Dallas Morning News 8 13 2021
McKinney North defensive lineman Dylan Frazier has a football future, but even big-time recruits need summer jobs. That’s why, on this hot Texas summer day, he’s behind the wheel of a beat-up 2005 Dodge Ram 1500. It’s got 200,000 miles on it, and in the bed of the pickup lies his Honda GVC160 lawn mower.
“I got like 13 yards,” said Frazier, a 6-foot-5 soon-to-be senior for the Bulldogs, “so basically I’ll do it all day.”
Usually Frazier averages 3-4 lawns per work day, but on this summer day he’s in the double digits. It’s something where he has control, cutting and shaping the piece of grass to his choosing.
The recruiting experience, especially for a talented defensive lineman like Frazier, can be the same way. Players with options can pick and choose what they value most in a college, but this year’s seniors will be facing a new twist: the college football landscape is changing, and the school that recruits choose might be in a different conference before their college days are finished.
Texas and Oklahoma shocked the college football world when news broke about the Red River rivals potentially leaving the Big 12 Conference and heading to the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The move, now confirmed, is set to take place in 2025. One Power 5 conference losings its two biggest and most profitable members, while perhaps the best football conference added two more powers, was a groundbreaking move.
But two weeks after the SEC approved Texas and Oklahoma there’s still lingering uncertainty about what happens next.
The Big 12, now at a smaller eight teams, has met with the Pac-12 about potentially merging or creating a scheduling alliance. The American Athletic Conference, on a mission to become a power conference, could also add some of the remaining Big 12 teams, something Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby reportedly believes the AAC and ESPN have conspired to do.
Regardless of what happens moving forward, the landscape is changing. And with those changes comes changes to the recruiting realm, even if the core tenets remain.
“I think Al Davis said it best: ‘Just win, baby,’” said SMU head coach Sonny Dykes, citing the former Raiders owner and longtime NFL executive. “Just win and you end up where you’re supposed to.”
Winning on the recruiting trail, though, is a major factor in winning on the field. And on a micro level, the battle for Texas’ prized recruits is one element of recruiting that realignment could affect.
The distance from Norman to Dallas, and Austin to Dallas, is nearly the same. Both college campuses are approximately 190 miles away from Dallas, and with both schools being big brands in the Big 12 – despite Oklahoma’s streak of winning the last six conference titles – the two rivals have made for good recruiting foes over the years in Dallas.
But Texas A&M is nearly 20 miles closer to Dallas than Oklahoma and Texas, and way closer to another recruiting hotbed in Houston. Under head coach Jimbo Fisher the Aggies have been able to offer – and capitalize on – something the other schools in Texas don’t have: the lure of the SEC.
Over the last three completed cycles Texas A&M has had a better recruiting class, according to 247Sports, than both Oklahoma and Texas, aside from 2019 when Texas ranked third in the nation, and the Aggies ranked fourth. Schools like Ohio State and Alabama – schools that grabbed the best recruit in Dallas each of the last two cycles – have also invaded the area and created solid recruiting pipelines.
In recruiting, it’s about having different pitches and advantages that coaches can tailor to a recruit’s preferences. By moving to the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma have matched one of A&M’s unique pitches.
“They can now say there’s no difference here between going to Texas A&M and Texas, or Texas A&M and Oklahoma. We play in the same conference, against the same opponent, and you’ll have the same damage here that you would at Alabama, Georgia or Florida,” National Rivals recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman said about what moving to the SEC does for Texas and Oklahoma. “I think when you take that out of the equation it’s going to equalize a lot of these recruiting pitches from [Oklahoma offensive line coach] Bill Bedenbaugh and [Alabama offensive line coach] Doug Marrone because Oklahoma and Alabama are going to be playing in the same conference. That’s what Texas A&M has capitalized on in the state of Texas in particular.”
On a macro level, though, potential realignment could change recruiting for all of college football, depending on what happens over the next few years.
