THE OUTSIDERS
by Larry Carlson
Email: LC13@Txstate.edu
If you're playing for the Crimson Tide and from outside Alabama, you're in the majority. Likewise, Clemson could not play ball with mostly South Carolinians. And Texas followers know all about that team operating out of Norman, up in Baja Kansas. The vast majority of OU players are Texans.
So, too, are the great majority of Longhorn players, as has always been the rule. Texas is a big state. Texas high school football is a big deal and sends hundreds of players to D-1 programs each year.
Darrell Royal
Darrell Royal, in the bygone days of being able to sign more than 50 recruits each February, only rarely went after, or picked up an out-of-state player. He didn't have to. The '63 national champs featured only two lettermen -- and no starters -- from beyond the state line.
By 1969, Royal had three starters (RB Jim Bertelsen, OG Bobby Mitchell and safety Fred Steinmark) on his second national championship team. He continued to get a few good out-of-staters, mostly from Texas border states but had only one star who was a "foreigner," two-time All-SWC pick Bertelsen (Wisconsin), and just two other All-SWC players from outside Texas, Mitchell (Colorado) and LB Bill Hamilton (New Mexico), during his two decades at the Forty Acres.
Fred Akers
Fred Akers began to expand national recruiting in his decade as head coach and produced UT's first out-of-state consensus All-America selection, LB Jeff Leiding in '83. Sweetly for Texas, the Missouri native had played his high school senior year in Oklahoma.
John Mackovic
John Mackovic cherry-picked several national standouts, most notably Californians, including Bryant Westbrook, Pat Fitzgerald and Ricky Williams.
Mack Brown
And while Mack Brown largely landed out-of-state studs with direct UT bloodlines such as Lyle Sendlein and Kasey Studdard, the small but steady pipeline continued to flow.
Charlie Strong
Charlie Strong made big news in January 2015 -- during his first full recruiting year at UT -- with commitments from "the Florida Five," and it looked as if the Longhorns might be launching a full-throttle raid on the Sunshine State and elsewhere. But it was fool's gold. Quickly there was one de-commitment. Another player would not qualify academically. Another stayed for only three practices in August. Only one, Davante Davis, became a player for the Horns.
Tom Herman
Soon thereafter, it would appear that Tom Herman struck real riches out of state, particularly in Arizona, even if Steve Sarkisian stands to reap most of the benefits from former Gatorade National Player of the Year, Jake Smith, and the top running back recruit in America, Bijan Robinson. Sark did not land anyone as high-profile as Smith and Robinson last winter but he did reel in five out-of-staters and the Horns' third straight punter from Australia.
The strategy is clear for the University of Texas.
Try to get the very best of the best in your own neighborhood, from Orange to El Paso, especially in the DFW and Houston metro areas. But you have to roll the bones and push hard to get a handful of standouts wherever they grow. This writer has advocated for launching a mission to get top offensive and defensive linemen from SEC country, in particular. It's where the studs seem to be trained best, as of late. Texas could still compete to win it all, a la the '63 Horns, with a pure Lone Star starting lineup. But it would take getting just about each and every target in classes of 20-25 recruits each year for a stretch of years.
These days, that kind of in-state recruiting domination would fall under the category of science fiction. The fact is, Ohio State has signed more five-star recruits in Texas than has UT, for more than a few years in a row. Texas A&M and OU are going to get their share of blue-chippers in Texas. So are LSU and Alabama, among others. Bama's top recruit among the nation's highest-ranked haul for 2021?
Tommy Brockermeyer, son of a Longhorn All-American and brother of a current Horn player. And Tommy's twin, James, was also one of the Tide's finest signees. Hmmm.
That says a lot about the recent perception of the UT program in at least some circles, something that must change in the new Sarkisian regime.
All that said, it's clear that Texas, in spite of having dominated in-state recruiting for many of the past sixty years, has long tapped into out-of-state recruiting and has done so with increasing frequency and success in recent decades. Farm-to-table and "go local" platitudes may well hold up in select restaurants but you can't harvest lobsters in Nebraska and, as of late, you don't reap plum linemen in Texas fields. So you're gonna shop around.
