Tag: top five

Texas Basketball Recruiting: Five-star SG Keyonte George releases top five schools

Chris Beard is looking to land one of the top guards in the country. Five-star Keyonte George released his top five, with UT making the cut.

Chris Beard has gone big game hunting in the recruiting scene during his early days at Texas. Shaka Smart signed two of the top 10 prospects that Texas basketball has ever signed, but both were big men, Mo Bamba and Greg Brown III.

Now, Beard is looking for the top guards in the country. Luckily, the No. 1 shooting guard in the 2022 class resides in the state of Texas. Keyonte George is the top shooting guard in the cycle and released his top five schools Thursday morning.

Four of the five are Big 12 schools: Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas made the cut. Kentucky and John Calipari are the one outsider.

George has a 247Sports crystal ball to turn professional and play in the G League. With his newly released top five, the five-star prospect has made it clear he plans to choose the college route.

Texas Tech was thought to be an option; he took an unofficial visit to Lubbock in Feb. 2020. With Beard in Austin, Texas will have an excellent chance to land the top in-state 2022 player.

Rating

Stars Overall Position State
247 5 14 1 1
Rivals 5 6 2 –
ESPN 5 5 2 1
247 Composite 5 6 1 1

Vitals

Hometown Lewisville, Texas
Projected Position Shooting guard
Height 6-4
Weight 185

Top five

  • Baylor
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Oklahoma State
  • Texas

Crystal Ball

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Five-star offensive tackle Kam Dewberry includes Texas in top five schools

Five-star Kam Dewberry has been a must-get for UT since the get-go. He released his top five schools on Saturday, with UT still in the mix.

Offensive line, offensive line, offensive line.

No position group is going to be bigger in Texas’ 2022 recruiting class than the big men up front. Herb Hand’s final cycle was borderline criminal, only bringing in two offensive linemen from a loaded in-state class.

Kyle Flood has come over from Alabama and changed how the Longhorns are recruiting the offensive line. The elite blockers are more interested in Texas than they were a few months ago. Flood’s NFL development track record speaks for itself.

On Saturday, one of the nation’s best prospects released his top five schools and Texas made the cut.

Five-star offensive tackle Kam Dewberry has been a must-get for Texas since the get-go. After releasing a top 10 back in December, the Humble native has trimmed his list down to five.

Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas A&M are the schools still remaining in the race for Dewberry. This one has been trending toward a Longhorn-Aggie showdown for quite some time.

Rivals ranks Dewberry as a five-star prospect, the top in-state offensive tackle, and No. 2 player at his position in the country.

Flipping over to the 247Sports composite, Dewberry is the No. 97 player and No. 9 offensive tackle in the country. Within the state of Texas, he ranks as the No. 20 overall player.

If Texas is going to have the success at the offensive line position it wants throughout the 2022 class, Dewberry needs to be a Longhorn. Especially going head to head against Texas A&M, winning the battles are going to set the precedent of the Steve Sarkisian era.

Four-star offensive tackle Savion Byrd releases top five schools

Savion Byrd released a top-five school list consisting of Auburn, LSU, SMU, OU, and Texas. Herb Hand will need a late push to land Byrd.

Since losing the Brockermeyer brothers to Alabama, offensive line coach Herb Hand has been searching for replacements. It has been a struggle for Texas, losing out on lower-rated players to schools such as Baylor and Stanford.

Savion Byrd is a player who could turn that around for the Longhorns. A four-star on the 247Sports composite, Byrd is the No. 6 offensive tackle in the country. He released a top-five school list on Friday night consisting of Auburn, LSU, SMU, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The Mustangs and Sooners seem to have the upper hand in Byrd’s recruitment at the moment. Hand and the Longhorns have been pushing for the Duncanville High School product for quite some time now but has never emerged as a favorite to land him.

Hayden Connor is the only other member of Texas’ 2021 class that is projected to play offensive tackle. In what has been a horrific recruiting cycle for Tom Herman, landing Byrd would be a significant accomplishment and possibly rejuvenate the class.

