Texas recruits are leaving the state, but the reasons differ
Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, the No. 1 ranked prospect in Texas, has been vocal about his desire to leave his hometown of Houston and potentially the state of Texas altogether.
“ … It’s just time for me to expand my wings and do my own thing away from home,†Wilson said.
Anthony Hines has more than 90 offers and is open to going out of state. Miller Safrit/ESPN
That mentality represents a growing trend among Texas prospects and has out-of-state schools clamoring at the idea of landing some of the nation’s top football talent.
Wilson has offers from programs across the country, including Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State and USC. So, if he truly wants to, Wilson will have no trouble leaving the state.
Wilson is not alone, either. In the 2015 recruiting class, 35 percent of the ESPN 300 prospects from Texas chose an out-of-state school. That number went up to 37 percent in 2016, and of the 18 ESPN 300 recruits from Texas in the 2017 class who have made their commitment, 10 have chosen out-of-state schools.
Cedar Hill head coach Joey McGuire has been a head coach in Texas for 13 years and has seen the mentality change.
“My big guys, if you go back and look at Cedar Hill, probably the top guys, it was basically Texas or Oklahoma or they were going to stay in-state,†McGuire said. “Now they’re open to go anywhere. I think one reason is because the recruits before them in the 2015 and 2016 class, they’ve gone other places and they see that.â€
For McGuire, there’s a clear starting point: the break-up of the Big 12.
“… It opened up the borders of the state of Texas,†McGuire said. “As recruiters, if you’re coming in and you’re saying come to Ole Miss and you’ll play A&M at home every other year and you’ll play at Arkansas, which is a drivable distance, and you’ll play LSU. Before parents could say it’s too far, but now there’s an in-state team that they’re playing and that opened up those doors.â€
ESPN Junior 300 running back Eno Benjamin has yet to make his commitment, but is strongly considering Iowa and Michigan, among other out-of-state programs. Benjamin says a lot of recruits have access to more information than ever before and they have taken notice of some of the Big 12’s struggles.
“They say the Big 12 defenses aren’t there and it’s just high-powered offenses,†Benjamin said. “A lot of them are looking forward to competing in other conferences. People want to go to the SEC where the competition is better or the Big Ten where they play better defense.â€
The state of Texas also has a high number of transplants from other states, which contributes to the number of prospects going out-of-state.
A big season from Charlie Strong and Texas could change a lot of in-state recruits' minds. Getty Images/Jon Durr
ESPN Jr. 300 safety Jeffrey Okudah, for example, moved to Texas from New Jersey in the sixth grade, so he feels no allegiance to the state. Okudah is very interested in Ohio State among other schools and is very likely to end up choosing a school outside of Texas.
That willingness to be open to leaving the state doesn’t mean that the in-state schools aren’t having success or aren’t trying to keep those prospects home, though. Texas coach Charlie Strong is doing his best at reversing that trend and trying to convince the top in-state prospects to stay home.
Strong and his staff made a big statement to the future Longhorns targets in the 2016 class by landing 11 ESPN 300 recruits from Texas, the most since 2010.
The late push by the staff in the 2016 class and big splash on signing day resonated with the local recruits and some of them think that the Longhorns will keep more and more of the in-state targets home.
That includes ESPN Jr. 300 linebacker Anthony Hines, who has nearly 90 offers and is one of the more sought-after prospects in his class.
“I think it’s going to go back to where it was,†Hines said. “You see more then ever that kids are getting out-of-state offers and that wasn’t always the case, because it was hands off Texas with the University of Texas. But a lot of these recruits are really feeling Texas now and they see the opportunity there.â€
Despite the growing mentality that choosing a school further away from home is acceptable, there is a way to put a stop to the bleeding.
“Winning takes care of a lot of stuff,†McGuire said. “When you’re winning, you can get a lot of kids and that will change if you’re winning big. These kids now a days care about what’s on their helmet and everything, but you better be winning big and going to bowl games to keep people in-state.â€
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