drafted since 2021, including seven first-rounders. LSU, with 10, ranks second, but none of the Tigers have gone in the first round. Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State are next with nine picks each, with the Wolverines boasting five first-rounders — most notably Aidan Hutchinson.

Linebackers: Only nine players classified as linebackers have been taken in the first round in the last five years, and Penn State’s Micah Parsons is one of them. Georgia’s Quay Walker is another and is among the six from the Bulldogs. Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Washington and Penn State are next, each with four linebackers drafted.

Defensive backs: Why has Georgia been so good? Probably because it keeps producing the most NFL talent at every defensive position. The Bulldogs have had 13 defensive backs picked, including three first-rounders in Lewis Cline, Malaki Starks and Eric Stokes. Alabama is next with nine, followed by Penn State with eight.

Top recruiters

Recruiting sites do a fine job of highlighting the coaches who sign the most high-end prospects, but how much does this really tell us? You mean an assistant coach at Georgia is good at signing top talent? Shocking! Here are a few recruiters who have done good work at some programs that don’t sign top-10 classes on a consistent basis — and we acknowledge that this can be a bit cloudy considering not every prospect has a clearly defined lead recruiter.

  • Fresno State head coach Matt Entz: The two-time FCS Coach of the Year had three players from his North Dakota State teams drafted in the last few years, including 2025 first-round pick Grey Zabel and second-rounders Dillon Radunz and Cody Mauch. All three players were either two-star or unranked recruits.
  • Idaho defensive coordinator Cort Dennison: The former Louisville and Oregon assistant did a fine job plucking quality three-star recruits out of the Southeast, including quarterback Jordan Travis, receiver Tutu Atwell and defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus. Five of his former three-stars were drafted over the last five years.
  • Kentucky tight ends coach Vince Marrow: The longtime assistant has been the lead recruiter for five Kentucky players who have been drafted in the last five years.
  • Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters: In his time at Missouri, Walters was the lead recruiter for six players who were eventually drafted. All of them were three-star recruits, and four ranked in the 1,000s.
  • West Virginia special teams coach Chris Haering: The former longtime Wisconsin assistant recruited six Badgers who were drafted, including Super Bowl-winning linebacker Leo Chenal.

 

4 hours ago, satyanash said:

It was the string of arrests in '07. We had six players arrested in just four months - Robert Joseph, Andre Jones, James Henry, Sergio Kindle, Henry Melton and Tyrell Gatewood. Plus Billy Pittman got suspended for something compliance related. Brown had to apologize to the UT admin and put a 'zero tolerance' policy in place. His recruiting went downhill from there.

 

*Shelton 

Does satya just remember all those names and dates from almost 20 years ago?  I’ll give him Joseph and jones since that was big news. 

  • Popular Post
Does satya just remember all those names and dates from almost 20 years ago?  I’ll give him Joseph and jones since that was big news. 

Probably like remembering our wedding day for the rest of us.
4 hours ago, texifornia said:

Quick, keep bringing up low points in Texas history, satya is almost there!

Who is this HuttNuts character stanning for Satya in your rep?

53 minutes ago, Fat Bastard said:

Satya bringing the receipts. 

I see satya having a spreadsheet dating back decades of every negative thing to happen to Texas athletics that he can pull up at moments notice.

17 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I see satya having a spreadsheet dating back decades of every negative thing to happen to Texas athletics that he can pull up at moments notice.

 

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23 hours ago, hornlife said:

Give it 1- 3 months. We all know we play the slow game on seeing development, etc. Just no more bread please. Hoping we land OL and DL targets. 

Kinda concerning that we drop from chasing 5* to 3* . Especially on lines and and LB.   

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6 hours ago, satyanash said:

It was the string of arrests in '07. We had six players arrested in just four months - Robert Joseph, Andre Jones, James Henry, Sergio Kindle, Henry Melton and Tyrell Gatewood. Plus Billy Pittman got suspended for something compliance related. Brown had to apologize to the UT admin and put a 'zero tolerance' policy in place. His recruiting went downhill from there.

 

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