DALLAS — How big is Texas high school football? During a recent second-round playoff game in Texas’ largest classification, Texas Stadium rocked and rolled with 46,339 fans on hand to watch perennial power Southlake Carroll High School defeat Euless Trinity.

“That’s how big it is,” said Allen Grimes, a 12th-year assistant coach at Fossil Ridge in Keller, Texas.

No wonder Nebraska has significantly increased its recruiting presence in the state.

It’s not as if the Huskers ever stopped recruiting the Lone Star State; they’ve just turned it up a notch, especially in the past year.

Steve Pederson, upon taking over as Nebraska athletic director in December of 2002, noticed something somewhat troubling about the Husker football roster.

“We just didn’t have many Texas guys — I was surprised by that,” he said this week as Nebraska continued preparation for Monday’s Cotton Bowl showdown against Auburn.

Nebraska’s 2002 roster listed 10 Texas players, and there were 14 in 2003. The Huskers’ roster for the Cotton Bowl includes nine Texans.

Nebraska’s 2006 recruiting class featured only one Texas player — wide receiver Will Henry of El Paso. However, the Huskers have received oral commitments from seven Texans for the class of 2007.

According to the Nebraska football media guide, six of the team’s nine full-time assistant coaches have parts of Texas among their designated recruiting areas. That compares with three in 2004, Bill Callahan’s first season as head coach.

Nebraska coaches showed their intentions of upping their recruiting presence in Texas by putting on a clinic Thursday for state high school coaches immediately after the Huskers’ practice at Texas Stadium. About 100 prep coaches attended, a number that pleased NU officials.

“It’s just a perfect place for us to recruit heavily,” said Pederson, a former recruiting coordinator.

Recruiting Texas makes sense if only from a population standpoint, considering the state has more than 23 million residents. A total of 375 Texas high school players signed with Division I schools in 2006, including 188 from Dallas and 83 from Houston.

Mark Hurley, an assistant at South Grand Prairie High, said there’s a key stretch of about 10-15 high schools along Interstate 20 in the Dallas area that receives abundant attention from big-time college programs.

“You don’t have to go far in the Metroplex just because of sheer numbers,” he said.

College coaches like the fact Texas high school players have 24 days of full-pad practices in the spring. Some Texas high school stadiums look like college stadiums. Some coaches have annual salaries in excess of $100,000.

“They’re hired to coach football,” Pederson said. “Administrators don’t hire them to teach English and say, ‘By the way, you’re also going to coach football.’

“They take it very seriously.”

Grimes, the assistant coach at Fossil Ridge in Keller, said he’s noticed Nebraska’s increased recruiting intensity in the state.

“A lot of our kids wouldn’t mind going to Nebraska,” he said, adding, “They would give their left arm. It’s a winning tradition. Kids want to go where they can be successful.”

Nebraska can make a strong impact recruiting in Texas, “especially now that things are turned around up there and heading in the right direction,” said Hurley, the assistant at South Grand Prairie.

“They throw the ball around more than Nebraska had in the past, and I think that excites a lot of our kids,” he added.

Of course, Nebraska must work hard to beat Texas on the recruiting trail.

“Texas seems to get the cream of the crop from Texas, and A&M seems to get some of the top ones or that next-tier level,” Grimes said. “And all those other (Big 12) schools are trying to fight for them, too.”

Nebraska has experienced success in recruiting Texas over the years. For instance, “(Former assistant) Milt Tenopir would cover west Texas like a blanket,” Pederson said.

In addition, Pederson said, “The greatest change in Tom Osborne’s tenure was getting Turner Gill. That one player made a dramatic difference in the shape of our whole program.”

Gill, a native of Fort Worth, was 28-2 as Nebraska’s starting quarterback in the 1980s.

“Texas guys have had tremendous success when they’ve come to Nebraska,” Pederson said. “The kids always know there are going to be a certain number of games a year when their parents are going to be right there. And the kids down here are very aware of the traditions of Nebraska.”

Corky Houghton, offensive coordinator at Frisco Wakeland High, was on hand for the NU coaches clinic this week, and clearly appreciated the opportunity. He got wind of the clinic when his school received a fax.

“I don’t think this kind of thing happens very often,” he said.

It was just another way for Nebraska to branch out in Texas.