NU dives into Texas for talent

Nebraska's football recruiting eyes are increasingly upon Texas, which makes sense for a slew of reasons.

The state has 23 million-plus residents and produces more than 300 Division I players annually. Many of those players are coached by prep coaches paid annual salaries in excess of $100,000. They’re hired to coach football, that’s it.

No surprise, Nebraska's Big 12 North Division rivals are benefiting from Texas' talent riches. For instance, there were 26 Texans on Missouri's travel roster for its 52-17 victory Oct. 4. That includes the Tigers’ best player on offense (Chase Daniel of Southlake) and its leading tackler (linebacker Sean Weatherspoon of Jasper).

Kansas’ roster includes no fewer than 28 Texans, including its two best players �” wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe of Dallas and quarterback Todd Reesing of Austin.

It should be noted Nebraska assistant coach Tim Beck recruited both Briscoe and Reesing when Beck was an assistant at KU from 2005-07.

“He did a tremendous job for KU while he was there,” says Jeremy Crabtree, longtime respected recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “Obviously that was a smart, smart move by coach (Bo) Pelini to go out there and get that guy on staff, because he’s going to do a great job for them year in and year out in the state of Texas, especially in that (Dallas/Fort Worth) metroplex. He’s just so well-respected by the coaches there.”

Beck, a high school head coach in Texas from 1999-2004, says basically all of Nebraska’s assistants are recruiting Texas to some extent these days, with Beck, Carl Pelini and John Papuchis working the fertile Dallas/Fort Worth area. That region has produced four of the 16 verbal commitments in the Huskers’ class of 2009.

All told, Nebraska has eight Texans currently committed. That’s after signing nine scholarship players from Texas in last year’s class and seven in 2007.

By contrast, Nebraska from 2004 to 2006 ended up with a not-so-grand total of three scholarship recruits from Texas.

It’s not as if the Huskers ever stopped recruiting in Texas; they’ve just turned it up a notch in the last three years.

As it stands, Nebraska has verbal commitments from two four-star players in its 2009 class �” Chris Williams, a 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker from Abilene, Texas, and Cody Green, a 6-4, 220-pound quarterback from Dayton, Texas.

“I know some of the Big 12 South schools, namely Texas and Oklahoma, kind of thought Williams was a little short,” Crabtree says. “That maybe scared away some of those type of schools. But I don’t care. I’ll take Chris Williams and go to battle every single day. He’s the type of kid that if you ask him to run through a wall, he’ll ask you how many walls do you want him to run through.”

What’s more, “He has tremendous football instincts. He may not be the prettiest kid out there. He’s just a tremendous football player.”

As for Green, “He has the prototypical big-time quarterback size,” Crabtree says. “He’s got the arm. He’s got the maneuverability in the pocket. I think if there’s any guy in the state of Texas that fits what Nebraska is trying to do offensively �” throwing the ball around and also having a guy who can move �” Cody Green definitely fits best.

“Both of those kids could play for anybody in the country.”

I asked Crabtree to identify a “sleeper” in Nebraska’s class of 2009. He came up with linebacker Earnest Norman of Euless, Texas, who reneged on a verbal commitment to Kansas in favor of Nebraska this past weekend.

“He’s only 5-11, but has great instincts,” Crabtree says. “He plays in a great prep program at Euless Trinity. He’s been coached at a high, high level, and he’s just a damn good football player.

“Too many college coaches, and even some analysts like us, get caught up in the hyperbole of a 4.4 40-yard dash, or having a 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker, and overlook guys who are 5-11. There have been some very good smaller linebackers in the Big 12.”

I often poke fun at the recruiting Web sites and thumb my nose at recruiting in general. But I’m trying to reform myself to a certain extent.

Some of the recruiting business makes no sense to me. But some of it does -- scouring Texas for talent, for instance, makes perfect sense.