Nebraska going deep into Texas for recruits
Josh Williams knew nothing about the popularity of high school football in his new state when his family moved from Shreveport, La., to Denton, Texas, when he was about to start junior high.
Well, almost nothing, because even back then, it would have been next to impossible for Williams to be totally oblivious.
“The high school stadiums out here look like small-college stadiums,” he said.
To this day, Williams, now a senior at Denton’s Ryan High, still doesn’t completely get Texas’ infatuation with prep football. But he’s grateful for it. After all, becoming a star in one of the nation’s hotbeds of major college recruiting left him with almost limitless options.
Nebraska — along with schools from the Big 12, Southeastern and Pac-10 conferences, and other colleges in Texas — had no trouble finding and then offering the 6-foot-4, 200-pound defensive end a scholarship. Williams said yes to the Huskers last July, but then had to be won over again after Bill Callahan was fired at the end of the 2007 season.
As it turns out, Williams could pose as the poster boy for the “Deep in the Heart of Texas” strategy new coach Bo Pelini and his staff have used during their first eight weeks on the job.
Pelini’s first NU recruiting class, which will be announced Wednesday, currently includes nine Texans out of 25 recruits. Nebraska’s number of commitments had shrunk from 24 to 15 after Callahan was fired.
In building it back up, the Huskers got six Texas players after Pelini was hired. Williams also recommitted after he considered other offers.
Williams said Nebraska assistant Ted Gilmore didn’t mention the level of priority the Husker coaches were placing on signing kids from Texas. Then again, he probably didn’t have to.
“It seems Texas is going to be pretty big,” Williams said.
Oh, sure. Any school would like to make tracks for the Texas border, grab a couple handfuls of recruits each year and then start racking up championships. But getting kids from Texas isn’t as simple as just saying you’re going to recruit kids from Texas.
Ask Chad Morris, the coach of Nebraska quarterback recruit Kody Spano at Stephenville, Texas, who has spent 17 years coaching in that state.
“You don’t have a lot of outsiders come in here. You’ve got to have an ‘in,’” Morris said. “If someone on the outside is going to try and come and recruit here, the most important thing is for that coach to be straight-up and be honest. We get some coaches that try and come in and try and negatively recruit other schools. That’s a big turnoff. Kids can sense a bluff there.”
Morris completely understands, though, why schools like Nebraska would covet Texas kids. There, high school football is not just a part-time deal.
Morris, also the athletic director, is like many Texas high school head coaches and doesn’t teach classes. He has 12 assistants. He conducts spring practice — an option given to schools in the largest two of Texas’ five classifications.
“It’s a way of life for a lot of people,” Morris said, noting that his team has played in front of 32,000 people and regularly draws 9,000 for home games. “It’s a big business for high schools in the state of Texas.”
Nebraska running backs coach Tim Beck can relate.
Before spending the past three seasons as an assistant at the University of Kansas, he was head coach for three years each at two Texas high schools.
Beck took his first job there after the staff he was on at Southwest Missouri State was fired — and after turning down an opportunity to become offensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin, an NCAA Division I-AA program in Texas.
Beck says Nebraska won’t count on getting a certain number of recruits from Texas every year, that it will go wherever to get the best talent. But he also noted how common it is for a coach to walk into a Texas high school and see four seniors who are Division I prospects, and have four or five underclassmen waiting in the wings.
And, yes, it helps to know the lay of the land.
“No question if you’ve been down there as a coach it helps,” Beck said. “If I want speed, I go here. If I want hard-nosed kid, I go here.
“It’s hard, I think, when you come in as an unknown. But your school has a lot to do with it. Anybody that would come in there from the Big 12 would be recognized, because there’s national exposure.”
The influx of Texans at Nebraska isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. The Huskers’ 2007 class had seven players from the state. The previous year’s class, though, had just one.
Williams said he didn’t give any advantage to Texas schools who were recruiting him, but admits he’s comforted by the fact that so many other players from the state will be joining him at NU “because I know Texas has some pretty good ‘ballers’ coming out this year.”
The majority of the state’s players will become Longhorns, Aggies, Red Raiders, Horned Frogs or wear the uniform of another state school.
The ones who get away — and many do because of sheer numbers — oftentimes become prize catches for schools such as Nebraska.
Although for Williams, the venture north comes at somewhat of a price.
Two of his closest friends are the younger twin brothers of Derek Lokey, a Ryan High alum who just finished his senior season at Texas — and were quick to razz Williams about his college choice.
“If I was a nail and you were putting me in some wood, I was through the board twice,” Williams said. “I was getting pounded.
“I just didn’t feel the same (about Texas) as Nebraska.”
