Texas Longhorns

Inspired by Florida's "#ComePlayWRFortheJoker" campaign, our recruiting writers looked at other ways schools can sell themselves on the trail. Here's a look at recruiting pitches for the Big 12:

Baylor Bears
What they’re selling: The new 45,000-seat, $250-million on-campus stadium that will open in 2014. Recruiting is an arms race, and players like fancy stadiums and locker rooms, and Baylor’s upgrade puts them finally on the same level playing field as everybody else in the Big 12.
What they're missing: Help on defense -- specifically at defensive line and defensive back.

Iowa State Cyclones
What they’re selling: Paul Rhoads. He grew up miles from the campus and has helped turn around Iowa State with a physical and fundamentally sound style of football.
What they're missing: A true home-run threat at receiver.

Kansas Jayhawks
What they’re selling: Charlie Weis. He’s taken risks (juco infusion), repaired relationships with area high school coaches and widened KU’s recruiting pool.
What they're missing: Wins. When you’ve won only one conference game in three years, a little bit of everything is missing.

Kansas State Wildcats
What they’re selling: Bill Synder. The plan has worked for years in Manhattan. K-State doesn’t care how many stars a player has attached to his name, a player only earns an offer from K-State unless Snyder personally signs off on it after a lengthy review. It’s a plan that produced a No. 1 BCS ranking and a Big 12 championship in 2012.
What’s missing: I’ve been told by coaches for years that the most difficult position to recruit is defensive tackle. That’s why you often see even average defensive tackles rack up double-digit offers, and finding good depth at defensive tackle has been very difficult to do at K-State.

Oklahoma Sooners
What they’re selling: Oklahoma is proud of its football tradition, and few schools can match the Sooners’ track record for success, facilities and ability to prepare you for the next level.
What they're missing: A renewed focus on evaluating players. It’s what differentiated Bob Stoops’ staff when they started, and it’s how they found players like Sam Bradford, Josh Heupel, Juaquin Iglesias and Donald Stephenson. All at the time were considered to be three-star recruits but wound up being impact players for the Sooners.

Oklahoma State Cowboys
What they’re selling: Their ability to evaluate and develop offensive talent.
What they're missing: Elite players in the Lone Star State. With the best facilities in the conference, it might be just enough to get kids to visit.

Texas Longhorns
What they’re selling: Few in the nation can offer up the type of atmosphere, fan base, tradition and total student-athlete package like Texas can.
What they're missing: A true a difference-maker at quarterback. The last two Heisman Trophy winners have come from Texas high schools, and the Longhorns didn’t recruit one heavily and recruited the other as an athlete.

TCU Horned Frogs
What they’re selling: The Horned Frogs recruit to their style of smash-mouth play on both sides of the ball and don’t care how many stars a recruit has. It hurts them some in the recruiting rankings, but it helps them win a lot of ball games.
What they're missing: BCS conference depth. Heading into their second season in the Big 12 after a 7-6 season, the biggest thing the Horned Frogs need to do is to build the roster to be able to compete year in and year out in the BCS conference.

Texas Tech Red Raiders
What they’re selling: The Red Raiders went through a transition that brought Kliff Kingsbury to Lubbock, and the early reception has been nothing short of positive.
What they're missing: The Red Raiders have never had issues putting up points on people, but under Tommy Tuberville and Mike Leach there was little defense being played.

West Virginia Mountaineers
What they’re selling: WVU is a force in the Atlantic region, can recruit well in Pennsylvania and is arguably one of the best schools at identifying offensive talent in the JC ranks.
What they're missing: The 2014 class will have to be all about rebuilding in Morgantown, as the needs are mounting while several impact players have moved on.

The NFL draft is done, and you can find some raw data at the bottom of this post, but here are a few thoughts:

• You can see our thoughts on the first round here, so today, we'll focus on the rest of the draft.

