HornSports Staff
HornSports.com
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The point on a brisket is typically the fattiest cut. Pitmasters often trim the point and select edges off a whole brisket and return them to the smoker.
Are burnt ends tough, chewy worthless cuts of meat, or are they a heavenly bites of smoky goodness? I suppose it depends on who you ask...
Rather than discard trimmings and fat, we chose to savor all the information that flows through the site. So, sit down and help yourself to some burnt ends.
***DO NOT FORWARD***
We’ll lead things off with what is consuming everyone in the football offices…this weekend’s Junior Day:
Many of the top-ranked juniors in Texas are coming to Austin this weekend for the Texas Junior Day. Originally, Charlie Strong scheduled two Junior Days on consecutive weekends. However, a couple weeks ago Strong switched course and decided to make the invitation more exclusive by inviting fewer players and eliminating one of the weekends.
Mission accomplished.
With nearly 40 prospects confirmed to attend (and the possibility of a few late additions), Strong’s one day camp has a lot of momentum behind it. With only around 20 scholarships to give out in this recruiting cycle, Saturday’s camp has the feel of an open tryout.
And when we said ‘everyone in the football offices’, that list begins with Jay Norvell, Jeff Traylor, and Brick Haley. Saturday’s event serves several purposes, one of which is to provide a platform to introduce Texas’ three new assistant coaches. From their previous positions, all three men know multiple players coming this weekend, so it’s not a “Hi, nice to meet you†kind of introduction, this is about presenting the new face of Texas football.
From players to assistant coaches, Year 1 of the Charlie Strong era was hallmarked by change – that’s to be expected when a 16-year coach is replaced. Now, with the signing of his first full recruiting class, the buzzword around Bellmont is “foundationâ€. Not only is the incoming class of recruits being talked about as a building block, the coaching staff, in it’s current version, is being touted as foundational too.
What better place to introduce the newest additions to the staff than at an event that has attracted many of the top prep players across the state? To get a feel for the star studded nature of the attendee list, 15 players from the HornSports Top 50 for 2016 are scheduled to be in Austin, including:
Wide Receiver, Dee Anderson
Athlete, Grayland Arnold
Defensive back, Eric Cuffee
Wide receiver, Tren'Davion Dickson
Wide receiver, Devin Duvernay
Linebacker, Erick Fowler
Wide receiver, Reggie Hemphill
Linebacker, Dontavious Jackson
Defensive back, Eric Monroe
Offensive lineman, Keenan Murphy
Running back, Kyle Porter
Offensive lineman, JP Urquidez
Athlete, Christan Wallace
Quarterback Tristen Wallace
Defensive tackle, Michael Williams
In addition to that list there are around two dozen more players planning to attend. Current commitment DeMarco Boyd is one of them, and given his enthusiasm for the Horns, expect to hear a lots of guys talking about Boyd trying to sell them on joining him as a commitment.
One of the other 2016 commitments, Manvel wideout Reggie Hemphill, will also make the trip to Austin. There has been speculation about whether Hemphill would coax any of his teammates into attending with him, and on Monday we got the latest from the Manvel playmaker:
Linebacker Jordan Carmouche will attend with him – defensive back and special teams standout Deontay Anderson will not be able to make the trip.
Hemphill didn’t know a specific schedule of events, but is looking forward to being back on campus. Circling back to the aura of exclusivity mentioned above, Hemphill told us the invitations were handwritten letters from the offensive coaching staff.
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We caught up with somebody dialed in on the national recruiting scene and had an insightful conversation. According to our contact, there’s potential for a new trend to be emerging in recruiting:
In previous years, a couple of teammates or high profile recruits that play in the same district have linked their recruitments and attempted to sign with the same college. With the advent of social media and the role it’s playing in recruiting, what used to be two recruits working together is now more like ten.
Borrowing a term from politics, our buddy called the phenomenon a “Super Pacâ€. With recruits easily able to stay in touch via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social sites – bonds of friendship are forming that outlast a simple weekend-long official visit.
Using social media, the recruits not only stay in touch with each other, but also can use peer pressure to help steer uncommitted prospects. The example used in our conversation was at UCLA, where many of the top recruits who committed to the Bruins contacted each other and decided to go to school together.
Our friend wrapped it up by saying:
“I'll be excited to see if this was a one-time/alleged occurrence, or if this pattern begins to sweep College Football.â€
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That same recruiting analyst had some interesting things to say about Texas A&M signee Kyler Murray. When Murray was the top recruiting story in the state, we told you in Burnt Ends that Charlie Strong involved Augie Garrido in UT’s efforts to secure his pledge.
