Before season even starts, Bears already loaded up for 2007
By TODD WILLS / The Dallas Morning News
Guy Morriss admits it could just be a one-year thing.
Baylor is a week into preseason workouts and already has 25 oral commitments
for its 2007 recruiting class. The season opener against TCU is three weeks
away and Baylor's coaching staff is focused on holding onto recruits, not finding
them.
"This class that we're assembling right now for '07 is obviously going
to be the best class we have put together," Morriss said.
For Baylor, which had four commitments this time last year, this is something
new.
The Bears are following the pattern that started at Texas about three years
ago, where Mack Brown has 22 commitments – the same total of pledges
this time last year.
Early recruiting is the trendy thing to do in the Big 12 South. The six schools
have combined for 90 commitments, 21 more than they had at this time last year.
Considering they can sign 25 recruits each, the Big 12 schools are halfway
done with their '07 classes.
Texas probably will take two or three more pledges. Texas A&M has 15 commitments,
two more than it had this time last year. Texas Tech has 11, exactly the same
amount it had last year at this time on its way to a stunning 34 commitments.
Morriss said Thursday that his staff is basically done. Baylor did have one
player, Richardson Berkner defensive tackle Adrian Campbell, retract his commitment
last week.
"It's a little early to rank Baylor nationally, but they're going to be
in the top 25 to 35 range," said Jeremy Crabtree, Rivals.com's national
recruiting editor. "This class, so far, is the best we've seen in a Baylor
class in 10 or 15 years, back when they were an old SWC team."
Morriss cited several reasons for Baylor's early recruiting success. Morriss
is in his fourth season and coming off his best record, 5-6. Stability at Baylor
is a big factor.
"These kids are seeing us coming back to their high school year after
year after year," Morriss said.
Also, the Bears won multiple games in Big 12 play (two) for the first time
in 10 years in the conference. They finished out of the South basement for
the first time and pushed Oklahoma and Texas A&M to overtime before losing.
There may be other factors helping Baylor. Morriss added coaching the offensive
line to his duties, and it's not a coincidence that three offensive linemen
on the Texas 100 state list have taken notice. Baylor has commitments from
Corsicana's Courtney Green, Cedar Hill's John Jones and Lancaster's Anthony
Morgan.
Texas A&M has two offensive linemen committed off the Texas 100, and Texas
Tech has one.
Morriss spent 15 years in the NFL at center and was an All-Pro selection once.
"You try to sell them the NFL background," Morriss said. "You
can't teach what you don't know. Why not learn from a guy who has been there
and done it?"
Crabtree points to recruiting coordinator Wesley McGriff, whose main recruiting
area is South Dallas. Baylor has commitments from three Cedar Hill prospects
and Morgan from Lancaster. Green is one of three commitments from Corsicana,
a perennial recruiting hotbed 45 minutes from Waco.
"McGriff is doing a tremendous job for them," Crabtree said. "He's
killing it for them in the Metroplex."
Baylor may also be taking advantage of the surge of the spread offense in the
high school ranks by going to a wide-open offense itself. Baylor has seven
commitments from players in the 170-pound range who run 4.4s and 4.5s in the
40-yard dash.
"This offense will help us for the next couple of years, and then, you
know, at some point, we're just going to have to recruit better," Morriss
said.