• What a nighmare spot for Geno Smith to land after a rough drop out of the first round. Sure, he might be able to earn some early playing time for the Jets, and it's not hard to see him beating out a couple of first-round picks in Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but the Jets are a complete zoo with six quarterbacks on the roster, and Chaz Schilens (what??) and former TCU receiver Jeremy Kerley as their top targets in the passing game. Good grief. Smith won't be pressured to play early, but it's hard to imagine him walking into a worse situation as a rookie quarterback, with no one to really learn from, tons of distractions and a zoo-like atmosphere on a Jets team that isn't expected to come anywhere close to the playoffs next season.
• On the flip side, how happy is Sam Bradford after this weekend? And how awesome is Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey getting to continue playing together? The Rams just gained an entire state as a fan base. You'll be able to see plenty of St. Louis games in West Virginia, I'm betting. Don't be surprised if both of those guys are starters in Week 1 for a team badly in need of receivers after losing Danny Amendola to the Patriots. Austin is obviously more physically gifted, but Bailey has great hands and knows how to play the position. You don't catch 25 touchdown passes on accident.
• Meanwhile, great landing spot for Landry Jones, who stuck around Oklahoma an extra year, passing up a first-round grade from the advisory committee. He appeared to regress this year, falling back to the fourth round. Walking into a place where he had to start early with few weapons would be a tough spot for any quarterback, even though Jones, with four years of starting experience, would be as ready as anyone. Instead, he'll sit behind Ben Roethlisberger, and considering how much Roethlisberger gets hit, don't be surprised if Jones is forced into starting duty once or twice next season. On a random note: Jones' landing spot is a little funny considering his wife played with Roethlisberger's little sister, Carlee, on the women's basketball team at Oklahoma.
• How perfect is Arthur Brown going to the Ravens? It's too bad he won't get to learn from Ray Lewis firsthand, but you can bet Lewis will have a hand in Brown's development. Brown is mean, fast and smart. That fits the Ravens perfectly.
• Jerry Jones loves him some Big 12 offensive skill talent. Dez Bryant blossomed this season, but the Dallas Cowboys went out and grabbed running back Joseph Randle and receiver Terrance Williams, the league's top rusher and receiver. I don't see Randle as a star in the NFL, but a solid contributor. Williams, though, will be fascinating to see in an offense thin at receiver behind Bryant. Miles Austin has had health issues, and Bryant has, too. Keep an eye out for Williams to make a splash in an offense that loves to throw it around. Randle will be backing up a familiar face in ex-Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray.
• Great fit for Kenny Stills in New Orleans. The Saints have several aging receivers there to teach Stills a thing or two, but enough passes to get him some early experience. I'm betting on Stills as a 1,000-yard receiver in Year 3.
• Very cool reunion out in Arizona with Alex Okafor joining his old teammate, Sam Acho, on the Cardinals. It will be fun to see those guys on the field.
• Texas Tech was the only Big 12 team without a player drafted.
• Very shocked to see Oklahoma's Tony Jefferson and Iowa State's Jake Knott go undrafted. More so with Jefferson, who left school early and had great physical gifts. ESPN had him as the No. 5 safety in the draft at one point, but he wasn't among the more than 20 safeties drafted. Very odd. I have to wonder what's going on there. Has to be something other than his physical skills. He didn't necessarily show a lot of improvement throughout his career, but he was an All-Big 12 talent who made 100+ tackles this season. More on the Big 12's notable undrafted players later this morning.
• Not a good year for the Big 12 in the draft, with an all-time low 22 players drafted, but you also have to consider that it's just the second year that the league had just 10 teams. Texas A&M and Missouri had a combined eight draft picks, helping the 14-team SEC set an all-time record for draft picks by conference. By eight selections, of course. Generally, not a good trend for the Big 12. Most alarming: The SEC East and SEC West both had more draft picks than any other conference in college football. Good grief.

 

Here's the ranking of players drafted, by Big 12 team.

