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Texas Longhorns: Recruiting

Twitter recap: Texas junior day

February, 11, 2013
Feb 11
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Texas held its first junior for the Class of 2014 on Sunday and several top recruits attended. For a recap of what Longhorns coach Mack Brown told recruits and parents, check out Max Olson's story. Insider

Be sure to check out our forum Insider for the details.

Click the jump below to see the best tweets and photos from recruits who attended.

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Texas’ junior day on Sunday left a lasting impression on 2014 safety Derrick Dixon (Dallas/Skyline), someone who has watched his stock rise since the end of the regular season.


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ESPN Watch List defensive back Tony Brown (Beaumont, Texas/Ozen) didn’t get to Austin for Texas’ junior day on Sunday until after lunchtime.

While it might have had stomachs turning for those worried he’d never make it, it actually turned out to be a blessing for the Longhorns in their pursuit of one of the top defensive backs in the country.


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One of the first offers that Texas handed out during its first junior day on Sunday went to a prospect who wasn’t even there.


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videoESPN Watch List outside linebacker Cameron Hampton (Dallas/Carter) told HornsNation on Sunday morning that he has committed to Texas at the Longhorns' junior day.

The Longhorns have not only addressed a major position of need for 2014, but they have also kept him away from one of their chief rivals in Oklahoma.

Cameron HamptonMax Olson/ESPN.comClass of 2014 linebacker Cameron Hampton is Texas' first linebacker commit of the Class of 2014.
The Red River rivals were Hampton’s top two schools coming into this week, but it looks like he has had a change of heart and is now Texas’ eighth commitment in 2014.

Hampton (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) also had offers from Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.

He is in Austin for the second time visiting Texas’ campus today and told HornsNation earlier in the week that he was particularly excited about meeting one person in particular.

“I’m really just excited about being down there and seeing [defensive coordinator] coach [Manny] Diaz,” said Hampton, who got to Austin on Saturday in anticipation for todays event. “He said he is going to spend some 1-on-1 time with me and my family. Coach [Mack] Brown said the same thing.”

Texas and Oklahoma have made Hampton a priority over the past few months.

Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell has frequented Carter High since the Sooners started recruiting Hampton and has already built a strong relationship with him.

Diaz was at Carter’s basketball game last week, making sure Hampton understands how important he is to Texas’ future.

“I can’t really say [who I have a better relationship with], but I have a pretty good relationship with Coach Diaz,” Hampton said. “He actually came to see one of my basketball games last week. I talked to him the day before we played at my school. He was saying that he was looking forward to seeing me, hanging out with me and spending some more time with my family.”

Hampton is Texas’ first linebacker commit of 2014.

Video: Tom Luginbill on Texas' class

February, 8, 2013
Feb 8
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video
ESPN national recruiting director Tom Luginbill says Texas addressed three key needs at the linebacker, offensive line, and tight end positions.
videoAUSTIN, Texas -- In the wake of five deommitments in the class of 2013, with one coming so close to signing day, Texas coach Mack Brown sent a with-us-or-against-us message to recruits.

He will also send the same message to the parents at Sunday's junior day.

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Mack Brown
Fred Brooks/Icon SMITexas coach Mack Brown doesn't want commits to visit other schools anymore.
"We're going to explain the rules to the families very carefully," Brown said. "I know that we're going to ask the families not to commit to us if there's any chance that they might want to go somewhere else and visit because we think it's not best for them, it's not best for us."

Those Texas recruiting rules, which were suspended for a few years, have also been explained to the coaching staff.

"What I've talked to our coaches about is you have to do a better job of making sure you trust the parents and that you don't talk one into coming," Brown said. "If he decides to come now, if you get a commitment, it better be because he's wanting to come, not because you recruited him and talked him into it."

That doesn’t mean there will not be exceptions.

"For me to sit here and say in every case it's going to happen while I'm coaching in the future, you lock me into it, you say, 'He lied,' I'm not going to do that," Brown said.

But, by and large, in the future, if a player is committed to Texas, the Longhorns staff will advise that player if he starts looking elsewhere, Texas will do the same.

"If you start looking, to me you're looking for something different than you've got," Brown said. "I'm going to look for something different than I've got."

Texas already has seven commitments for its junior class. Two of those, teammates Demetrius Knox and Daniel Gresham (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints), attended other schools' junior days last weekend (Knox went to OU while Gresham went to Ole Miss). Both remain committed to Texas.

To further avoid situations, Brown has made more of an effort to be a part of the recruiting scene. He has already visited most of the high school programs where Texas has a 2014 prospect.

"I like to go to the school, see the coach." Brown said. "The other thing is that if you get a commitment, you'd like for the high school coach to help you keep it. We're going to make sure the high school coach buys into the commitment as well. I need to see those guys, shake their hand, tell them we're not backing out on kids."

