2025 Recruiting Board/Thread

[Sirhornsalot]

From what I understand there won't be any more PWO. They are allowing partial scholarships. I have not seen any information on how that works. i.e. what is the minimum percentage an athlete can get. Maybe a player that would previously be a PWO will now get the minimum % of scholarship.

If you bring in more athletes then don't play by year 2 or year 3, then as you say some will likely leave. But being able to have more athletes competing for playing time should make the team stronger.

I think like NIL and the transfer portal the change to 105 will give large schools like Texas an advantage.

If you have 105 on the team, what happens with away games? At least a third of the team will be left at home.

 

[Chapalahorn]

If you have 105 on the team, what happens with away games? At least a third of the team will be left at home.

I agree and there are a lot more things like this to consider. Can your facilities handle it while maintaining team unity? Can you really coach that many the way you want to? There are many more things that I will think of later that I could have mentioned, but that’s what you guys are for!

 

[Baron]

Must be eminent coming from Fong.


You've got Smith Orogbo in there, too. I think he'll end up beinig the best of the three.

Dude is a stud. Just watch his tape. His twitch is unbelievable.

 

[dssl]

If you have 105 on the team, what happens with away games? At least a third of the team will be left at home.

Good question. Currently only 75 can travel, or participate in any given game. This implies that with a 105 team roster 30 would need to stay home vs 10 today. I wonder if they would consider upping that 75 limit.

One thing to remember is that when Royal was coaching there was no limit, and he supposedly took extra players to keep them away from his competitors.

It's another change that the coaches will need to adapt to. So far Sark has done a great job of adapting, so I expect he will figure out how to best utilize the new scholarship limit.

 

[BWilk55]

If you have 105 on the team, what happens with away games? At least a third of the team will be left at home.

We currently have 118 players on the roster. The roster limit is 120. The scholarship limit is 85.

Under the new rules, the roster limit and scholarship limit will be 105.

For Texas, I think perhaps the 20 additional players we can have on scholarship will mean 20 players of higher upside than are willing to come as a walk-on currently. Plenty of players who would love a chance to don the burnt orange but may not be in a position to make that decision without a scholarship vs going to a smaller program.

 

[RickyFlair]

We currently have 118 players on the roster. The roster limit is 120. The scholarship limit is 85.

Under the new rules, the roster limit and scholarship limit will be 105.

For Texas, I think perhaps the 20 additional players we can have on scholarship will mean 20 players of higher upside than are willing to come as a walk-on currently. Plenty of players who would love a chance to don the burnt orange but may not be in a position to make that decision without a scholarship vs going to a smaller program.

I would imagine Sark will try and fill the 20 spots with the best players possible.

 

[dssl]

Under the new rules, the roster limit and scholarship limit will be 105.

It's interesting that the roster limit is 105, and we can have 105 scholarships. I guess the new rule allowing partial scholarships isn't useful to the big schools, but will be useful to smaller schools with more limited budgets.

 

[83Dee]

It's interesting that the roster limit is 105, and we can have 105 scholarships. I guess the new rule allowing partial scholarships isn't useful to the big schools, but will be useful to smaller schools with more limited budgets.

Is that a new rule? I think this has always been allowed, hasn't it? I know it has for baseball....

Food, books, tuition, room... all combined is a "full scholarship," correct? And this can be divided amongst potentially four players??

 

[BWilk55]

Is that a new rule? I think this has always been allowed, hasn't it? I know it has for baseball....

Food, books, tuition, room... all combined is a "full scholarship," correct?

Some sports are head count sports (ie full scholarships - football, basketball, volleyball) and some allow partial scholarships (ie baseball has 11 scholarships to divide up however they want).

 

[BWilk55]

It's interesting that the roster limit is 105, and we can have 105 scholarships. I guess the new rule allowing partial scholarships isn't useful to the big schools, but will be useful to smaller schools with more limited budgets.

Basically NCAA is doing away with scholarship limits, but they are changing roster limits (for the most part decreasing them). So your new de factor scholarship limit = the new roster limits.

 

[BWilk55]

I would imagine Sark will try and fill the 20 spots with the best players possible.

Yes, of course. I think that is what he is doing now but its harder to recruit a guy to be the 86th best player at Texas without a scholarship vs the 10th best player at UTSA on full scholarship.

When we can offer that same guy a scholarship, may make it more palatable for that player to come to Texas.

 

[dssl]

Is that a new rule? I think this has always been allowed,

I read somewhere that this is a change that's happening with the 85-105 change. Again, this isn't a factor for Texas, but for a school with a limited budget this should be useful.