Those words are lip-smacking tasty to the Huskers’ new, Texas-sweetened recipe.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Well, almost nothing, because even back then, it would have been next to impossible for Williams to be totally oblivious.
“The high school stadiums out here look like small-college stadiums,” he said.
To this day, Williams, now a senior at Denton’s Ryan High, still doesn’t completely get Texas’ infatuation with prep football. But he’s grateful for it. After all, becoming a star in one of the nation’s hotbeds of major college recruiting left him with almost limitless options.
Nebraska — along with schools from the Big 12, Southeastern and Pac-10 conferences, and other colleges in Texas — had no trouble finding and then offering the 6-foot-4, 200-pound defensive end a scholarship. Williams said yes to the Huskers last July, but then had to be won over again after Bill Callahan was fired at the end of the 2007 season.
As it turns out, Williams could pose as the poster boy for the “Deep in the Heart of Texas” strategy new coach Bo Pelini and his staff have used during their first eight weeks on the job.
Pelini’s first NU recruiting class, which will be announced Wednesday, currently includes nine Texans out of 25 recruits. Nebraska’s number of commitments had shrunk from 24 to 15 after Callahan was fired.
In building it back up, the Huskers got six Texas players after Pelini was hired. Williams also recommitted after he considered other offers.
Williams said Nebraska assistant Ted Gilmore didn’t mention the level of priority the Husker coaches were placing on signing kids from Texas. Then again, he probably didn’t have to.
“It seems Texas is going to be pretty big,” Williams said.
Oh, sure. Any school would like to make tracks for the Texas border, grab a couple handfuls of recruits each year and then start racking up championships. But getting kids from Texas isn’t as simple as just saying you’re going to recruit kids from Texas.
Ask Chad Morris, the coach of Nebraska quarterback recruit Kody Spano at Stephenville, Texas, who has spent 17 years coaching in that state.
“You don’t have a lot of outsiders come in here. You’ve got to have an ‘in,’” Morris said. “If someone on the outside is going to try and come and recruit here, the most important thing is for that coach to be straight-up and be honest. We get some coaches that try and come in and try and negatively recruit other schools. That’s a big turnoff. Kids can sense a bluff there.”
Morris completely understands, though, why schools like Nebraska would covet Texas kids. There, high school football is not just a part-time deal.
Morris, also the athletic director, is like many Texas high school head coaches and doesn’t teach classes. He has 12 assistants. He conducts spring practice — an option given to schools in the largest two of Texas’ five classifications.
“It’s a way of life for a lot of people,” Morris said, noting that his team has played in front of 32,000 people and regularly draws 9,000 for home games. “It’s a big business for high schools in the state of Texas.”
Nebraska running backs coach Tim Beck can relate.
Before spending the past three seasons as an assistant at the University of Kansas, he was head coach for three years each at two Texas high schools.
Beck took his first job there after the staff he was on at Southwest Missouri State was fired — and after turning down an opportunity to become offensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin, an NCAA Division I-AA program in Texas.
Beck says Nebraska won’t count on getting a certain number of recruits from Texas every year, that it will go wherever to get the best talent. But he also noted how common it is for a coach to walk into a Texas high school and see four seniors who are Division I prospects, and have four or five underclassmen waiting in the wings.
And, yes, it helps to know the lay of the land.
“No question if you’ve been down there as a coach it helps,” Beck said. “If I want speed, I go here. If I want hard-nosed kid, I go here.
“It’s hard, I think, when you come in as an unknown. But your school has a lot to do with it. Anybody that would come in there from the Big 12 would be recognized, because there’s national exposure.”
The influx of Texans at Nebraska isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. The Huskers’ 2007 class had seven players from the state. The previous year’s class, though, had just one.
Williams said he didn’t give any advantage to Texas schools who were recruiting him, but admits he’s comforted by the fact that so many other players from the state will be joining him at NU “because I know Texas has some pretty good ‘ballers’ coming out this year.”
The majority of the state’s players will become Longhorns, Aggies, Red Raiders, Horned Frogs or wear the uniform of another state school.
The ones who get away — and many do because of sheer numbers — oftentimes become prize catches for schools such as Nebraska.
Although for Williams, the venture north comes at somewhat of a price.
Two of his closest friends are the younger twin brothers of Derek Lokey, a Ryan High alum who just finished his senior season at Texas — and were quick to razz Williams about his college choice.
“If I was a nail and you were putting me in some wood, I was through the board twice,” Williams said. “I was getting pounded.
“I just didn’t feel the same (about Texas) as Nebraska.”
Those words are lip-smacking tasty to the Huskers’ new, Texas-sweetened recipe.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.