E-mail twills@dallasnews.com
BAYLOR (25) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Romie Blaylock |
WR |
5-10 |
167 |
Cedar Hill |
Shea Brewster |
K |
5-11 |
160 |
A&M Consolidated |
Dominique Buchanan |
LB |
6-1 |
235 |
Gilmer |
Krys Buerck |
WR |
5-10 |
167 |
Mesquite |
Vincent Butler |
DB |
5-11 |
190 |
Roswell (N.M.) Military |
Billy Chavis |
ATH |
6-4 |
220 |
Beaumont Westbrook |
Jacody Coleman |
DE |
6-2 |
229 |
Beaumont Westbrook |
Ryan Douglass |
DE |
6-2 |
210 |
Leander |
Lonnie Edwards |
OL |
6-5 |
305 |
Brownsboro |
Derek Epperson |
K |
6-3 |
220 |
Keller |
Chris Francis |
LB |
5-10 |
213 |
Cedar Hill |
Courtney Green |
OL |
6-4 |
285 |
Corsicana |
Hunter Hightower |
OL |
6-5 |
262 |
Richardson Pearce |
John Jones |
OL |
6-4 |
310 |
Cedar Hill |
Justin Johnson |
ATH |
6-1 |
208 |
Richardson Berkner |
G.J. Kinne |
QB |
6-2 |
207 |
Gilmer |
Rex McDougald |
DT |
6-2 |
302 |
Iola |
V.J. McElroy |
DB |
6-1 |
180 |
Uvalde |
Loyce Means |
DB |
5-10 |
156 |
Houston Madison |
Anthony Morgan |
OL |
6-3 |
335 |
Lancaster |
Chris Sanders |
LB |
6-0 |
200 |
Corsicana |
Zac Scotton |
DT |
6-6 |
245 |
Cy Creek |
Greg Stewart |
ATH |
5-10 |
165 |
Corsicana |
Chris Tate |
DB |
5-11 |
176 |
Hempstead |
Stacy Williams |
ATH |
5-11 |
169 |
Houston Yates |
|
||||
OKLAHOMA (6) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Austin Box |
LB |
6-3 |
215 |
Enid |
Jontae Bumpus |
DE |
6-4 |
225 |
Muskogee, Okla. |
Jamell Fleming |
DB |
5-10 |
187 |
Arlington Seguin |
Desmond Jackson |
DB |
5-11 |
187 |
Seguin |
Phil Loadholt |
OL |
6-9 |
345 |
Garden City (Kan.) CC |
Mike Reed |
LB |
6-4 |
245 |
Marysville (Calif.) Yuba CC |
|
||||
OKLAHOMA STATE (11) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Kenny Alexander |
LB |
6-1 |
215 |
McKinney |
Jamie Blatnick |
DE |
6-3 |
245 |
Celina |
Damien Davis |
ATH |
6-5 |
185 |
Mart |
Jason Hannan |
OL |
6-4 |
277 |
Waxahachie |
Tyrell Higgins |
DT |
6-3 |
260 |
Schertz Clemens |
Ahmad Jones |
DT |
6-2 |
319 |
Silsbee |
Isaac Madison |
DB |
5-10 |
180 |
Carter |
Nick Martinez |
OL |
6-4 |
290 |
Floresville |
Quinton Prince |
DT |
6-3 |
298 |
Oklahoma City Heritage Hall |
Marcus Richardson |
LB |
5-10 |
199 |
Seguin |
Jonathan Rush |
OL |
6-4 |
268 |
Killeen |
|
||||
SMU (5) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Terrance Ganaway |
ATH |
6-0 |
199 |
DeKalb |
Josh LeRibeus |
OL |
6-3 |
321 |
Richardson Berkner |
Kelly Turner |
OL |
6-3 |
259 |
Highland Park |
Logan Turner |
QB |
6-0 |
168 |
Springtown |
Terrance Wilkerson |
ATH |
5-10 |
167 |
DeSoto |
|
||||
TCU (8) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Jai Cavness |
RB |
5-8 |
167 |
Fort Bend Marshall |
Johnny Fobbs |
DB |
6-0 |
188 |
Everman |
Kris Gardner |
DE |
6-1 |
228 |
Arlington Grace Prep |
Tejay Johnson |
DB |
6-0 |
185 |
South Garland |
Jeremy Kerley |
ATH |
5-10 |
170 |
Hutto |
Jeff Olson |
ATH |
6-5 |
240 |