In the meantime, Dykes said they’ll control what they can at SMU and try and win on the field. Success there is always a constant advantage in recruiting. But as for how the rest of potential realignment affects recruiting, Dykes said, “I think we’re really happy we’re in a stable conference. I think there are some folks right now that are not in a stable conference and wish they were. We feel pretty good about where we’re at in our league and the future of our league, but we’ll see how it all plays out.”
That’s kind of how DeSoto’s Caleb Mitchell has handled watching realignment.
“It’s like a show that you’re hooked on,” Mitchell said about watching realignment news. “You’ve got to wait for each episode next week.”
Mitchell, a 6-foot-2 defensive lineman, played as a freshman last year on varsity, something that’s not easy to do at star-powered DeSoto. Because of that, college coaches took notice. His sophomore season hasn’t started and he already has nine scholarship offers, including from Texas and Texas A&M, as well as TCU, Baylor and others.
Mitchell and his family have had an early start to the recruiting experience, but after initially taking in everything, he’s starting to understand what he wants in a potential college. As of right now, one element of recruiting has peaked his interest, and it’s not the conference that school plays in or might play in down the road.
“If the fit and scheme is good for me, that’s probably the biggest part,” Mitchell said, “and having a good relationship with the staff.
“Because if the fit is good, it’s going to help me get what I want to do and help my teammates.”
Only a sophomore, Mitchell has plenty of time before he has to sign with a school, and by then the college football conference landscape could be a lot clearer. Frazier, however, is entering his senior season and has to make a college decision soon.
Like Mitchell, Frazier said he ultimately doesn’t care what conference the school he chooses will end up in. He, too, loves scheme fit, especially when college coaches break down how he potentially fits in their defensive front. For example: Wyoming, a Mountain West Conference school, did a good job of explaining Frazier’s scheme fit there.
But not everyone has that mentality.
“It’s kind of like half-and-half,” Frazier said. “Some dudes know the conference they want to go play for. They want to play for the SEC or the Big Ten or whatever, and then I’ve also met some guys who are like me, to where they don’t care where they go, as long as the college they go to is the one they want to play at.”
In that regard, even in a changing college football landscape, it’s still Frazier who has control. His college decision is a lawn that he gets to mow.
McKinney North defensive lineman Dylan Frazier has a football future, but even big-time recruits need summer jobs. That’s why, on this hot Texas summer day, he’s behind the wheel of a beat-up 2005 Dodge Ram 1500. It’s got 200,000 miles on it, and in the bed of the pickup lies his Honda GVC160 lawn mower.
“I got like 13 yards,” said Frazier, a 6-foot-5 soon-to-be senior for the Bulldogs, “so basically I’ll do it all day.”
Usually Frazier averages 3-4 lawns per work day, but on this summer day he’s in the double digits. It’s something where he has control, cutting and shaping the piece of grass to his choosing.
The recruiting experience, especially for a talented defensive lineman like Frazier, can be the same way. Players with options can pick and choose what they value most in a college, but this year’s seniors will be facing a new twist: the college football landscape is changing, and the school that recruits choose might be in a different conference before their college days are finished.
Texas and Oklahoma shocked the college football world when news broke about the Red River rivals potentially leaving the Big 12 Conference and heading to the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The move, now confirmed, is set to take place in 2025. One Power 5 conference losings its two biggest and most profitable members, while perhaps the best football conference added two more powers, was a groundbreaking move.
But two weeks after the SEC approved Texas and Oklahoma there’s still lingering uncertainty about what happens next.
The Big 12, now at a smaller eight teams, has met with the Pac-12 about potentially merging or creating a scheduling alliance. The American Athletic Conference, on a mission to become a power conference, could also add some of the remaining Big 12 teams, something Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby reportedly believes the AAC and ESPN have conspired to do.
Regardless of what happens moving forward, the landscape is changing. And with those changes comes changes to the recruiting realm, even if the core tenets remain.
“I think Al Davis said it best: ‘Just win, baby,’” said SMU head coach Sonny Dykes, citing the former Raiders owner and longtime NFL executive. “Just win and you end up where you’re supposed to.”
Winning on the recruiting trail, though, is a major factor in winning on the field. And on a micro level, the battle for Texas’ prized recruits is one element of recruiting that realignment could affect.
