Texas Longhorns

Jerrod Heard (Denton, Texas/Guyer) was on vacation in South Padre, Texas, with his family when he got word from his high school coaches that he had received an offer from Texas.

An immediate celebration ensued.

Odds are there was a similar reaction Tuesday, when the 2014 quarterback informed Texas’ coaching staff that he had accepted the scholarship offer.

Heard (6-foot-2, 180 pounds), who confirmed the news to HornsNation, is the lone 2014 quarterback with an offer from Texas. He is the fifth commitment of the class and the most hyped of the bunch thus far.

The signal-caller finalized his decision on an unofficial visit over the weekend with fellow 2014 recruits Tony Brown (Beaumont, Texas/Ozen) and Jamal Adams (Lewisville, Texas/Hebron).

It wasn’t the first time Heard visited campus. He also attended one of Texas’ camps in June when co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin took him and 2013 quarterback commitment Tyrone Swoopes through a workout.

“It’s a great school. I had a great time down there at the camp playing with Swoopes,” he said. “It was fun. We really worked on my throwing and my technique mostly.”

Heard said he was pretty nervous with Harsin watching his every move, but the prospect found his rhythm pretty quickly to show the guy who would become his future coach why he was so highly touted.

“I was pretty nervous because it was Harsin,” Heard said. “It was a big deal to practice with him. I knew who he was but I just had to do me out there. I just did what I had to do.”

Heard plays in one of the tougher districts and regions in the state at the Class 5A level, but he showed plenty of moxie and poise as a sophomore by completing 130 of 223 passes for 2,286 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 650 yards on 136 carries and five touchdowns.

Heard’s dual-threat capabilities are certainly a quality that Harsin would prefer in his quarterbacks. He hand-picked freshman Jalen Overstreet in 2012 and gained the commitment of Swoopes in 2013.

But Heard believes another facet of his game has gotten the attention of Texas’ coaching staff.

“I think it’s because of my pocket presence,” he said. “I stay in the pocket longer than most. That’s what they have told me. That’s what they really like about me.”

Heard understands that this commitment is going to bring added responsibility, and an ever-growing target on his back as opposing defenses look to make a statement against him. It’s a fact that he is already taking advantage of.

“I just saw it as motivation for the season,” he said. “It is going to be a lot of pressure on me because teams are going to build schemes for me to try and mess me up. I know I just have to keep playing and prove them wrong as well.”

Heard chose the Longhorns over offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, LSU and Nebraska. But it really came down to LSU and, to a certain degree, Ohio State.

AUSTIN, Texas -- A dozen practices into the preseason and Texas coach Mack Brown is no closer to knowing who his quarterback will be against Wyoming.

“I’ve got the same questions you do,” Brown said.

None of which were even answered in the scrimmage Monday night. Brown had thought perhaps either David Ash or Case McCoy would pull away in the competition. But, if anything, the margin between them has narrowed.

“We’re having more of a consensus that both could play right now and win the game for us,” Brown said.

By “we” Brown means the whole coaching staff. Brown has everyone involved in this decision. And if they can’t seem to make a decision, Texas does not appear averse to going into Wyoming (Sept. 1) with a game plan that utilizes two quarterbacks. In fact, right now Texas doesn’t seem too averse to going into the Kansas State game (Dec. 1) with a game plan that features two quarterbacks.

“Both give us the chance to win if they protect the ball,” Brown said.

They did just that in Monday’s scrimmage. There was one turnover but it came on a ball that hit the tight end’s hands and bounced to a defensive back.

“Both [quarterbacks] have improved so much from the spring,” Brown said.

Ash and McCoy have improved in their respective game-management styles as well as their decision-making. Co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has also applauded their increased accuracy.

“You can see it in one-on-ones,” Harsin said. “The decision-making is there. What I look for is -- there’s still mistakes and everything, but they can come back now and explain it, or coach themselves up right away. We’ll come back right away and repeat the play and correct it.”

Aside from the play of the quarterbacks all eyes were on the running backs. Freshman Johnathan Gray had most of the carries. The staff wanted to see how he reacted against the defense.