Here, in celebrating UT's best out-of-state players (while excluding those on the current roster), I'm taking inventory of the "foreigners" who made the biggest impact for the Longhorns. It's all just a judgment call, with plenty of room for discussion and debate. But you have to start somewhere. So I have, and here it is.
"The Outsiders" -- Longhorns Super Team from outside Texas
Offense
QB: Major Applewhite '01 Baton Rouge, LA (Catholic HS Bears)
RB: Ricky Williams '98 San Diego, CA (Patrick Henry Patriots)
Jim Bertelsen '71 Hudson, WI (Hudson Raiders)
WR: Collin Johnson '19 San Jose, CA (Valley Christian Warriors)
Bob Moses: '61 Deerfield, MA (Deerfield Academy Big Green)
TE: Pat Fitzgerald '96 Agoura Hills, CA (Agoura Chargers)
OL: Mike Ruether '83 Shawnee Mission, KS (Bishop Miege Stags)
Lyle Sendlein '06 Scottsdale, AZ (Chaparral Firebirds)
Kasey Studdard '06 Lone Tree, CO (Highlands Ranch Golden Eagles)
Bobby Mitchell '70 Wheat Ridge, CO (WRHS Farmers)
Tillman Holloway '03 Basalt, CO (Faith Christian Eagles)
RETURN MAN: Eric Metcalf '88 Arlington, VA (Bishop O'Connell Knights
Prime Offensive Depth
QB: Chris Simms '02 Franklin Lakes, NJ (Ramapo Raiders)
WR: Lovell Pinckney '94 Washington, DC (Anacostia Indians)
RB: Eric Metcalf '88 Arlington, VA (Bishop O'Connell Knights)
Rodney Tate '81 Beggs, OK (Demons)
Darron Norris '88 Oceanside, CA (El Camino Wildcats)
TE: Derek Lewis '98 New Orleans, LA (St. Augustine Purple Knights)
Bo Scaife '04 Denver, CO (Mullen Mustangs)
Andrew Beck '18 Tampa, FL (Plant Panthers)
OL:Ben Adams '98 La Mirada, CA ((La Mirada Matadores)
Russell Gaskamp '98 Weatherford, OK (WHS Eagles)
Adam Schreiber '83 Huntsville, AL (Butler Rebels)
DEFENSE
DL: Poona Ford '17 Hilton Head, SC (Hilton Head Seahawks)
Lamarr Houston '09 Colorado Springs, CO (Doherty,Spartans)
Lionell Johnson '76 Winnfield, LA (Tigers)
Malcolm Roach '19 Baton Rouge, LA (Madison Chargers)
LB: Jeff Leiding '83 Tulsa, OK (Union Redskins)
Bill Hamilton '76 Las Cruces, NM (Bulldawgs)
Robin Sendlein '80 Las Vegas, NV (Rancho Rams)
Jordan Hicks '14 Cincinnati, OH (Lakota West Firebirds)
DB: Bryant Westbrook '96 Oceanside, CA (El Camino Wildcats)
Fred Steinmark '69 Wheat Ridge, CO (WRHS Farmers)
Davante Davis '18 Miami, FL (Washington Tornadoes)
Phillip Geigar '03 Shreveport, LA (Evangel Eagles)
Prime Defensive Depth
DL: Cole Pittman '00 Shreveport, LA (Evangel Eagles)
DL: Aaron Lewis '08 Albuquerque, NM (Cueva Bears)
LB: June James '84 Kansas City, MO (Southeast Knights)
DB: Mike Rowan '72 Memphis, TN (White Station Spartans)
SPECIAL TEAMS STARTERS
K: Raul Allegre '82 Shelton, WA (SHS Highclimbers)
P: Michael Dickson '17 Sydney, Australia (Kirrawee High)
DS: Nate Boyer '14 Dublin, CA (Valley Christian Vikings)
RETURNS: Eric Metcalf '88 Arlington, VA (Bishop O'Connell Knights)
The Depth
K: Scott Szeredy '93 La Habra, CA (Sonora Raiders)
P/K : Greg Johnson '06 Lilburn, GA (Parkview Panthers)
HONORARY COACH
Kyle Shanahan (WR '02) Englewood, CO (Cherry Creek Bruins)
Notes on the Roster
It wasn't difficult for me to start Major Applewhite over Chris Simms at QB. Simms had a standout record and excellent stats at Texas but did not have strong showings in some of the biggest games, notably against OU and in a Big XII title game with Colorado in 2001. Applewhite, on the other hand, led rallies to beat highly-ranked Nebraska and Texas A&M as a redshirt freshman, then was named Big XII Offensive Player of the Year as a soph.
