The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2006 Signing Day features another strong class for National Champions
02.01.2006 | Football
The University of Texas won its first National Championship since 1970 in 2005, reaching the pinnacle of college football for the fourth time in school history. That ultimate success was a continuation of the consistency Head Coach Mack Brown brought to a Longhorns program that managed at least nine wins just three times in the 14 years prior to his arrival in 1998.
Since Brown hit Austin, UT has posted at least nine victories in each of his eight years and is the nation's only school that has registered 10 (or more) wins the last five seasons. Texas' No. 1 ranking in 2005 marked the fourth time in the last five years that the Horns finished the year with a Top 10 ranking, including three Top Five finishes during that stretch. UT is riding a school-record string of six straight national Top 12 finishes. Including a school best 13-0 mark last season, Texas has posted the nation's most victories (83) over the last eight years and boasts the NCAA's longest active winning streak at 20 games (second-longest on school record).
That success is a direct reflection of what Brown and his staff has done in assembling and developing a series of highly regarded recruiting classes the past eight seasons. It should come as no surprise that on National Signing Day 2006, Brown -- the nation's winningest coach over the last 10 years (102 victories / 82.3 winning percentage) and the 2005 Bear Bryant National Coach of the Year award winner -- and his staff have continued to build upon a program that is now a yearly fixture among the nation's elite.
"Most of the young men that are joining us this year committed very early," Brown said. "We thought the fact that over the last five years we've been consistently a top 10 team really impacted these guys because that takes them back to their seventh, eighth and ninth grade years. Last year's Rose Bowl kind of put them over the top and this year's National Championship made this bunch even more prideful than they were when they committed."
Those early commitments resulted in 25 newcomers signing National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The group, which once again has been pegged as one of the nation's premier classes, will join UT's squad of returning veterans in its quest to defend the 2005 National Championship.
"This is the one of the biggest classes we've had in number of years, but it's an overall group that fits our needs from top to bottom as a team," said Brown, who is seeking to replace a senior class that posted 45 wins, more than any four-year class in UT history. "We signed young men that can play a lot of different positions and the class gives us added strength in just about every position on the field."
Among the group of signees, four (OL Buck Burnette, LB Sergio Kindle, TE Greg Smith and QB Jevan Snead) are already enrolled in school and will participate in spring drills. Those four newcomers will count towards Texas' 2005 class, increasing that class to a total of 19.
"When you consider that the four young men who are already on campus will be added to last year's class, we are right at about the average number of signees that we'd like to have, which is 18 to 22 per class," Brown added. "There's definitely a difficult transition period for a young guy that decides to enroll early so we feel fortunate that four came in together to form a mini-class that can grow together. The older guys are really helping them and they've already done a good job in the off-season program. When they get through the early challenges of homesickness, going to college classes and workouts through spring practice, it will be worth it for them, but it's always difficult early."
Brown also points out that the NCAA rule that permitted freshmen to enroll in summer school classes and participate in the summer off-season workout program for the first time last year, will once again be a beneficial opportunity for the remaining 21 newcomers.
"For the first time that I can remember, we didn't have one person in two-a-days even talk about a freshman having homesickness," Brown commented on the 2005 class. "They were in a better conditioning program so it was safer for them. They had a better chance to play early because of that summer conditioning and they were more familiar with their classes, their teammates and The University. Most importantly, I thought allowing them to participate in the summer sessions helped them academically and it resulted in one of the stronger fall semesters we've had."
Among the total group of 25 signees announced on Wednesday, six earned Parade All America honors, two of which were also tabbed Prep first-team All-Americas by USA Today. All totaled, 23 were listed among all-state teams, including 11 first-team all-state selections. The class also features 19 prospects that were honor roll students, four of which earned Academic All-District recognition. Most of the 2006 signees have also been very involved in community service efforts.
"Our staff has done a great job of identifying the type of players that we think will best fit our program," Brown added. "We probably did the best job we've done of identifying who was interested in us and who we wanted at an earlier stage this year. Because of that, we spent very little time recruiting young men who we were not interested in or who were not interested in us.
"This is our ninth recruiting class at The University of Texas and I've been very pleased with the quality of each of them. We've developed some tremendous players and teams while winning a lot of games and we'll continue to build on that. The best part is we've accomplished a great deal while attracting the type of athlete and person that allows us to develop a well-respected overall program."
That evaluation process saw Brown's staff working with perfect efficiency in narrowing their list of prospects. Texas used only 26 of the 56 official on-campus visits permitted by the NCAA and 25 of those prospects signed National Letters of Intent to join the Longhorns on Wednesday. Among that group, four of the signees are already enrolled and count towards the class of 2005 and the remaining 21 newcomers make up the class of 2006.
"After the success we've had the last several years, and especially the last two years where we've played so well as a team, it's important to evaluate how each prospect fits into the overall team," Brown said. "In trying to maintain the chemistry we've established, we are looking much more closely at how these young men fit in as parts of the overall team and we think there's no question it's paying off."
The newcomers UT attracted in 2006 are a well-balanced collection that features talented prospects covering every position on the field. Brown, once again, expanded the foundation of his program by building with homegrown talent. Of the 25 Longhorn signees, 23 are from the Lone Star state.
"Texas will always be our lifeblood in recruiting, and I want to thank the state's high school coaches once again for allowing us to come into their schools and encouraging their young guys to visit the schools in Texas," Brown said. "We will always look hard at the guys in state, or with ties to this state, first."