1. Oklahoma -- six players
2. West Virginia -- three players
2. Texas -- three players
2. Kansas State -- three players
5. Iowa State -- two players
5. TCU -- two players
7. Baylor -- one player
7. Kansas -- one player
7. Oklahoma State -- one player
10. Texas Tech -- zero players

Here are the conference rankings:


1. SEC -- 63 players
2. ACC -- 31 players
3. Pac-12 -- 28 players
4. Big 12 -- 22 players
4. Big Ten -- 22 players
6. Big East -- 18 players

Here is the full list of the 22 players from the Big 12 who were drafted:

Nonconference schedules can reveal many things. They can be the difference between a BCS championship berth or being left behind, and they can provide a glimpse of future success or future disappointments. Here's a look at the Big 12's 2013 nonconference schedules ranked from toughest to easiest.

1. Oklahoma: Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa, at Notre Dame

All three of OU’s nonconference opponents won at least eight games in 2012, making the Sooners’ nonconference schedule a solid test as they look to break in a new quarterback. And their visit to South Bend, Ind., could be one of college football’s top matchups in 2013.

2. TCU: LSU (at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas), Southeastern Louisiana, SMU

The opener against the Tigers will be one of the highlight games of opening weekend and raises the overall ranking of TCU's nonconference schedule. It’s an opportunity for TCU to prove itself and send a message for the Big 12. And TCU's home contest against SMU should be a solid test, as well.

3. Texas: New Mexico, at BYU, Ole Miss

After a fairly easy season opener, the Longhorns travel to Provo, Utah, to face BYU in a game that could be tougher than most people expect. Then UT hosts Ole Miss, giving the Rebels a chance to avenge their home loss to the Longhorns in 2012. Facing the Cougars and Rebels in back-to-back weeks will be a tough test for Mack Brown's squad.

4. Iowa State: Northern Iowa, Iowa, at Tulsa

The Cyclones' road test at Tulsa won’t be easy as ISU looks to avenge its Liberty Bowl loss to the Golden Hurricane. This game could be considered a conference matchup in some ways as it will be the third meeting between the two teams in two years. Add rival Iowa to the mix and suddenly ISU has one of the conference’s tougher nonconference slates.

5. Oklahoma State: Mississippi State (at Reliant Stadium in Houston), at Texas-San Antonio, Lamar

The Cowboys' season opener is the lone saving grace in this nonconference lineup. The Bulldogs should be a solid early test for OSU, but neither UTSA nor Lamar should prove to be major hurdles.

6. Kansas: South Dakota, at Rice, Louisiana Tech

Rice, which defeated KU in Manhattan, Kan., last season, and Louisiana Tech will be tough tests for the Jayhawks. Both games should give a glimpse of how much KU has improved in Charlie Weis’ second season at the helm.

7. Texas Tech: at SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State

The Red Raiders' toughest matchup should be its opener at SMU. In Kliff Kingsbury’s first season, Texas Tech will have the chance to get its feet wet in nonconference play even though a Big 12 battle with TCU is sandwiched between its matchups with SFA and Texas State.

8. West Virginia: William & Mary, Georgia State, vs. Maryland (at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore)

Not much of a nonconference slate for WVU, with the Terps as the lone BCS team on the schedule. Things set up well for Dana Holgorsen’s offense as the Mountaineers try to replace quarterback Geno Smith and receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.

9. Kansas State: North Dakota State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Massachusetts

Louisiana-Lafayette could provide the sternest test for the Wildcats, but there’s no reason why KSU can’t enter Big 12 play undefeated. Their nonconference schedule sets up well for a team looking to replace standout quarterback Collin Klein.

10. Baylor: Wofford, Buffalo, Louisiana-Monroe

It’s unlikely Baylor will get tested before its first conference game. The Bears were recently forced to add FCS opponent Wofford after their game with SMU was cancelled, so Louisiana-Monroe could be their toughest nonconference test. They should pile up the victories but might not know much about their team before conference play.