 

[hookemhorb]

Yes, of course. I think that is what he is doing now but its harder to recruit a guy to be the 86th best player at Texas without a scholarship vs the 10th best player at UTSA on full scholarship.

When we can offer that same guy a scholarship, may make it more palatable for that player to come to Texas.

I think that's true for someone who grew up a Texas fan or someone who just wants to be on a team with a chance for a championship but the good players want to play. You see it now. Some pick schools based on how soon they can get on the field.

I see this helping in getting good specialty players like kickers and long snappers.

Maybe every once in a while we hit the jackpot with one of these guys but I don't see it happening to often. About as often as we see walk-ons getting scholarships and playing meaningful minutes.

 

[BWilk55]

I think that's true for someone who grew up a Texas fan or someone who just wants to be on a team with a chance for a championship but the good players want to play. You see it now. Some pick schools based on how soon they can get on the field.

I see this helping in getting good specialty players like kickers and long snappers.

Maybe every once in a while we hit the jackpot with one of these guys but I don't see it happening to often. About as often as we see walk-ons getting scholarships and playing meaningful minutes.

I agree, kickers, punters, long snappers can probably all be brought in on scholarship now. Often, the starting kicker or punter would be put on scholarship but not the backups.

Now you can likely have multiple kickers and punters on scholarship at a time.

I do think we will have the opportunity to have more Michael Taafe types but I agree, the impact will be marginal, maybe 1-2 guys a cycle who fit the bill.

 

[dssl]

I agree, kickers, punters, long snappers can probably all be brought in on scholarship now. Often, the starting kicker or punter would be put on scholarship but not the backups.

Now you can likely have multiple kickers and punters on scholarship at a time.

I do think we will have the opportunity to have more Michael Taafe types but I agree, the impact will be marginal, maybe 1-2 guys a cycle who fit the bill.

For the top teams I don't think their will be a significant drop in average recruit ranking, but having 105 vs 85 should result in better average quality of players that win significant playing time. For better or worse this likely also causes more players to portal.

I see the new 105 scholarship limit expanding the advantage that schools like TX got with the addition of NIL and the transfer portal.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Interestiiing report from Bobby this morning.

He says behind the scenes, things are red-hot for the Longhorns. Due to Texas' big start to the season and the momentum we have, there are "elite" recruits who are calling Texas. Some, he said, have never been on the radar with us.

And those we've been iin contact with, we're now making real progress with. We're setting up officials and unofficials.

Here's a snippet:
"The conversations with previously targeted elite prospects, those committed elsewhere, are becoming longer and more productive. Visits, official and unofficial, are being set.

And it’s not just in the class of 2025."

 

[605Longhorn]

Interestiiing report from Bobby this morning.

He says behind the scenes, things are red-hot for the Longhorns. Due to Texas' big start to the season and the momentum we have, there are "elite" recruits who are calling Texas. Some, he said, have never been on the radar with us.

And those we've been iin contact with, we're now making real progress with. We're setting up officials and unofficials.

Here's a snippet:
"The conversations with previously targeted elite prospects, those committed elsewhere, are becoming longer and more productive. Visits, official and unofficial, are being set.

And it’s not just in the class of 2025."

Thank you for the good news update!!!!

 

[PTA]

Interestiiing report from Bobby this morning.

He says behind the scenes, things are red-hot for the Longhorns. Due to Texas' big start to the season and the momentum we have, there are "elite" recruits who are calling Texas. Some, he said, have never been on the radar with us.

And those we've been iin contact with, we're now making real progress with. We're setting up officials and unofficials.

Here's a snippet:
"The conversations with previously targeted elite prospects, those committed elsewhere, are becoming longer and more productive. Visits, official and unofficial, are being set.

And it’s not just in the class of 2025."

Go ahead and tell Kate to visit her photographer. Wait, I will see her this evening!!

 

[Rotty22]

Interestiiing report from Bobby this morning.

He says behind the scenes, things are red-hot for the Longhorns. Due to Texas' big start to the season and the momentum we have, there are "elite" recruits who are calling Texas. Some, he said, have never been on the radar with us.

And those we've been iin contact with, we're now making real progress with. We're setting up officials and unofficials.

Here's a snippet:
"The conversations with previously targeted elite prospects, those committed elsewhere, are becoming longer and more productive. Visits, official and unofficial, are being set.

And it’s not just in the class of 2025."

Just keep winning

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Looks like we're getting a committment tomorrow folks. A name I have not read before. Apparently, we've been recruiting him. 4-star safety Zelus Hicks (6'2, 185). out of Georgia.

Texas, Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia and Clemson are the finalist for him. Gerry places our percentage at 75% to get him.

I think he's a 2026 kid but is going to reclassify to 2025. He's had three visits to UT.

He announces tomorrow.