Burnt Ends (9-22)

[HornSports Staff]

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 caught up with a family source in the Kerwin Roach recruitment. For those that haven’t been able to follow the updates we’ve had over the last few weeks, Roach is a combo guard from Houston that is rated the 7th best player in Texas (247 Composite) and a Top 70 player nationally.

Texas got the SG they wanted in Eric Davis (Saginaw, MI) and as we’ve reported, Rick Barnes is hoping to snag Roach in addition to Davis because of the flexibility it gives him with the lineup over a player like Matt McQuaid.

Here are the nuts and bolts as relayed to us from a family member...

• Kerwin really likes UT at this point.
• Kerwin is visiting USC next week but “unless those California girls get to him”, he will be playing closer to home
• Rick Barnes visited him last week
• Roach will take an official visit to Austin in mid-October, but he already made one trip to campus and had the opportunity to play/shoot around with Kevin Durant
• He took a visit to Wichita State and the weekend he went a cold front blew in.  Roach didn’t think he wanted to play in a “cold weather environment”
• Texas A&M visited Roach after Barnes but, according to our family source, he has zero interest in playing at A&M
• We asked about hoops blue bloods like Kansas & Kentucky and our contact said Roach didn’t want to play at Kentucky because they have “those brothers” (Harrison twins) and Kansas is, well, too far North

Everything sounds like it’s lining up for the Horns nicely. Even a few in-state high school coaches we checked with all agreed that it would be an upset for Roach to pick a school other than Texas. Roach is set to commit on October 24th (his birthday).

Before we move on, get a load of this (from our family source)...Rick Barnes almost “screwed the pooch” with respect to Kerwin.  Barnes flew out to Vegas to watch Roach play AAU ball, and mentioned to someone that the kid he was watching was getting beat on almost every play. Turns out he wasn’t watching Roach! (That was quickly pointed out to him.)

*****
No surprise when we heard that Texas coaches were, literally, all over the map during their bye week. The texts started coming in mid-week and not only did we get notices from across the state of Texas, the staff was reported in Florida, Arkansas and New Mexico too.

In the Metroplex we got reports that various coaches stopped at Bishop Dunne, Rowlett, Skyline and South Oak Cliff high schools.

In greater Houston, we know they hit Manvel & North Shore.

No rest during a bye week in the coaching business.

*****
One spot we heard from was Dumas, AR where a Longhorns staff member was at Will Gragg’s game. Gragg is a Top 10 tight end nationally.

Gragg is set to announce his commitment at 10am (CST) on Tuesday (9-23). Despite a solid effort from Texas coaches that are selling Gragg the opportunity to contribute early, it looks like he will pick Arkansas. Even though the Horns offered back in February, Gragg has steadily visited Fayetteville, including 2-3 trips in the six weeks.

*****
That covers the Arkansas visit, we also heard that Coach Watson traveled over to New Mexico to check-in with Zach Gentry. Even though Gentry committed in the Spring and also attended the Under the Lights camp, the Texas coaches still want him to feel like he is a priority for this class.

Especially coming from out-of-state, it’s not easy to have a built-in relationship with teammates or coaches, so Watson’s trip shouldn’t come as a surprise.

*****
A slight surprise to hear was that the Texas coaching staff is picking up interest in Devin Williams. An athlete that likely projects to defensive back in college, Williams stars as a dual threat quarterback for Mansfield HS.

Williams took an unofficial visit to Nebraska over the weekend and has heard from UT, Baylor, A&M and LSU. With most schools in wait-and-watch mode, we hear that Williams likes the 3 in-state schools on that list and may commit to whoever is first to offer.

*****
Five star wideout DaMarkus Lodge decommitted from Texas A&M mid-week, last week. Good timing for the Texas coaches – they quickly made their way to Cedar Hill HS to chat and be sure Lodge knows they’re interested.

A Top 10 player in Texas, as well as a Top 10 national wide receiver, Lodge has an offer list that stretches from coast to coast. We’re hearing that Texas has ground to make up on some other regional schools, but Lodge reportedly would prefer to play ball close to home.