He was 2-0 against OU and 1-0 against A&M as a starter before a knee injury in the Cotton Bowl paved the way for Mack Brown to name Simms the starter in most of Applewhite's final two years.
He ignited a huge comeback that nearly won the aforementioned battle with Colorado (after four turnovers from Simms) and was awarded the starting job for his final Longhorn game. In that 2001 Holiday Bowl, Applewhite led a then-record comeback by UT, as the Horns came back from a late 19-point deficit to beat Washington. Major had the magic, especially in the marquee games.
The top kicker and punter on this roster are international athletes. Raul Allegre was a soccer player from Torreon, Coahuila in Mexico. He first played football as an exchange student in Shelton, WA, and kicked for the University of Montana before transferring to UT. He was a standout for the Horns in 1981-82 and became a two-time Super Bowl champ with the New York Giants.
Before Nate Boyer ever strapped on a football helmet, he wore a Green Beret. A man who had pursued an acting career out of high school became one of the most revered Longhorn players in recent history. Boyer served the U.S. Army for six years in Iraq and Afghanistan, then walked on as a long snapper at Texas, having never played organized football. By the time he became UT's starter for two years, he was already more than 30 years old. Deciding who would lead the team out of the tunnel with the American flag was likely the easiest decision any Texas coach ever made.
Michael Dickson, the Australian punter, famously overcame a rocky start at Texas to become the Horns' first Ray Guy Award winner as the nation's top leg while earning consensus All-America honors on the field and as a scholar. Dickson decided to forego his senior year for the NFL but memorably bowed out with a Texas Bowl MVP award in his final game in burnt orange. All that, without being publicly referred to by name by head coach Tom Herman.
Under the "what might have been" heading not shown on the rosters might be three players (there surely are more) who were out-of-state stars robbed of their careers because of devastating injuries or conditions that ended or diminished these players' capacities to play: I'd start with Rick Vacura (Jackson, Minnesota) who was set to star on either side of the ball back in '71 before wrecking a knee in spring.
DE Bryan Pickryl, the number one player in Oklahoma when he signed with Texas in '02 out of the Tulsa area's Jenks High. Pickryl even started some at UT as a freshman but was hounded by shoulder woes and retired from football before graduating.
The other pick is Derrian Brown, the stud RB from Buford, GA, who suffered a stroke before arriving at Texas in 2019. Brown had to learn to walk and talk again and is on a medical scholarship at UT, where he has been named to the academic honor roll.
The roster compiled above features Longhorns from 20 states and the nation's capital, in addition to Mexico and Australia. California placed eight players to lead the way. Perhaps surprisingly, Colorado was a close second with seven picks.
This writer made an editorial decision to leave two All-America picks from out of state -- one in 1983, one in 1990 -- off this all-star roster due to their very serious criminal convictions while playing professional football.
Check out the link below for the best Longhorns from out of state who played tight end for Texas. Larry starts off the article reminiscing about 3 in-state Longhorn tight ends to set the stage for the major focus on his article https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/texas-tight-ends
Contact Larry Carlson @ LC13@Txstate.edu
