Offensive linemen and Tight Ends:
A look at the 2010 All Americans and the Longhorns – broken down by position
By Nicco Martinez
Featured author at Hook’em Report and Silver and Blue Report

As you look at this table of talent, here are some things that I want to declare:

[1] This was created to see if any trends can be drawn about All-Americans, about Longhorns, and about the comparison between All-Americans and Longhorns at the positions analyzed.

[2] I analyzed 21 All-Americans and 15 Longhorns at the Offensive Line and Tight End positions.

[3] I was not surprised by the stellar rankings by the 15 Longhorn recruits. Mack Brown is known for recruiting top players, and not necessarily for developing players. (Hopefully this trend will change with the upgraded coaching staff he just surrounded himself with over the past few days.)

[4] I was surprised by the number of All-Americans who were not highly recruited by any of the national recruiting services. Many of these players were assigned with 2-star ratings and/or grades of 40 by ESPN.

[5] Looking at the All-Americans: 4 of the 7 tackles, 2 of the 6 guards, 1 of the 5 centers, 1 of the 3 tight ends were either not ranked by Scout.com or given the lowest possible grade of 40 by ESPN.

[6] The lowest ranked of the 15 Texas Longhorns was Greg Smith, tight end, who was still assigned both a position ranking and either 2-stars or 3-stars by all three services.

[7] This is not an outright attack on Texas and their (in)ability to develop talent. Recruiting is NOT an exact science, and more times than not the recruiting services and college coaches are spot-on in their evaluations of high school talent. Furthermore, when looking at less recruited players like Gabe Carimi, Caleb Schlauderaff, Jake Kirkpatrick and Michael Egnew, don’t just frown in Texas’ direction; I did not see USC, Oklahoma, Florida, and Ohio State extending offers to these kids.

[8] Justin Boren signed his LOI with Michigan, he’s now an All American with Ohio State. Chase Beeler signed his LOI with Oklahoma, he’s now an All American at Stanford. How come I never recall the Longhorns getting lucky with a future All-American transferring onto our roster?

[9] As expected, a few All-Americans and Longhorns were recruited at one position and found their value elsewhere.

[10] Two All Americans, Jake Kirkpatrick and Michael Egnew, are Texans who were not recruited by the Longhorns.

[11] Mack Brown and the new coaching staff will no doubt create a hyper-model for player development in line with the obvious sense of urgency that surrounds the program. Kyle Hix, Ahmard Howard, Tray Allen and Michael Huey all fell short in reaching their full college potential under the old regime of coaches. I believe players like Christian Westerman, Sedrick Flowers, Garrett Greenlea, M.J. McFarland, Trey Hopkins, Mason Walters, Paden Kelley, and Thomas Ashcraft will be chiseled-hard with the opportunity of mega-developing into their fullest college potential while wearing the burnt orange and white at Texas.

NiccoKnowledge-2011

Tags: Ahmard Howard, All-Americans, Christian Westerman, Garrett Greenlea, Hook'em Report, Kyle Hix, Longhorns, M.J. McFarland, Mack Brown, Mason Walters, Michael Huey, Paden Kelley, Sedrick Flowers, Silver and Blue Report, Texas Longhorns, Thomas Ashcraft, Tray Allen, Trey Hopkins, www.hookemreport.com, www.silverandbluereport.com