Part 2 of 3

Horns Heading for Another Top Recruiting Class

Texas has an even dozen commitments, after getting a pledge from DT Tully
Janszen, 6-4, 245, 4.78, of Keller on August 2
He picked Texas over Oklahoma. He had considered only Texas, OU and A&M, and
had offers from all three.
The Longhorns, who have had three straight top five national recruiting
classes, are on track to make it four in a row.
They already have pledges from six recruits who have been on one or more
national top 100 lists, including three other DT prospects - Sonny Davis of
Gulf Coast JC in Mississippi and formerly of Austin Lanier, Earl Anderson of
San Marcos and Lyle Sendlein of Scottsdale Chaparral, the two-time defending
Arizona state champion.
The other UT commitments who have been on some top national lists are OLs
Brett Valdez of Brownwood and Neale Tweedie of Allen and TE David Thomas of
Wolfford Frenship (a complete list of all the Longhorn pledges is on page 7).
Janszen said the Longhorn coaches told him they want him to play DT, and he
said they told him they like his quickness and aggressiveness.
He said when he called Texas head coach Mack Brown to tell him he wanted to
play for the Longhorns. "He seemed real happy to hear from me."
While Brown can't talk about specific recruits until they sign, he has said
he wants defensive linemen who can really run because of all the spread
offenses that are the vogue in the Big 12.
Janszen has great explosion at the line of scrimmage and is very fast for a
DT.
He said he picked Texas because "I liked the way I was treated by the coaches
and players. They are like a big family."
After informally visiting all three of his finalists, he said UT was an easy
choice. "The players and coaches are so much friendlier than at other places.
I really felt at home there."
He alo said his sister lives at New Braunfels, which is between Austin and
San Antonio.  "Her husband is a coach at Converse Judson," he said. "It will
be good to have family that close."
Janszen said he had 10 sacks and about 15 other tackles for losses last year.
He has a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and has a 22 ACT score, which is well above
the qualifying score.
* * * *
When I quoted Marquis Johnson's mother in my last issue as saying he made it
to Texas, but never got to Austin, it turns out she didn't know the whole
story.
Johnson, a national top 100 receiver from Champaign, Ill., visited with a
friend in the Dallas area and told me they drove to Austin one weekend and
looked around, but said his mother didn't know that when I talked to her.
"The coaches didn't know I was coming that day and they weren't around," he
said, "but we looked around a lot and I really liked what I saw. Austin is a
nice town and I've always been a fan of the University of Texas football
team."
Johnson told me he is very close to committing to Texas and probably will
take his official visit the August 31 weekend and see the Horns' September 1
opener against New Mexico State.
He said there is a good chance he will commit during his visit.
Out-of-state recruits can take official visits during football season. Texas
recruits have to wait until their seasons are over or, under UIL rules, they
would lose their eligibility to finish their high school football season.
Johnson is a great prospect because he is big and fast and doesn't mind
making the tough catch in traffic. He also has great hands and seldom misses
a catchable ball.
"I like to make the catch and get out of trouble as quick as I can," he said,
"but I don't mind taking a hit, too. It's a challenge to hang on to the ball
when someone is hitting on you."
There are three big-time recruits I think the Longhorns are almost certain to
sign. They are Johnson, DT Kasey Studdard of Highlands Ranch, Colo., and DT
Rodrique Wright of Alief Hastings.
Wright is the top defensive tackle prospect in the country and the best
player in Texas. Studdard is one of the top players in Colorado and Johnson
is one of the top recruits in Illinois.
Texas also leads with several other top players, including LB Aaron Harris of
North Mesquite and DT Marco Martin of Mesquite. Harris is the state's top
inside linebacker.
DE Chase Pittman of Shreveport Evangel, the younger brother of Cole Pittman,
the sophomore DT at UT who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in
February, has narrowed his choices to Texas and LSU.
The Longhorns have dedicated their second game, against North Carolina, to
Cole Pittman, and the Pittman family will be in attendance. I expect Chase
Pittman to announce his college choice very quicly after that.
Pittman and another nationally recruited DE, Bryan Pickryl of Jenks, Okla.,
both plan to graduate in December and enroll in college in January so they
can go through spring training.
Pickryl hasn't narrowed his choices to two teams, but he has a big three of
UCLA, Texas and Missouri and the Longhorns are at least tied with UCLA for
the lead at this point.
Oklahoma can't be counted out, but he took an unofficial visit to OU about 10
days ago, and came home saying the Sooners still hadn't moved into his top
three.
His grandmother and two uncles live in Austin, but his father graduated from
UCLA.
He's also an excellent student who wants to go to a very good academic
school, which probably is a major reason Texas, UCLA and Missouri rank ahead
of OU.
* * * *
My list of the top 25 players in Texas includes three players (No. 3 DT Earl
Anderson, No. 17 LB Brian Robison and No. 23 OL Brett Valdez) who are already
committed to Texas.
The Longhorns also are in strong contention for No. 1 DT Wright, No. 3 DE
Travis Leitko of The Woodlands, No. 6 RB Albert Hardy of Galena Park, No. 7
DE Larry Dibbles of Lancaster, No. 8 Ath Edorian McCullough of North Garland,
No. 9 LB Harris, No. 11 LB Garnett Smith of Arlington Lamar, No. 14 OL Justin
Blalock of Plano East, No. 15 DT Martin, No. 16 CB Ricky Wilson of Port
Arthur Lincoln, No. 21 DE Dontriel Coates of Anahuac and No. 22 Ath DaBryan
Blanton of Carrollton Turner.
Wright and Hardy both attended UT practices last week.
There are some other guys in my top 25 who are interested in UT, including
No. 2 QB Vincent Young of Houston Madison, and No. 19 WR Robert Timmons of
Flower Mound Marcus, but Young seems to be leaning toward going out of state
and Timmons drew a three-game suspension from his coach last week for
unidentified transgressions.
There are some other great players in the group who have serious academic
deficiencies.
* * * *
FB-LB Brandon Hancock of Clovis, Cal., has committed to USC. As I noted in my
last newsletter, he said he enjoyed his unofficial visit to Texas, but was
almost certain he would sign with a California school.
A national top 100 prospect in California who has expressed some interest in
Texas is QB Trent Edwards, 6-4, 185, 4.7, of Los Gatos, who completed an
incredible 78% of his passes last year for 2,529 yards and 29 TDs. Stanford
leads, however.