The distance from Norman to Dallas, and Austin to Dallas, is nearly the same. Both college campuses are approximately 190 miles away from Dallas, and with both schools being big brands in the Big 12 – despite Oklahoma’s streak of winning the last six conference titles – the two rivals have made for good recruiting foes over the years in Dallas.
But Texas A&M is nearly 20 miles closer to Dallas than Oklahoma and Texas, and way closer to another recruiting hotbed in Houston. Under head coach Jimbo Fisher the Aggies have been able to offer – and capitalize on – something the other schools in Texas don’t have: the lure of the SEC.
Over the last three completed cycles Texas A&M has had a better recruiting class, according to 247Sports, than both Oklahoma and Texas, aside from 2019 when Texas ranked third in the nation, and the Aggies ranked fourth. Schools like Ohio State and Alabama – schools that grabbed the best recruit in Dallas each of the last two cycles – have also invaded the area and created solid recruiting pipelines.
In recruiting, it’s about having different pitches and advantages that coaches can tailor to a recruit’s preferences. By moving to the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma have matched one of A&M’s unique pitches.
“They can now say there’s no difference here between going to Texas A&M and Texas, or Texas A&M and Oklahoma. We play in the same conference, against the same opponent, and you’ll have the same damage here that you would at Alabama, Georgia or Florida,” National Rivals recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman said about what moving to the SEC does for Texas and Oklahoma. “I think when you take that out of the equation it’s going to equalize a lot of these recruiting pitches from [Oklahoma offensive line coach] Bill Bedenbaugh and [Alabama offensive line coach] Doug Marrone because Oklahoma and Alabama are going to be playing in the same conference. That’s what Texas A&M has capitalized on in the state of Texas in particular.”
On a macro level, though, potential realignment could change recruiting for all of college football, depending on what happens over the next few years.
In the meantime, Dykes said they’ll control what they can at SMU and try and win on the field. Success there is always a constant advantage in recruiting. But as for how the rest of potential realignment affects recruiting, Dykes said, “I think we’re really happy we’re in a stable conference. I think there are some folks right now that are not in a stable conference and wish they were. We feel pretty good about where we’re at in our league and the future of our league, but we’ll see how it all plays out.”
That’s kind of how DeSoto’s Caleb Mitchell has handled watching realignment.
“It’s like a show that you’re hooked on,” Mitchell said about watching realignment news. “You’ve got to wait for each episode next week.”
Mitchell, a 6-foot-2 defensive lineman, played as a freshman last year on varsity, something that’s not easy to do at star-powered DeSoto. Because of that, college coaches took notice. His sophomore season hasn’t started and he already has nine scholarship offers, including from Texas and Texas A&M, as well as TCU, Baylor and others.
Mitchell and his family have had an early start to the recruiting experience, but after initially taking in everything, he’s starting to understand what he wants in a potential college. As of right now, one element of recruiting has peaked his interest, and it’s not the conference that school plays in or might play in down the road.
“If the fit and scheme is good for me, that’s probably the biggest part,” Mitchell said, “and having a good relationship with the staff.
“Because if the fit is good, it’s going to help me get what I want to do and help my teammates.”
Only a sophomore, Mitchell has plenty of time before he has to sign with a school, and by then the college football conference landscape could be a lot clearer. Frazier, however, is entering his senior season and has to make a college decision soon.
Like Mitchell, Frazier said he ultimately doesn’t care what conference the school he chooses will end up in. He, too, loves scheme fit, especially when college coaches break down how he potentially fits in their defensive front. For example: Wyoming, a Mountain West Conference school, did a good job of explaining Frazier’s scheme fit there.
But not everyone has that mentality.
“It’s kind of like half-and-half,” Frazier said. “Some dudes know the conference they want to go play for. They want to play for the SEC or the Big Ten or whatever, and then I’ve also met some guys who are like me, to where they don’t care where they go, as long as the college they go to is the one they want to play at.”
In that regard, even in a changing college football landscape, it’s still Frazier who has control. His college decision is a lawn that he gets to mow.