His reviews were not overwhelming but the ones for running back Malcolm Brown were. Brown said he was clearly the best runner on the field. His vision and toughness have both improved, the coach said.

Both Gray and Brown were featured in the “wild” package. Neither had success on the two snaps allotted. Brown was dropped for a two-yard loss. Gray’s play was halted before it started do to mistakes.

Along the line, Texas is moving Luke Poehlmann up to more of a prominent role at tackle. The senior is a couple of years removed from a knee injury now and Brown feels as if he is ready to be the first sub in along the line.

Poehlmann was in for Josh Cochran on Monday. The starting right tackle was rolled up on and suffered a leg injury. It’s nothing that would prohibit him from playing against Wyoming, Brown said.

Texas was also missing linebacker Demarco Cobbs, tight end Miles Onyegbule, defensive tackle Ashton Dorsey, defensive end Alex Norman, defensive end Hassan Ridgeway, kicker Anthony Fera and held out wide receiver Marquise Goodwin.
Norman and Ridgeway, both freshmen, have lingering muscle pull injuries. They could be very serious redshirt candidates because the injuries have limited their practice time.

If Fera is unable to go by Wyoming, Texas would go with either true freshman Nick Jordan or redshirt freshman Ben Pruitt at kicker.

Cobbs, Cochran and Dorsey are not expected to be out long. Goodwin and Onyegbule were only held out for precautionary reasons.

Quarterback Connor Brewer has a mild ankle issue but has remained in practice.

Our official list of the Big 12's top 25 players entering the 2012 season marches on. Here's more on my criteria for who makes it, who doesn't and who lands where.

The official list is locked away in a vault in an undisclosed location, but we'll be revealing one player a day leading up to the season.

Next up on the list:

No. 14: Alex Okafor, DE, Texas

2011 numbers: Made 58 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Broke up three passes, forced two fumbles, recovered one.

Most recent ranking: Okafor was unranked in our postseason list of the Big 12's top 25 players.

Making the case for Okafor: Admittedly, I'm not as high on Okafor as most. The Longhorns' senior defensive end won preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, which I found shocking considering I don't believe Okafor is the best player at his position on his own team.

That said, he's still a huge talent and the Big 12's second-best defensive end. He's consistently disruptive and fits what you'd want out of an end at 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds. The coaches made him a unanimous All-Big 12 selection last year, and he's certainly in position to do it again. Texas has an unbelievable defensive line full of talent, which means you're taking a big risk in double-teaming anyone. The Longhorns are five deep in the two-man rotation at defensive tackle, which will create plenty of room for Okafor to wreak havoc. He'll spend a whole lot of time in offensive backfields this season.

The rest of the list:

• No. 25: Justin Gilbert, CB/KR, Oklahoma State
• No. 24: Ben Habern, C, Oklahoma
• No. 23: Terrance Williams, WR, Baylor
• No. 22: Josh Boyce, WR, TCU
• No. 21: Cyril Richardson, OL, Baylor
• No. 20: Trey Millard, FB/TE, Oklahoma
• No. 19: Quandre Diggs, CB/KR, Texas
• No. 18: Kenny Stills, WR, Oklahoma
• No. 17: Brodrick Brown, CB, Oklahoma State
• No. 16: Stansly Maponga, DE, TCU
• No. 15: Gabe Ikard, OL, Oklahoma

We're moving on with our rankings of the top 10 players at each position in the Big 12. Today, we tackle the running backs, a position with a lot of potential but not very much returning talent. My only rule for this list: No freshmen or newcomers. You don't know until you know.

Let's get started.

1. Joseph Randle, Oklahoma State: Randle is the Big 12's only returning 1,000-yard running back, and even the league's best back has something to prove in 2012. Quarterback Brandon Weeden and receiver Justin Blackmon took a ton of pressure off him and opened up a lot of space. Can he help carry the offense early this season with a true freshman at quarterback and unproven receivers in the passing game?

2. Malcolm Brown, Texas: Brown's nose for tiny creases in the line is unparalleled in this league, even though he doesn't have breakaway speed. He's tough to bring down and loves to fall forward. In short, he's a perfect fit for Texas' offense, and the likeliest member of Texas' talented backfield trio to top 1,000 yards in 2012.