Another factor that may weigh in the Horns’ favor, Lodge cited A&M’s depth at receiver as a concern when talking about his decommitment.

*****
There were plenty of internet meltdowns recently over Malik Jefferson. A relatively harmless tweet about A&M was blown out of proportion on all sides and before long Jefferson was “committed to the Aggies”…..such is the life of a highly touted recruit in the age of social media.

Allow us to set the record straight….as of right now, Jefferson is still openly talking to plenty of schools. Reports of Baylor, Texas, and A&M having an edge are real.

What we’re hearing from someone close to his recruitment is that Jefferson’s Mom prefers Texas and the discipline of Charlie Strong’s program. A&M’s winning ways are attractive but the family isn’t exactly enamored with the player culture in College Station.

Watch out for Baylor sneaking in the back door. We’re told the family sees them as somewhat of a middle ground – they win like A&M, yet Art Briles has control of his program.

This one is bound to take several turns between now and December 19th (his announcement date), but that’s where things stand today.

*****
Soso Jamabo is racking up rushing yards and touchdowns at an astonishing rate. When you average more than 13 yards per carry, people take notice.

With all the production, we were curious about the seemingly mutual lack of interest between Jamabo and the Longhorns. What we were told by some coaches in his area is that Charlie Strong’s Core Values might not be a good fit for the young running back.

His talent is undeniable, so keep an eye on him and his recruitment.

*****
One of the most interesting visits made by Texas last week was to Southwest HS in Fort Worth. Southwest is home to linebacker Semaj Thomas, who has been committed to TCU since January.

Regardless of his intention to stay close to home, the Texas staff extended a scholarship this Summer. Now, after last week’s visit, we decided it was time to ask some questions about Thomas’ recruitment.

What we were told: “Flipping Semaj is going to be tough but he’s listening to what they have to say and that’s more than most schools can claim.”

*****
Touched base with our former player bud that contributed some thoughts the last few weeks. Even though the Horns didn’t play, we wanted to check in with him. His comment was:

“The amount of work done during a bye week usually reflects the performance of the previous game. I'd be willing to bet that the Longhorns have had a long week of practicing fundamentals. Charlie Strong is a no nonsense kind of Coach, just like Coach Moorer.”

*****
If you missed the update on the message board, Coach Wickline was at North Shore high school on Friday to review Tyler Moore’s transcript and then to attend the NSHS v Trinity game. Since coaches aren’t allowed to talk about recruits or recruiting, we asked him whether Darius James is in line for a start this weekend at Kansas.

Ever evasive, his reply, “I’m thinking about it.”

*****
We’ll close this edition with a player quote. There’s been a lot of talk across various sites that fans are weary of Quandre Diggs constantly ‘throwing his teammates under the bus’. It’s been a consistent enough topic that we decided to check in with some of the team to see if there were any hard feelings…

“Nah – it ain’t like that. Not at all. That’s just him [Diggs].”

And, “What they don’t see is how hard he works for us and pushes us to get better. He just wants to win. How can I get mad at that?”

 

[Lord Vader]

Solid. 

 

[drgilbert]

Thanks

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Very good information.

 

[Duke C #11]

Tasty.

 

[echeese]

Lodge must not think to highly of himself if he's worried about depth charts.  .. . considering aggie lines up with 4 WRs.

Though I wonder if that's a "throw away" comment for reporters. . . 

 

[Matt Cotcher]

Gragg picked Arkansas.

 

[Chitownhorn]

Good stuff.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

It's impressive how closely UT is holding information these days. Patterson, Strong & Co. have completely changed the flow of information coming out of Bellmont.

The Estelle news is yet another example.

 

[Topstarr]

Good information with this writing

Thanks

 

[pringlelake]

Gragg picked Arkansas.

Not only did he pick Arky, he didn't even mention Texas as being in his top 4 or 5. Said he would take some official visits even though committed but did not name Texas.

Very disappointing to me that we made no impression on a player we apparently targeted hard.