Byrd also has experience playing defensive tackle, primarily playing there during his junior season. Duncanville finished as runner ups in the 6A-DI playoffs.

An announcement date has not yet been announced by Byrd. It will be a highly contested battle between some major programs.

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Seahawks fall out of top 5 in USA TODAY’s post-Week 9 power rankings

The Seattle Seahawks have fallen out of the top five in the USA TODAY’s post-Week 9 power rankings, landing at No. 7.

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The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday and are now 6-2 on the season at the halfway point. As recent as just last week, Seattle was sitting pretty at No. 3 in the USA TODAY’s NFL power rankings. But after the loss to the Bills, the Seahawks have tumbled out of the top five all the way down to No. 7.

“‘I don’t even recognize us,’ Pete Carroll said of a defense on pace to allow a league-record 7,292 yards,” writes USA TODAY’s  Nate Davis. “The 44 points Seattle surrendered Sunday were the most by a Carroll team since he was at USC.”

Five-star power forward Daimion Collins announces top five

Daimion Collins has announced a top five of KU, UK, OU, UT, and Texas Tech. The five-star has been one of UT’s top targets in the 2021 class.

Daimion Collins, a 2021 power forward recruit, has announced a top five of Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech. A five-star prospect, Collins has been one of the Longhorns’ top targets in the 2021 class.

Listed at 6-9 and 210 pounds, Collins is the No. 5 power forward in the country. Nationally, he ranks as the No. 19 player in the country and is the No. 2 prospect in the state of Texas, only behind Stanford commit Harrison Ingram.

Collins is seen as an elite player around the rim offensively and defensively. Not only can he block shots but good hands mixed with strength makes him an elite down low scorer.

According to the 247Sports crystal ball, the battle for Collins will be between Red River rivals in Texas and Oklahoma. The Sooners have three predictions with a confidence level of seven. A selection was made by Nick Harris, a Texas insider, as recently as Sept. 25.

Shaka Smart’s 2021 recruiting class if off to a hot start, already ranked No. 2 in the Big 12. Four-star combo guard Emarion Ellis leads the way as the top player from the state of Iowa.

Collins will be the big-time recruit Smart needs to land to complete the class. The sixth-year head coach has worked with big men in the past to send them directly into the NBA lottery.

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2021 tight end Dametrious Crownover puts Texas in top five

Dametrious Crownover has narrowed down to his top five. The four-star has included Baylor, Nebraska, OSU, UT, and Texas A&M in his list.

2021 tight end Dametrious Crownover has narrowed down to his top five, with Texas making the cut. The four-star prospect has also included Baylor, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Texas A&M in his list.

Rating
Stars Overall State Position
247 3 – 82 22
Rivals 4 – 39 15
ESPN 4 154 25 2
247 Composite 4 240 41 10
Vitals
Hometown Grandview, Texas
Projected Position Tight end
Height 6-6
Weight 235
Recruitment
  • Offered on January 16, 2020
  • No visit yet
Offers
  • Baylor
  • Nebraska
  • Ohio State
  • Texas
  • Texas A&M
Crystal Ball

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Film

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The Athletic ranks Sam Ehlinger as a top five quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft

Dane Brugler of the Athletic put together his top draft eligible quarterbacks with Longhorns signal caller Sam Ehlinger among the top five.

While it is still 58 days away from the kickoff of the college football season, the Athletic’s Dane Brugler has begun his 2021 NFL Draft work. The latest topic of conversation is the quarterbacks. One of the most important and criminally overdrafted positions in all of football. Either you already have your franchise quarterback in place or you are looking for one.

The draft outlook on Texas Longhorns senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger is a mixed bag. Some love the moxie of the Austin native while others look at him as just a good college quarterback. The latter mostly think that he would be a career backup. So you might raise an eyebrow to find that Brugler has Ehlinger among his top five draft eligible quarterbacks.

His best trait according to the latest article on the Athletic is his competitive toughness.

