Urban Meyer vs Tom Herman: Who Won the Battle of Texas?
Who won the Texas recruiting battle between Urban Meyer and Tom Herman?
Urban Meyer and the Ohio State staff invaded the Lone Star State in the 2017 recruiting cycle and came out with five recruits. His former offensive coordinator Tom Herman took the coaching job at the University of Texas late in the game. So which coach was the winner in the battle for Texas recruits?
Naturally coach Herman’s Longhorn class had more players from the state (13-5) as Urban was only targeting certain recruits. He also led coach Meyer in 4 star players with 6. But when it came to pulling in the highest ranked Texas recruits, Urban won that battle hands down.
Of the in-state recruits, coach Herman’s highest ranked player was No. 20 in the state. Coach Meyer’s had three of the top six players, Jeffrey Okudah No, 2, Baron Browning 4 and J. K. Dobbins 6.
The Buckeyes also have Kendall Sheffield in the class and he was the No. 2 junior college player in the state. He was also ranked as the No. 1 JUCO cornerback in the nation and should be ready to play next season. The Buckeyes may also have more Texas recruits who can make an early impact.
An early enrollee has a better chance of seeing the field their freshman season and the Buckeyes have three Texas players already enrolled. The Longhorns only have two.
Coach Herman attempted to sway at least one of those players to play for him late in the recruiting cycle when the “Fickell thing” happened. Check out what Baron Browning had to say as reported in an article by Eleven Warriors.
"“Coach Herman is a good coach but I really didn’t talk to him much throughout my recruiting process,” Browning said on Wednesday. “I talked to him a little when he was at Houston and he tried to make a late push for me with the Coach Fickell thing. But at that point in time, it was just too late and I already had my mind made up for where I wanted to go. There was no looking back at that point.”"
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Tom Herman proved that all is fair in love, war and recruiting. Coach Herman and Urban Meyer are still great friends, but now they are in a recruiting war for Texas high school players.
The rivalry will be sure to heat up as coach Herman will now have a full recruiting cycle at the University. He said in his press conference Wednesday that he doesn’t want the top recruits in Texas leaving the state, but it may be difficult to stop that now.
Urban Meyer finally has a foothold in the state and you know he is going back for more star recruits. It should be quite a battle between the Buckeye and Longhorn head coaches as they vie for the best Texas high school players going forward.
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The Lone Star State has been known as fertile ground for high school football talent for as long as I can remember. What If Urban Meyer can continue to raid the state and recruit 3-5 of their top players in each recruiting class. Who knows, maybe Ohio State will become known as the unofficial University of Texas.