SB Nation Dallas - Big 12 College Football Recruiting Rankings, 2012: Texas, OU Remain A Step Abovehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48887/dallas-fave.png2012-02-02T14:00:37-06:00http://dallas.sbnation.com/rss/stream/25309632012-02-02T14:00:37-06:002012-02-02T14:00:37-06:002012 College Football Recruiting Wrap-Up: Texas Top 100 Dominated By UT, A&M
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<p>This season, only three states -- California, Florida and Texas -- merited a full Top 100 prospect list from Rivals. And while recruiting rankings are an inexact science, it's no coincidence that most the nation's elite programs over the last decade are schools located near the country's three biggest recruiting hot-beds.</p>
<p>And while college football in the state of Texas has undergone a dramatic upheaval in the last year, with Texas and Texas A&M parting ways, Baylor winning a Heisman Trophy and former SWC schools migrating to the Big 12, SEC and the Big East, the state's two largest schools were still able to keep most of its top talent at home.</p>
<p>Of the four five-star recruits from the Lone Star State, two (RB Johnathan Gray, DT Malcom Brown) are headed to Austin while one (RB Trey Williams) is off to College Station. DE Mario Edwards Jr., the only five-star to leave the state, is somewhat of a special circumstance, as he's going to Florida State, the alma mater of his father, former Dallas Cowboys CB Mario Edwards Sr.</p>
<p>Despite the Longhorns lackluster 13-12 record over the last two years and the Aggies replacing Mike Sherman with former UH coach Kevin Sumlin near the end of the 2012 recruiting cycle, both schools were even more dominant among the state's 33 four star recruits, with Texas getting 12 and Texas A&M getting 6.</p>
<p>Most of the Big 12 conference depends on a solid pipeline out of Texas, so it's no surprise that 37 of the state's top 100 prospects committed to the other 8 schools in the conference.</p>
<p>However, Oklahoma, which traditionally competes with UT and A&M throughout the state, had a down year, pulling in only 4 Top 100 players from Texas. That left room for a fierce battle in the middle of the Big 12, with Texas Tech (9) surprisingly coming ahead of a Baylor program coming off a Heisman Trophy (7), an Oklahoma State program coming off a Big 12 championship (7) and a TCU program coming off two BCS bowl appearances in the last three years (6) for number of Top 100 commitments.</p>
<p>One story-line to watch in future years will be the SEC's increased exposure in the state, as the addition of Texas A&M could open the previously closed Texas recruiting grounds to big-budget programs throughout the South. The Aggies new conference competitors only grabbed 8 of the state's Top 100 players.</p>
<p>And while SMU and Houston both received coveted Big East invitations, putting them (for now) among the AQ "haves" in college football, neither was able to use that to make much headway in the state, receiving a combined three Top 100 commitments.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/2/2/2766931/2012-college-football-recruiting-texas-top-100Jonathan Tjarks2012-02-02T13:00:32-06:002012-02-02T13:00:32-06:00Big 12 College Football Recruiting Rankings, 2012: Texas, OU Remain A Step Above
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<p>National Signing Day has become Groundhog Day in the Big 12, as Mack Brown and Bob Stoops once again lapped their competitors with top 10 recruiting classes.</p> <p>Over the last 12 months, the Big 12 has lost four schools -- Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri -- and gained two more -- TCU and West Virginia. Yet despite all the turmoil, some things never change, as Texas and OU once again dominated the rest of the conference in the 2012 recruiting cycle.</p>
<p>Texas, despite a lackluster 13-12 record over the last two years, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2012/2/1/2765285/college-football-recruiting-rankings-2012-alabama-texas-florida-ohio-state/in/2528667">finished behind only Alabama in the national recruiting rankings</a>. Their class is headlined by two five-star recruits: 5'11 190 RB Johnathan Gray, who broke nearly every national rushing record playing in Aledo, TX and 6'2 280 DT Malcom Brown, who many expect to become the next Longhorn defensive linemen to challenge for All-American status.</p>