That is as long as the recruit does not step out on Texas.

Early commits a game-changer for Texas 

February, 8, 2013
Feb 8
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FORT WORTH, Texas -- When Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints teammates Daniel Gresham and Demetrius Knox snuck off to junior days last weekend, they didn’t mean any harm.

Gresham went to Ole Miss because All Saints lineman Markham Parkune wanted a buddy to come with him to Oxford. Knox visited Oklahoma with two teammates simply to get out of the house for the weekend.

The Texas 2014 pledge didn’t take those trips to scare Texas fans and raise questions about their level of commitment. They’re kids. Kids like going out of town.

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Video: Max Olson on OL Darius James

February, 7, 2013
Feb 7
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HornsNation's Max Olson discusses Texas' top-ranked commit Darius James (Killeen, Texas/Harker Heights)

Texas: 2014 prospects to watch 

February, 7, 2013
Feb 7
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With signing day 2013 having wrapped up, it's time to turn our attention to 2014 recruits. Here are five players the Longhorns are really keying on, be it players who are already committed or top targets who will determine the direction Texas’ next class goes in:

1. QB Jerrod Heard - Texas commit
Denton (Texas) Guyer

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Welcome to The Heard, HornsNation’s weekly in-depth look inside the never-ending world of Longhorns recruiting with news, notes and interesting tidbits on the latest happenings around the program. We’ll release this every Thursday.

Talk about it in our forum and, if there’s a recruit out there you’d like to hear more from, let us know.

A few of the notes in today's 2014-heavy edition of The Heard:

  • Knox’s plan going into JD1
  • Top Dallas LB anxious for visit
  • A&M WR commit will visit
  • Thomas compares Texas trip to OU
  • ATH Johnson ready for another visit
  • Joe getting back in WR groove
  • Does OT Pruitt have UT offer?
  • 2014 DE set for visit

Read The Heard after the jump.


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When Texas brought in Stacy Searels after the 2010 season to overhaul its offensive line, it did so with an ideal in mind.

Searels had been coaching SEC offensive lines -- first at LSU, then Georgia -- since 2003. The assumption, fair or not, was that he’d whip the Longhorns line into shape and up to the standards of college football’s most dominant conference.

Principles are important. Personnel matters more.

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videoAUSTIN, Texas -- Mack Brown refused to talk about the five recruits Texas didn't get on signing day.

But the Texas coach did have a message for players that might be interested in the Longhorns in the future.

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Mack Brown
Kevin Jairaj/US PresswireTexas coach Mack Brown stressed the quality of his 2013 class but was clearly disappointed in the five recruits who decommitted.
"The thing that we will do is we have allowed the kids to commit and still look around the last couple of years -- we're not doing that anymore," Brown said on Wednesday. “If you are committed to us be committed. If you're going to go look, we're going to go look."

It was a strong message and it permeated a signing day that dripped with disappointment over who Texas didn't get -- A'Shawn Robinson (Alabama), Daeshon Hall (Texas A&M), Ricky Seals-Jones (Texas A&M), Durham Smythe (Notre Dame) and Kyle Hicks (TCU) -- as much as the day was held up and celebrated for the 15 players Texas did get.

"What we found is the 15 [recruits] that we got are very passionate about being at Texas and that is what we want," Brown said. "And very honestly if a young person tells you they're coming and their parents tell you they're coming and then they don't, you wouldn't want them to be here.

"You may be disappointed on the day it happened but you want people that will look you in the eye and tell you the truth and you want people who want to be at your school.”

This signing day Texas didn't need that many people at its school. It only had room for about 16. So the search was for quality over quantity. Brown, who because of all the decommitments and misses seemingly has gone from coach February to Father Time with this class, tried to hammer that point home repeatedly.

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HornsNation signing day live blog

February, 6, 2013
Feb 6
10:30
AM CT
Naashon Hughes, Darius JamesMax Olson/ESPNLinebacker Naashon Hughes (left) and offensive lineman Darius James are officially Longhorns.
Welcome to HornsNation's live coverage of national signing day for the Texas Longhorns. We'll be with you throughout the day providing up-to-the minute updates on UT's Class of 2013.

Watch live coverage on ESPNU | Talk signing day on our "The Tower" forum Insider | Texas class

Follow the live blog after the jump.

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AUSTIN, Texas -- When the Longhorns began to recruit ESPN 300 lineman Andrew Billings (Waco, Texas/Waco) as a defensive lineman, his preferred position, rather than at offensive lineman, where they originally sought him, they seemed to have put themselves in position to garner his commitment, which he announced today.

“Oh, they probably went to third in the bunch to ... they went up from third, I’ll tell you that much,” Waco High coach Marty Herbst said a few weeks ago.


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