3. John Hubert, Kansas State: Life is good for Hubert when defenses focus heavily on quarterback Collin Klein, but you can't argue with his production. He averaged nearly five yards a carry and racked up 970 rushing yards last season.

4. Waymon James, TCU: James averaged a silly 7.23 yards per carry last season, leading TCU's trio of backs in rushing, though all three had between 120 and 123 carries (seriously). Ed Wesley is gone, and James' yards per carry average will drop as he faces tougher defenses this season, but he's still a big talent.

5. Jeremy Smith, Oklahoma State: Smith is the forgotten man in Oklahoma State's backfield until he keeps his legs churning and converts third downs, and chips a blitzing nickel back in the backfield to give Wes Lunt a couple more seconds to get rid of the ball. He's faster than he gets credit for, and averaged better than seven yards a carry in the Big 12 last season, the league's second-highest average.

6. Eric Stephens, Texas Tech: Stephens' season was cut way short last year by an awful knee injury. There's no telling how he'll look when the season starts back up, but not many guys were better than him over the first half of last season.

7. Dominique Whaley, Oklahoma: Whaley's season was cut short, too. He suffered a broken ankle, but the former walk-on is back and will try and make a run at a 1,000-yard season for the Sooners' pass-heavy offense. If he plays like he did last season before the injury, expect it to happen, and expect him to hog the carries in a crowded backfield.

8. Matthew Tucker, TCU: Tucker joins James in TCU's backfield. He scored 12 touchdowns last season, which ranks second among returning Big 12 running backs. Without Wesley, Tucker is due for more touches. The trio combined for more than 2,300 yards on the ground last season. Watching Tucker and James race for 1,000-yard seasons will be fun.

9. Roy Finch, Oklahoma: Finch loves to put defenders in the spin cycle, but could hardly get on the field last season until Whaley was injured. Once he did, though, he made a big impact. He topped 83 yards four times in five weeks late last season, but he has to be more consistent. He also had four yards on six carries against Iowa. We'll see if he showcases his explosiveness as a junior in 2012.

10. James White, Iowa State: Iowa State badly needed White to step up when Shontrelle Johnson went down with a neck injury, and White did. He topped 135 yards twice after Johnson's injury and scored eight times, including two in a triple-overtime win against Iowa early in the season.

Honorable mention: Dustin Garrison, West Virginia; Joe Bergeron, Texas; James Sims, Kansas; Shontrelle Johnson, Iowa State; Tony Pierson, Kansas

Editor's note: RecruitingNation is taking a look at the state of each team's brand.

Somewhere around the loss to Iowa State in 2010, or maybe it was the second loss in a row to Kansas State or the second in a row to Baylor in 2011 -- Joe Jamail, the attorney who usually asked the questions, was on the defensive again.

What of Mack Brown now? What of 5-7? What of 13-12 over two years? What has happened? Why hasn’t Brown been fired?

“Fire him?” Jamail, a donor of such largess that Texas’ field bears his name. “We ought to give him a raise. If he worked like I do he would get a third.”

That’s one third of $150 million. A year.

That is what the Texas brand has become during his Brown’s 14 years on the sideline. The Longhorns, never fledgling mind you, have become the wealthiest program in college sports. All the while entertaining a myriad of suitors before ultimately flexing their muscle and pulling a conference together, launching a $300 million network with ESPN and, don’t forget, wondering if they might ever get another quarterback.

Texas sold more merchandise than any other college program in the national championship year of 2005.

Texas also sold more merchandise than any other college program in 2010. That year the Longhorns went 5-7, their first losing record since 1997, or the year before Brown arrived.

Merchandise sales were $10.6 million in 2011. That number is more than the football budget of Texas’ first two opponents in 2012, Wyoming ($5.2 million) and New Mexico ($6.6 million). But it is lint in the pocket of a university whose football program alone generated $95.7 million in revenue in the last fiscal year.