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Ehlinger doesn’t have the speed of Lamar Jackson or twitch of Murray, but his instincts and competitive toughness as an athlete are what makes him a dangerous dual-threat player. He is physical through contact and sturdy in the pocket, willing to hang and deliver before taking a shot.

Due to his unique skill set, the Longhorns emphasize pocket movement in their zone read scheme, allowing Ehlinger to showcase his arm and legs. His competitive grit is not only the central ingredient that allows Texas’ offense to move the chains, but it is also the key trait that will appeal to NFL play callers as a prospect.

His worst trait comes as a rhythm passer.

While his passing production and consistency have improved each season, Ehlinger is still learning the fine details of reading defenses and completing passes. Similar to Tim Tebow when he was at Florida, Ehlinger has fantastic instincts and toughness as an athlete, but introducing better rhythm from snap to release is something that remains a work in progress.

This is where the work of new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich will come into play. He needs to work on the technique and mechanics that will allow Ehlinger to improve as a passer. Which for one helps Sam as a NFL Draft prospect and helps future recruiting.

When I started my scouting deep dive this summer, I didn’t expect Ehlinger to be among my top five draft-eligible quarterbacks. However, his film swayed me because of his control of the offense and competitive toughness.

Ehlinger could have a similar rise up the draft boards to what Jalen Hurts was a season ago. With a big year for Ehlinger, he could be a top 100 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft as Brugler stated in his column. Ehlinger comes in as the number two senior quarterback on his list. Former teammate Shane Buechele checked in at number five of the senior passers.

CFB on Fox rank their preseason top five quarterbacks

Fox’s CFB crew ranked their top five QBs going into the season. 10 different names were mentioned, including Texas’ Sam Ehlinger.

Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff crew has begun preparing for the 2020 college football season by ranking their top five quarterbacks going into the season. A panel of Urban Meyer, Joel Klatt, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinert, Brady Quinn, and Rob Stone all had their say.

Between the six analysts, 10 different names were mentioned, including Texas’ Sam Ehlinger. Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler was the only other Big 12 quarterback mentioned.

  • Urban Meyer: Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, Sam Howell, Kendon Slovis, Spencer Rattler
  • Joel Klatt: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Sam Ehlinger, Spencer Rattler, Kendon Slovis
  • Reggie Bush: Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, Sam Ehlinger, Bo Nix, Kendon Slovis
  • Matt Leinert: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Sam Ehlinger, Kyle Trask, Sam Howell
  • Brady Quinn: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Ian Book, Sam Ehlinger, Kyle Trask
  • Rob Stone: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Kyle Trask, Bo Nix, Sam Howell

One thing between the rankings was consistent: Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields will be the top two quarterbacks next season. The two signal-callers met in last year’s College Football Playoff semi-final, with Lawrence getting the last laugh.

Kendon Slovis and Sam Howell are two young names that get mentioned as both showed promise for the next couple of years. Slovis replaced JT Daniels at USC after an injury and thrived under Graham Harell’s air raid offense.

As for Howell, North Carolina head coach Mack Brown tapped into his potential right away, being a top-three quarterback in the ACC last season.

A name ahead of Ehlinger on Rob Stone’s list that brings questions is Auburn quarterback Bo Nix. Coming in as a true freshman, Nix’s expectations were sky high, hoping to lead Auburn to an SEC Championship appearance. He struggled all season, as the Tigers were led by their defense most of the season; all under offensive-minded head coach Gus Malzhan.

Here is a comparison between Ehlinger and Nix’s 2019:

  • Ehlinger: 65.2 completion %, 3,663 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, 10 interceptions
  • Nix: 57.6 completion %, 2,542 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, six interceptions

Ehlinger has shown his worth over his three seasons playing college football, being one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12. Leading Texas to a Big 12 championship appearance and even a win against Auburn’s rival Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Ehlinger’s experience alone should rank him above Nix.

If he has not already, Ehlinger will breakout under Mike Yurich’s pass-heavy offense. Having capable weapons across the field with Jordan Whittington, Jake Smith, and (possibly) Brennan Eagles should help as well.

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