The SEC’s encroachment on the Big 12’s chief football recruiting turf, namely Texas high schools, has been slowed down and the Big 12 has the Texas hiring of Tom Herman to thank for that.
Herman landed the top six prospects from Texas high schools, according to Rivals’ ranking of the state’s top 100. The Longhorns landed 14 of the top 65 prospects in the state.
Texas A&M, under new head coach Jimbo Fisher, easily did second-best with Texas preps, landing four in the top 20 and 12 in the top 100, so the SEC still has a strong foothold.
In all, 31 different schools recruited a top 100 Texan. The four Texas and two Oklahoma Big 12 members did well in the state, but the other four didn’t land a top 100 Texas prep.
David Beaty brought with him to Kansas a reputation as a strong recruiter in his native state, but a 3-33 record has damaged his ability to sign high school recruits. KU did land one Texas prep player, two-star offensive lineman Jacobi Lott.
In Beaty’s first two recruiting classes combined, KU signed 21 Texas high school players. The two most recent classes combined have had just four: Lott, linebacker Kyron Johnson, running back Dom Williams and receiver Quan Hampton.
The following chart looks at how schools did with the top 100 Texas recruits on the opening day of the early signing period, based on a point system that awards one point for the No. 100 recruit, two points for No. 99, etc., all the way to 100 points for the No. 1 Texas recruit, cornerback Anthony Cook of Houston Lamar High.
| School | Top 100 Texas recruits |
Total points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – Texas | 14 | 1,104 |
| 2 – Texas A&M | 12 | 708 |
| 3 – Oklahoma | 5 | 293 |
| 4 – Baylor | 8 | 282 |
| 5 – LSU | 3 | 204 |
| 6 – TCU | 5 | 186 |
| 7 – Texas Tech | 4 | 168 |
| 8 – Missouri | 4 | 189 |
| 9 – Michigan | 2 | 130 |
| 10 – Oklahoma State | 5 | 116 |
| 11 – Penn State | 2 | 102 |
| 12 – Vanderbilt | 1 | 91 |
| 13 – Washington State | 1 | 75 |
| 14 – Wisconsin | 2 | 68 |
| 15 – Arkansas | 1 | 64 |
| 16 – Oregon | 1 | 62 |
| 17 – Mississippi State | 1 | 54 |
| 18 – Ohio State | 1 | 49 |
| 19 – Alabama | 1 | 47 |
| 20 – UL-Monroe | 1 | 46 |
| 21 – Houston | 1 | 45 |
| 22 – Arizona | 1 | 37 |
| 23 – Duke | 1 | 31 |
| 24 – Stanford | 1 | 16 |
| 25 – SMU | 1 | 15 |
| 26 – Illinois | 1 | 13 |
| 27 (tie) – Syracuse | 2 | 11 |
| 27 (tie) – Rice | 1 | 11 |
| 29 – Navy | 1 | 6 |
| 30 – Boston College | 1 | 4 |
| 31 – Arizona State | 1 | 3 |