As one of the top-rated MLB prospects in Texas, Murray is slotted in the top 15 picks of the MLB draft according to his high school baseball coach, Paul Coe. If Murray is selected in the top half of the first round, he’ll have a multi-million dollar signing bonus to contemplate. Our contact echoed what many assume:
“Kyler Murray is interesting just due to the possible money he could make in the major league draft. It's hard to tell someone who's 18 that they shouldn't take the millions of dollars and play baseball for a while.â€
Adding to Murray’s difficult decision is the fact that he could still go back and play college football after giving the minor leagues a shot. In our analyst’s opinion, the comfort of having football as a second option is the tipping point:
“I honestly don't know that there’s much choice – I would take that MLB contract so fast…â€
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Since Hemphill was unable to give us a schedule of events for the Junior Day, we checked in with a friend that was a D1 player that attended a UT Junior Day 7-8 years ago. After confirming the exclusivity of this particular event and that it would essentially be a tryout, our friend said:
“Colleges now, especially top tier programs like UT, get on recruiting early. If a player is trying to get noticed his senior year, good luck...â€
The other instructive thing from our conversation is how helpful these events are, even for the young men that don’t receive scholarship offers from Texas:
“When I attended the UT Junior Day, I was told that UT was pretty much done recruiting and had filled their NLI's for the year. But one of the coaches introduced me to another school’s coach that was there. I sent my film to that school and received an offer.â€
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With Spring evaluation camps starting and the Summer camp circuit just around the corner, we asked one of our coaching contacts for names of juniors that are on the fringe of the radar right now, but have the talent to take the recruiting scene by storm. He laughed and said, “So you want to know who this year’s Ike Warren is?â€
Recruiting fans remember Warren as an unheralded cornerback from John Tyler HS that performed so well in camps that he forced high major D1 coaches to take notice. Here are two of the kids our coaching contact thinks might have the “Ike Warren†effect on the camp scene and his brief scouting report on them:
Bubba Hall: 6’1, 175 – Defensive back at Sulphur Springs HS
This kid played in the same secondary as Larry Pryor and while you may not know him now, you will after camp season. He is 6’1 but has the wingspan of a kid that is 6’5. He finished the year with 2 interceptions and 12 PBU’s. He doesn’t have elite speed but makes up for it with his impressive length. Hall can play off coverage as well as press coverage and he is very aggressive with the ball in the air. He is a kid that could turn in to a rangy hash safety with a solid year in the weight room. Because he is also a solid basketball player he won’t ever get a true full off season until college.
Chase Bridgeman: 6’4, 270 – Offensive lineman at Crosby HS
Chase plays on the same offensive line as Keenan Murphy so he gets overlooked at times…but make no mistake this kid can hold his own. Bridgeman plays center for Crosby but will be able to play multiple spots on the line in college because of his long arms. He also does a great job deep snapping for Crosby. He is a multi-sport athlete so he has plus athleticism for an offensive lineman. Bridgeman will attend the Kansas State Jr. Day at the end of the month and could conceivably see multiple offers as a result of that camp. Recruiting fans will know his name by the time the evaluation period starts in April.
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We got an opportunity to talk with one of our best sources who attends most of the conditioning sessions. As it turns out, the death of Tyrone Swoopes has been greatly exaggerated:
“He [swoopes] is performing just a good as Heard is in drills. He's just as fast in the running drills too.â€
Our source then added that when the team practices football drills Swoopes, "doesn't miss a beat."
According to our guy, when the two quarterbacks are side by side, the difference in stature is startling:
“Swoopes is 30 pounds heavier and 3 inches taller than Heard, but he can still move.â€
And then the most interesting part of the conversation:
“Tyrone believes the pro scheme was just too much for him, especially with an underperforming o-line.â€
Spring practices just got more interesting.
And before we’re accused of being in favor of one player over another, we should also tell you that he had some positive things to say about Jerrod Heard as well:
“Heard is always talking and joking around in practice. He looks loose.â€
Two other quick notes from that conversation:
- Jonathan Gray reportedly looks really good; however, running back depth is a significant concern right now. Duke Catalon and company aren’t lighting the world on fire.
- First impression of Coach Traylor is that he’s a player's coach. According to our guy, it’s obvious that Traylor really cares about the players and wants them to succeed.
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We’ll wrap this week’s edition up with comments from current commitments about the 4th Texas pledge, quarterback Shane Buechele. News just broke two hours ago when Buechele announced his commitment on Twitter.
For those interested in a breakdown of Buechele’s skill as a signal caller, Mike Roach already has a scouting report up on the site and it includes video highlights.
As for the current 2016 pledges, you can be sure that the wide receivers are fired up about already having a quality trigger man in the class:
Collin Johnson on Buechele’s decision: “His commitment is good news. We are headed in the right direction.â€
Reggie Hemphill wasn’t quite as reserved: "That boy cold. He's my friend."
