Have any of you listing Texas #1 actually ever lived out of the Big 12 footprint? We had this discussion last week
http://goEMAW.com/forum/index.php?topic=28931.msg909505#msg909505
Did you get that information from the Crimson Tide Network?
A good coach at Texas would have their first picks out of the state and their first picks out of almost any other state. Alabama, with a coach that hasn't won 3 out of 4 NCs would not recruit like Saban is recruiting.
Man this just isn't true and there is no historical basis for it, like none. Texas is the choice for the amazingly rich Texas high school football factory but UT doesn't have that kind of clout outside of UT and New Mexico. They routinely lose kids in neighboring states to OU and LSU. Of all the greatest players in the history of their program, players who won a national award, only one is from outside of the state of Texas, Ricky Williams. Even their greatest coach, Darryl Royal, was from Hollis, OK, a small town on the red river.
I looked around the web for top college program rankings and UT rarely appears in the top 5. ESPN did one in 2009 & they had UT at 7 where the hell would they be now?
Texas historically has always been seen as a regional power only and they only have themselves and the SWC to blame. They didn't leave the state to play games, even the bowl game they sought the most was in Texas. These other programs like ND, USC, Michigan, and Alabama have spent decades being national programs, UT wasn't that until Mack Brown and by many respects including recruiting they still aren't.
I have no idea why so many on this website view UT as this nationally revered behemoth of a program but the west coast, upper midwest, and the southeast don't view them they same way they are viewed in the high plains. Yes they have a ton of ESPN's money, so?