McKinney |
Chez Thomas |
DB |
5-9 |
190 |
Kennedale |
Spencer Thompson |
OL |
6-2 |
279 |
Plainview |
|
||||
TEXAS (22) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Tray Allen |
OL |
6-4 |
205 |
South Grand Prairie |
John Brantley |
QB |
6-3 |
190 |
Ocala, Fla. |
Curtis Brown |
DB |
6-0 |
174 |
Gilmer |
Russell Carter |
DE |
6-3 |
230 |
Houston Westbury |
John Chiles |
ATH |
6-1 |
195 |
Mansfield Summit |
Brandon Collins |
ATH |
6-0 |
167 |
Brenham |
Jerrod Gooch |
OL |
6-4 |
290 |
Vidor |
Kyle Hix |
OL |
6-6 |
290 |
Aledo |
Ahmard Howard |
TE |
6-4 |
225 |
Brenham |
Michael Huey |
OL |
6-5 |
290 |
Kilgore |
Blaine Irby |
TE |
6-2 |
224 |
Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure |
Cody Johnson |
RB |
5-10 |
225 |
Waller |
Andre Jones |
DT |
6-4 |
205 |
El Paso Andress |
Aundre McGaskey |
OL |
6-4 |
290 |
La Marque |
Matt Nader |
OL |
6-6 |
295 |
Austin Westlake |
Zack Pianalto |
TE |
6-4 |
215 |
Springdale (Ark.) |
Keenan Robinson |
LB |
6-3 |
211 |
Plano East |
Earl Thomas |
ATH |
5-10 |
174 |
West-Orange Stark |
Ben Wells |
DB |
6-0 |
174 |
Beaumont Ozen |
Foswhitt Whittaker |
RB |
5-9 |
170 |
Pearland |
Michael Wilcoxon |
DT |
6-2 |
271 |
Aledo |
Malcolm Williams |
WR |
6-3 |
205 |
Garland |
|
||||
TEXAS A&M (15) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Frank Avery |
TE |
6-4 |
230 |
Galveston Ball |
Daniel Baker |
OL |
6-6 |
285 |
Fort Bend Elkins |
Ben Bass |
DE |
6-4 |
263 |
Plano West |
Michael Ebbitt |
DE |
6-5 |
245 |
Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Chr. |
Evan Eike |
OL |
6-4 |
320 |
Bryan |
Roger Holland |
WR |
5-11 |
178 |
Houston Cy Falls |
Joseph Reese |
RB |
6-2 |
190 |
Pflugerville Hendrickson |
Lionel Smith |
DB |
6-1 |
180 |
Bellaire |
Bradley Stephens |
RB |
5-10 |
185 |
McAllen Memorial |
Derrick Stephens |
LB |
6-3 |
220 |
Houston Cy Falls |
Matt Szymanski |
K |
6-1 |
189 |
A&M Consolidated |
Ryan Tannehill |
QB |
6-4 |
193 |
Big Spring |
Nick Trice |
WR |
6-2 |
188 |
Killeen Harker Heights |
Brandon Williams |
ATH |
6-4 |
210 |
Beaumont Central |
Charles Young |
LB |
6-3 |
215 |
Mamou, La. |
|
||||
TEXAS TECH (11) |
||||
Player |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
School |
Jacob Amie |
WR |
6-3 |
224 |
Tyler |
Taylor Charbonnet |
ATH |
5-9 |
164 |
The Woodlands |
Kody Cooke |
OL |
6-4 |
285 |
Enid, Okla. |
Blake Emert |
OL |
6-5 |
275 |
Sachse |
Jacoby Franks |
WR |
6-0 |
170 |
West-Orange Stark |
Rashad Hawk |
WR |
6-3 |
180 |
Copperas Cove |
Stefan Loucks |
QB |
6-2 |
185 |
Little Rock Pulaski Acad. |
David Neill |
DE |
6-5 |
244 |
Flower Mound Marcus |
De'Shon Sanders |
DB |
6-2 |
205 |
San Francisco City College |
Tramain Swindall |
WR |
6-2 |
163 |
Oklahoma City Millwood |
Colby Whitlock |
DT |
6-3 |
290 |
Noble (Okla.) |
|
||||
* UNT does not have any oral commitments from the class of 2007. |
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