Texas' Early Commitments

These are the 12 recruits who already have committed to Texas:
1. OL Brett Valdez, 6-4, 310, 5.2, Brownwood
2. DT Sonny Davis, 6-1, 320, 5.0, Austin Lanier  and Gulf Coast, Miss., JC
3. DT Earl Anderson, 6-3, 265, 4.8, San Marcos
4. DT Lyle Sendlein, 6-4, 260, 4.8, Scottsdale Chaparral
5. Ath Clint Haney, 5-11, 185, 4.27, Smithson Valley
6. QB Billy Don Malone, 6-2 1/2, 185, 4.7, Paris North Lamar
7. WR Dustin Miksch, 6-0, 167, 4.35, Round Rock Westwood
8. TE David Thomas, 6-3, 210, 4.55, Wolfforth Frenship
9. LB Marcus Myers, 6-3, 220, 4.5 Pflugerville Connally
10. OL Neale Tweedie, 6-5, 255, 4.9, Allen
11. LB Brian Robison, 6-3, 243, 4.6, Splendora
12. DT Tully Jantzen, 6-4, 255, 4.8, Keller
Robison was named the outstanding male performer at the AAU Junior Olympics
in Norfolk, Va. He broke his own national AAU Junior Olympic record by
winning the discus with a 202-7 throw and was second in the shot and sixth in
the javelin.
FUTURE RECRUITING NOTE: John David Booty, 6-3, 185, 4.56, will be the
starting QB in the Shreveport Evangel's famed passing offense this year, and,
as a sophomore, he's already being featured in national sports magazines and
compared favorably with past Evangel QBs like Brock Berlin. He has been a
visitor at Longhorn practices and mentions Texas as one of his favorite
schools. I know he won't be a senior for a long time, but write his name in
your futures book if you have one because he'll be the top recruit in the
country in two years unless he gets hurt. He already has a powerful arm,
quick release, great accuracy and real speed for a QB and was the top signal
caller at the Nike camp in Baton Rouge.

Longhorn Notes . .
* Although the team isn't in full pads yet, the one-on-one drills between
offensive and defensive linemen get pretty fierce at times. DT Marcus Tubbs,
DE Kalen Thornton and DT Maurice Gordon have been very impressive getting
around and through the blockers, and OTs Mike Williams and Alfio Randall have
been the best at keeping the rushers at bay in the drills I've watched.
* The Longhorn defense is going to be less predictable this season. The team
has been working on zone blitzes and other innovative schemes and even has
defensive ends dropping off into pass coverage at times. "We want to disguise
what we are doing and try to confuse the quarterback and make him hold on to
the ball longer, which gives us a better chance to get to him," said head
coach Mack Brown.
* Senior WR Montrell Flowers has been one of the stars of the early
practices. He got behind the secondary and caught two long touchdown passes
from QB Chris Simms in the Saturday and Sunday workouts. The early battles
between the receivers and the secondary have been exciting to watch.
* Brown says TE Bo Scaife appears to be completely recovered from his knee
surgeries. "Bo's a valuable part of this football teamm when he is healthy,"
he said, "and he's looking great. He's in the best shape he's been in and he
knows he's well now. He can help us a lot this season.