Texas Longhorns

AUSTIN, 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.

"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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Jake Raulerson and Durham Smythe had it easy. Or it least that’s how it looked.

Texas offered early. Both committed early. Their recruitment ended, and they haven’t looked back.

But reaching that decision came with its costs.

They are both in-state recruits who don’t live far from Austin, but both recruits’ families learned that playing the recruiting game isn’t cheap.

Raulerson, for example, is a Longhorns die-hard. But the kid still did his research.

He and his father, Jay, hit the road last summer. In addition to Texas, they visited Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas A&M, TCU and Baylor.

And they would’ve hit Florida State and LSU had Jake not gotten tired of taking unofficial visits.

Jay Raulerson added it all up. He and his son racked up more than 5,200 miles -- all in the name of finding Jake’s perfect college destination.

When the fall came, the Celina (Texas) High School lineman attended at least three Texas games, two Oklahoma games, Alabama-Florida and Auburn-LSU.

“We went to a lot of football games. And it was all on my nickel,” Jay Raulerson said. “I mean, it’s not really fun to go on a visit unless it’s football season.”

Smythe’s experience wasn’t quite that extravagant. He was lightly recruited as a sophomore. Few schools were filling his pockets with free passes to games during his junior season.

When word finally got out about the tight end from Belton, Texas, more than a dozen offers all seemed to come at once. Smythe and his father sat down and sorted out their options. Taking a handful of visits wasn’t one of them.

“We’re a family that could afford to take them a number of places, but I’ve got a job and Durham has school,” Roy Smythe said. “Taking six or seven trips out of state would’ve been technically impossible and not feasible.”

They agreed two out-of-state schools demanded unofficial visits: Stanford and Notre Dame. But the Irish didn’t offer until a few days before Smythe chose Texas. Too late.

In the days leading up to their Palo Alto trip, Durham had second thoughts. He went back and forth about whether he even wanted to go.

Dad waited to book the trip until Durham made up his mind. When he finally did, the plane ticket prices were exorbitant. They spent two and a half days in California. Roy Smythe paid for all the expenses.

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