The Texas Longhorns recruiting battle with Texas A&M is somewhat new. The Longhorns’ recruiting has always been great. Being the premier program in a talent-rich state like Texas certainly has its perks. However, the Longhorns have struggled to develop that talent and parlay those high recruiting rankings with on-field success. Texas A&M has taken full advantage of Texas’ recent slump.

Texas A&M Recruiting

While the Longhorns have struggled to develop their recruiting talent, Texas A&M has been making massive strides in turning their football program into a premier program their own. Joining the SEC significantly boosted A&M’s recruiting rankings alone. From 2000-2012 Texas A&M’s team recruiting rankings averaged at 21.7 overall, according to 247sports. That was before the Aggies moved to the South Eastern Conference. From 2013-2022 Texas A&M’s team recruiting rankings have averaged at 9.3 overall, a massive jump.

One reason for the jump has also been Jimbo Fisher. Although he consistently gets clowned for his prehistoric offensive mindset and inability to look in the mirror and make a change as the offensive play caller, Jimbo Fisher has absolutely brought Texas A&M into a new tier of college football programs. Since arriving at Texas A&M Fisher has done an outstanding job recruiting. Sans his first year with the program in 2018, Fisher has propelled A&M to an average 5th overall in recruiting rankings from 2019-2022.

Texas Versus A&M in Recruiting

As the Aggies rise in the recruiting rankings, the Longhorns started to tumble. Using the same data points as we did with Texas A&M, let us look at how the Longhorns have fared in recruiting.

From 2000-2012, Texas had an average recruiting class of 6.1. From 2013-2022 the Texas Longhorns recruiting class dropped to an average of 11th best in the country.

As shown by the line graph, Texas basically dominated the recruiting trail from 2000 up until 2013. However, when A&M joined the SEC things began to change. Since 2013, Texas and Texas A&M have been extremely close in the recruiting rankings. However, Texas A&M has beaten out Texas three out of the last four years.

Texas Longhorns Recruiting

The Texas Longhorns have consistently had solid recruiting classes. The Longhorns only down years have been in the middle of coaching changes. In 2013, at the tail end of Mack Brown’s tenure at Texas, the Longhorns ended up with the 17th best recruiting class in the country. That would be the worst recruiting class since 2000 for the Texas Longhorns.

In 2014, after Mack Brown had been replaced by Charlie Strong, Texas again had the 17th best recruiting class in the country. After Charlie Strong had been fired and Tom Herman had been hired in 2017, Texas had their worst recruiting class since 2000, 25th overall in the country. In 2021, after Tom Herman had been fired and Steve Sarkisian had been hired, Texas had their worst recruiting class since 2014, 15th overall in the country.

This further demonstrates how the uncertainty at head coach negatively effects recruiting. Although that is common sense to begin with, laying it out with actual data points always helps.

Steve Sarkisian Recruiting Classes

So far, Steve Sarkisian has shown Texas can be a major force in recruiting with him as the head coach. Bringing in a top five recruiting class in his first full season as the head coach was impressive. Having that recruiting class come directly after a brutal 2021 season that featured a 5-7 record and a loss to Kansas makes that recruiting class almost unbelievable, in the true sense of the word.

Adding to the off-season haul for Texas, quarterback Quinn Ewers is now in Austin as a redshirt freshman after entering the transfer portal. Ewers was originally the number one player in the 2022 recruiting class before re-classifying and joining the 2021 recruiting class and enrolling at Ohio State.

To continue piling onto the insane off-season, Texas has secured the commitment of perhaps the biggest high school recruit we have ever seen, Arch Manning. Sarkisian has already started red-hot in the 2023 recruiting class. Again, this is all coming after a 5-7 season.

Closing

Texas and Texas A&M are now both on the hot seat to produce on the field. As stated earlier, a spot the Longhorns have struggled with recently with past head coaches.

If Texas A&M fails to make a college football playoff in the next two seasons, the pendulum could swing back in favor of the Longhorns. However, the Longhorns still must show some on-field improvement of their own in 2022.

2023 and 2024 will be the seasons to look at for Texas to prove they still deserve to be regarded as the big brother in the state of Texas.

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