So while maybe those around the Lone Star State do not wear their hearts on their sleeves as they do in the SEC’s Deep South, the Texas brand is still printed across many chests from Beaumont to El Paso and beyond.

To that end, Texas continues to brand more athletes than any other institution within the state. As former Baylor coach Grant Teaff said in an interview with HornsNation last year, “Texas has always been Texas. It has always been the thing. It represents the state. Unless your parents went to another school like Texas Tech or Baylor, if you were born in Texas, you were going to Texas.”

The recruiting rankings serve to validate his words. Texas has finished in the top five of ESPN’s rankings the last four years and currently sit at No. 7 for a 2013 class that will not be signed for another six months.

It’s the brand that has drawn them. From freshman Daje Johnson – “I have wanted to go to Texas since eighth grade …” -- to freshman Adrian Colbert – “Why wouldn't you want to play football at the University of Texas? It's the greatest school in the country” -- players have been lured by the brand and program that is Texas.

Now, after the two worst years since Brown’s arrival, those players, the coach and the program believe the results on the field can match the marketing and the brand name that thrives because of it.

“All we want to do is rise to the occasion,” junior offensive lineman Mason Walters said. “We are not lowering the standard at the University of Texas, we’re going to go meet it.”

While college football is stuck waiting for a playoff, recruiting is moving at light speed and coaches have quickly learned that today's prospects are more equipped than ever to handle it. Read Mitch Sherman's story.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU coach Gary Patterson doesn't have to think long to remember what life was like on the road in the Mountain West.

The quickest lesson? When the football team travels over 1,200 miles, there aren't many fans that can follow. He'd take his team to face a ranked Utah squad on the road, look up and see 200 purple shirts in a stadium of 45,000.

When the Horned Frogs trekked to other places like BYU, they might bring 1,000, but the TCU faithful would easily be drowned out by the pro-BYU crowd of nearly 65,000.

"You've got to take your own energy," Patterson said.

Life in the Big 12? Well, get ready for very welcome changes. Last season, TCU brought an eye-popping 10,000 fans to its season opener against Baylor, just over 85 miles down the road.

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David Ubben reveals what the Big 12's dual-armed slogan should be for its 2012 campaign.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Bryan Harsin knows what he faces now -- a tougher schedule, bigger stadiums, louder crowds, better athletes, more expectations and plenty of pressure.

Maybe more importantly he knows with whom he faces it -- a coach that understands the pressures of being a quarterback at Texas (Major Applewhite), a coach that delegates and does not dictate (Mack Brown), a head coach who thinks wide receivers should block first, second and third, then think about pass patterns (Darrell Wyatt), and a throwback with more grunts than glad handing (Stacy Searels). And that is just on the offensive side of the ball.

In all, six members of Texas’ staff are sophomores now. They have lived the life for a year. And, after being 8-5 together, they have lived to see another.

“Now we understand what we’re doing,” said Harsin, the co-offensive coordinator along with Applewhite. “We understand the details. We understand how each of us operates. And what the expectations of each positions are.”

"Even at our coaches' retreat a couple of weeks ago, the guys were all on the same page and it went so much smoother,” Brown said. “Last year they were talking about what are you doing in pregame warmups. They were talking about where we stay the night before the game.

“Now all of those things they know. We are so much further along than we were, and that leads to more excitement as we start the season as well.”

That progress is not just owed to those position coaches. Included among those six is strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie. The backbone of the program, Wylie is the one who has pushed the players to stand tall, and at the same time, turned the head of Brown as to what expectations a cohesive staff can put on these players.

It’s that work that has Brown talking about Texas being a tougher football team. And everybody knows a fist is much tougher to defend against than a slap. A fist is what Texas considers itself now that it has come together.

“Now we all know what is expected of everyone else,” junior offensive guard Mason Walters said.

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Former Penn State commit and ESPN 150 OT Dorian Johnson stops by to talk about his future, plus what’s next for Penn State’s class, talk of Derrick Henry thinking Tennessee, breaking down where five-star OT Laremy Tunsil will officially visit, looking at Stanford again making its mark on the recruiting trail and much more. Listen here.

Mack Brown joins College Football Live with an update on the QB race.