Recruiting Success Creates Even Higher Expectations for Texas

Longhorns fans will look for a national championship and a bumper crop of future NFL players.




Mack Brown reeled in eight high school all-Americans in the Longhorns' 2002 recruiting class.

Feb. 6, 2002

  • Top-25 Players of 2002

    By JIM VERTUNO
    AP Sports Writer

    AUSTIN (AP) - Mack Brown keeps attracting recruits and building national championship hopes at Texas.

    The Texas recruiting class signed by Brown on Wednesday was considered the nation's best by national recruiting experts, which is sure to stoke the expectations of Longhorns fans for at least a Big 12 title and ultimately a national championship.

    Brown had the consensus No. 1 class in 1999, too. Texas made it to the conference title game last season and finished in the Top 10 for the first time since 1983. Even so, some critics have labeled Brown "Coach February."

    "At Texas, you've got to win," Brown said. "I do think we get too much credit for recruiting and not enough credit for coaching."

    Top-10 Classes
    The Top 10 teams on signing day as rated by four of the country's top recruiting reports:

    SuperPrep Magazine
    1. Texas
    2. Miami
    3. Ohio State
    4. Tennessee
    5. UCLA
    6. Oklahoma
    7. Michigan
    8. Southern California
    9. Florida State
    10. Virginia

    National Recruiting Advisor
    1. Texas
    2. Ohio State
    3. Miami
    4. Tennessee
    5. Virginia
    6. UCLA
    7. South Carolina
    8. Florida State
    9. Michigan
    10. Notre Dame

    Prep Football Report
    1. Texas
    2. Tennessee
    3. Georgia
    4. Ohio State
    5. Miami
    6. Florida State
    7. Auburn
    8. Oklahoma
    9. UCLA
    10. Virginia

    National Blue Chips
    1. Texas
    2. (tie) Ohio State
    2. (tie) Tennessee
    4. Oklahoma
    5. Miami
    6. Florida State
    7. UCLA
    8. Southern California
    9. Auburn
    10. (tie) South Carolina
    10. (tie) Texas A&M
    10. (tie) Virginia

    The 27 recruits signed Wednesday should help Brown win some more. The group includes eight all-Americans, including Houston Madison quarterback Vincent Young, considered by some the best prospect in the country.

    At 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, Young accounted for 3,819 yards and 59 touchdowns passing and rushing last season.

    "He's got the height, he's got the arm, he's got all the things that you need to be successful," Brown said.

    Texas again proved its ability to get many of the top players in its home state. And when the Longhorns crossed the border, they signed Parade All-Americans Bryan Pickryl, a defensive lineman from Tulsa, Okla.; and Marquis Johnson, a wide receiver from Champaign, Ill.

    "We always look hard at the in-state guys first, and if we can't find the perfect fit, we go out of state," Brown said.

    The Longhorns made defensive linemen and linebackers a priority and signed 12.

    "They just dominated everything," Tom Lemming of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Prep Football Report said.

    "They are head and shoulders ahead of everyone else. They helped themselves at every single position."

    At Texas A&M, coach R.C. Slocum signed 23 players, including the two quarterbacks that started in the Class 5A Division II state championship game in December - Lufkin's Reggie McNeal and Austin Westlake's Chad Schroeder.

    Slocum said McNeal will be given a chance to play at quarterback right away. Schroeder, who initially committed to Purdue before deciding to stay closer to home, is expected to play receiver for the Aggies.

    In his last high school game, McNeal - a mobile quarterback and the highest-ranked state recruit that didn't go to Texas - threw for three touchdowns and ran for the go-ahead score as Lufkin overcame a 21-3 deficit to beat Westlake 38-24 for the state championship.