<p><i><a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2011/12/20/2650891/texas-2012-football-recruiting">This stream</a> <span style="line-height: 16px;">has an in-depth look at UT's star-studded class.</span></i></p>
<p>Oklahoma, as usual, stayed right on their arch-rivals' heels, finishing with a Top 10 recruiting class. But while the Sooners have typically raided the Lone Star state for talent, they were only 5 Texans among their 25 commitments this season, as Bob Stoops went nation-wide for players, grabbing top recruits out of California, Florida and Maryland.</p>
<p>The head-liner of their class is five-star WR Trey Metomeyer, a 6'2 200 WR out of Virginia. Landry Jones struggled mightily once <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/8379/ryan-broyles">Ryan Broyles</a> went down with an ACL injury, and Metomeyer may be able to contribute immediately for the Oklahoma passing attack.</p>
<p>With Texas A&M off to the SEC, there was a huge drop-off after the top two schools in the Big 12, as the next highest ranked program was Texas Tech, who snuck into SBNation's composite rankings at No. 24.</p>
<p>Somewhat surprisingly, Oklahoma State was unable to build on their Big 12 championship, finishing right among a large group outside of the top 25 along with TCU, Baylor and West Virginia. All five schools, who've consistently placed in the top 25 over the last few years, will be battling to see who can emerge from the pack to challenge Texas and OU.</p>
<p><i><a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/tcu-horned-frogs/2012/1/30/2758924/tcu-recruiting-tracking-horned-frogs-signing-day-2012">This stream</a> has an in-depth look at TCU's first BCS recruiting class, while Baylor <a href="http://dallas.sbnation.com/2012/1/30/2758851/baylor-recruiting-tracking-bears-signing-day-2012">is covered here</a>.</i></p>
<p>And while recruiting rankings aren't perfect, <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/star-power-defense-recruiting-rankings-214251813.html">they are an excellent predictor of future success</a>. Since 2000, the Longhorns and Sooners have won 9 of 12 Big championships, with Colorado and Kansas State winning in huge upsets against a 2001 Texas team and a 2003 Oklahoma team that were set to play in the BCS title game.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the school's farthest from the recruiting hotbed of Texas -- Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State -- did the worst in 2012, with the national recruiting services ranking all three schools' classes outside of the top 60.</p>
<p>However, Bill Synder has made a Hall of Fame career out of bringing elite junior college players, who are traditionally rated lower than high-school recruits, to Manhattan, while new Kansas coach Charlie Weis, who was an ace recruiter at Notre Dame, saved his biggest splash for the transfer market, where he reeled in two former 5-star QB's: <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/50230/dayne-crist">Dayne Crist</a> and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/112909/jake-heaps">Jake Heaps</a>.</p>
<p><i>SB Nation Kansas City has in-depth streams looking at <a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-st-wildcats/2012/1/31/2760985/kansas-state-football-recruiting-bill-snyders-wildcats-pick-up-two">the Wildcats recruiting class</a> as well as <a href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/kansas-jayhawks/2011/12/14/2635168/charlie-weis-to-kansas-former-notre-dame-quaterback-dayne-crist-to">the Jayhawks</a>.</i></p>
<p>Oklahoma State, behind a 28-year old former baseball player and an unheralded three-star WR likely to be a top-10 pick in the 2011 Draft, was able to take advantage of crippling injuries to Oklahoma (Broyles) and Texas (RB's Fozzy Whittaker, Malcolm Brown and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/134591/joe-bergeron">Joe Bergeron</a>) to win a Big 12 championship in 2012.</p>
<p>And with both traditional powers once again dominating on the recruiting trail, it's looking like the conference's other eight schools will need a similar confluence of events to bring home a Big 12 title.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-longhorns/2012/2/2/2766722/big-12-college-football-recruiting-rankings-2012-texas-ouJonathan Tjarks