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By Kevin Flaherty
FOXSportsSouthwest.com/LonghornDigest.com
Much like Golden Corral, the 2011 Texas football recruiting class has something for everybody.
Need power backs to run the ball? Malcolm Brown and Joe Bergeron, at your service. Desperate for cover DBs? Josh Turner, Sheroid Evans and Leroy Scott are right down the hall. Do-it-all athletes like Quandre Diggs, Mykkele Thompson and Miles Onyegbule will get their starts at cornerback, safety and wide receiver, respectively.
"I'm excited for everybody," said Brown, the jewel of the 22-player class. "They call this one of the top classes of the year. I've met a lot of those guys . . . just to get to play with those guys will be great because I know they're all great players."
From pass rushers like Cedric Reed to athletic slot receivers like Jaxon Shipley, the Longhorns class represents one of the highest-quality groupings in the country. Only four schools have a class with a higher ranking than the Longhorns, according to Scout.com, but each of those classes received boosts by signing more players. Texas's average star rating of 3.86 is the highest of any 2011 class according to Scout.com, and 20 of the 22 players have earned All-State and / or All-America honors.
But most importantly, the class appears to address the sports in which the Longhorns are in most need. In landing the 6-1, 224-pound Brown, the No. 2 running back prospect in the country according to Scout.com, they have the back to carry the load offensively. Bergeron is another plus-sized back at 6 foot, 235 pounds and can play as a single back, fullback or H-back — his size and athleticism sure to cause matchup problems.
Shipley, Onyegbule and tight end M.J. McFarland give the Longhorns additional matchup nightmares in the receiving corps. Shipley combines top speed and route-running ability, while Onyegbule (6-4, 210) has great size and is an excellent leaper. McFarland, who had enrolled early, has already pushed his weight up to 247 pounds and could play immediately at tight end. Another early enrollee, Belton High School gunslinger David Ash (6-3 215), should be the one delivering the ball to the group.
The Longhorns also recruited a strong offensive line, headlined by versatile athlete Sedrick Flowers, a 280-pound guard who can do the splits. Garrett Greenlea and Josh Cochran are the tackles, with local Taylor Doyle and Marcus Hutchins likely serving as interior players.
In practice, they'll have to deal with Desmond Jackson and Quincy Russell, a pair of athletic, playmaking defensive tackles, and Cedric Reed, a strong, quick edge rusher.
Linebacker Steve Edmond is Scout.com's second-ranked middle linebacker, bringing speed and nastiness to Austin. Kendall Thompson can play any one of the three spots or even shift down to defensive end. And Chet Moss is a ball hawk.
The signing of Turner marks the second time in as many years that Texas has plucked the No. 1 player from the state of Oklahoma after grabbing DeMarco Cobbs last season. Diggs projects to multiple spots, but he'll start at corner, as will Evans, one of the fastest players in the class. Evans will also run track for the Longhorns. Leroy Scott is a physical corner while Thompson was one of the most dynamic players in the state last season.
"This class is a class that filled (our) needs at every position," Texas coach Mack Brown said.
The Longhorns had this class nailed down for some time, with Malcolm Brown, who committed in August, being the most recent commitment of the aforementioned players. Nineteen of the eventual 22 signees committed by the end of April, with only one commitment changing his mind even as the revolving door of assistant coaches kept rotating.
"Once I was committed, I was 100 percent," Malcolm Brown said before addressing the assistant coach situation. "Sometimes, change is good."
Mack Brown credited Diggs with an exceptional player-recruitment effort in keeping the class intact.
"He'd email, he'd call (the other commitments)," Brown said. "Quandre would email (Texas assistant Major Applewhite) all the time and say 'so-and-so's OK. I got him straightened out.' I probably heard from him more than anybody else when he would check on guys."
Still, the class isn't perfect. Brown admitted Wednesday that he wished the Longhorns would have landed one more offensive lineman. And Texas whiffed late on a pair of defensive ends that could have helped a unit woefully short on depth. Both of those will likely go unaddressed until the 2012 cycle, when the new staff has a better handle on the team's roster needs.
But for what the Longhorns needed in 2011 — a hearty helping of athletes, powerful linemen and playmakers across the board — this class serves up an awfully tasty dinner, the kind that could return the Longhorns to a more desirable postseason destination in a few years.
"We have a lot of good freshmen coming in," Malcolm Brown said. "I'm not a savior or anything like that. But I've met a lot of those guys, and I know all of us are really determined to go in and try to contribute right away."