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Dallas (Hillcrest) WR T.J. Jenkins (5-11, 180, 4.4) has chosen to play at Houston instead of SMU, among others.

WHY?!?!?! The kid has the grades to get into SMU, Dallas is his home, and SMU has a much brighter future on the football field. Why he'd go off to Houston is a complete mystery.

Just a guess, but I would imagine Trey Griffin's coming would have something to do with our interest in this kid. How many small, speedy recievers do you need in one class?

Sorry, but in my book, 5-11 is small. I like the 6-0 and under guys we have, but I also like the added dimension the Taylor kid might bring. At 6-4, I like his chances of going up for the tough catch in the corner of the end zone against the typical 6-0 cover guy.

Recruiting Guru, SMU does NOT have a brighter future than UH. Jenkins is going to a school in a better conference, with better resources and a better chance at winning. I don't blame him. But remember, he put up only modest numbers against BAD competition in district 12-4A, so we aren't losing a future Randy Moss. In fact, I don't even think we're losing a future Kevin Thornal.

SMU would be lucky to get another receiver like Kevin Thornal. He was damn good.

I couldn't agree with you more! In fact, if you can think of another receiver we have had, since our time, that you would rather see go up for a ball than KT let me know Swami.

[This message has been edited by Texastang (edited 12-27-2000).]

Hey Houston Pony --

Before you bash Thornal too much, remember he did make the NFL. Didn't stay too long, but he made it to the League. If you want to rip me, fine. But I'll take a team full of guys with the size, talent and heart to make to the NFL any day.

Jenkins is a stud -- I've seen him play several times. We need to try to change his mind.

I'd rather be in SMU's situation than in UH's any day. They're going to get killed in C-USA next year, in part because they lose a ton of their talent. We're on the way up (admittedly in a weak conference) with almost all of our young talent coming back. And there's this one little difference between playing for SMU and playing for the Coogs: If you go to UH, you have to live in Houston. No thanks. No disrespect meant to your city -- I'm sure it was a great place to grow up. But on the many visits I've made down there, I'd live in Dallas (or Austin) ANY DAY. Don't turn this into a Houston/Dallas bashing session; I'm just expressing an opinion. SMU is a much better degree, and Dallas is a much more beautiful/enjoyable city. Hands down.

Recruiting Guru:
First of All: In no way was I bashing Thornal. In comparison to Randy Moss, he's not in the same league. I do agree, however, that he's the best receiver we've had in a very long time, and the guys we have around now can't hold his jock. That's right: I'm bashing the guys we have now, and not Thornal.
Secondly: Maybe we were watching a different receiver, but I've seen about 7 or 8 Hillcrest games since the 1998 season, and no one in their receiving corps is going to turn any heads in Division I football. You might have seen him put up big numbers against Jefferson, A. Maceo Smith, Adamson or e-gads, WT White!!! But so what. That's essentially a 3A district in the broken down DISD.
Finally: Everybody loves their hometown. I won't get into a fight about that stuff with you, but in every aspect, Dallas is about 3/4 of Houston, but with a chip on its shoulder. Think about it, and you'll know what I'm talking about. And don't be a pinko Gore-backer and whine about our smog. That smog is a result of the energy refining that helps you tool around the Park Cities or Barton Creek in your Four-Runner, Jetta, Beamer or whatever cute car you drive.

Houston, we have a problem.

First of all, I am not a "pinko Gore-backer" -- he sucks almost as bad as George Dubbya Quayle does. They're both complete morons and would make equally useless presidents. But this board is not for political rants.

Secondly, I do not drive a "Four-Runner, Jetta, Beamer or whatever cute car" -- I drive a gool old-fashioned truck. And I do not live in Park Cities or Dallas, I live in Austin.

However, I do visit as many high school games as I can each season, (at least two per weekend) and I have seen Jenkins and the Hillcrest team many times in recent years. I think the last team I saw him play against was Dallas Roosevelt. I've been evaluating high school players and covering recruiting for almost 20 years, and trust me, T.J. Jenkins can play. We will hear from him when he gets to Houston, or wherever he ends up.

You're right - everyone likes their hometown, even Houstonians. It's an OK town, but nowhere I'd want to live.

I live in Austin, my brother went to Westlake... I was just curious as to why SMU doesnt recruit any westlake kids? It seems like a perfect fit to me, in fact, I think one of their coaches went to SMU? They have such a good strength program that it seems like even thought they dont produce the best athletes, they would produce solid line players... am I wrong about that?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Recruiting Guru:
<B>Houston, we have a problem.

First of all, I am not a "pinko Gore-backer" -- he sucks almost as bad as George Dubbya Quayle does. They're both complete morons and would make equally useless presidents. But this board is not for political rants.

Secondly, I do not drive a "Four-Runner, Jetta, Beamer or whatever cute car" -- I drive a gool old-fashioned truck. And I do not live in Park Cities or Dallas, I live in Austin.

However, I do visit as many high school games as I can each season, (at least two per weekend) and I have seen Jenkins and the Hillcrest team many times in recent years. I think the last team I saw him play against was Dallas Roosevelt. I've been evaluating high school players and covering recruiting for almost 20 years, and trust me, T.J. Jenkins can play. We will hear from him when he gets to Houston, or wherever he ends up.

You're right - everyone likes their hometown, even Houstonians. It's an OK town, but nowhere I'd want to live.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The other board is stating that we received a commitment from Cedric Vinson a 5-11 190# QB from Diboll who is projected as a wide receiver for the ponies. Whet do you know about this kid. I cant seem to find him on any of the recruiting boards. Also any word on O-Line prospects looking at SMU. Maybe it's just me but I really think we need to sign 5 or 6 O-Linemen in this class to avoid depth problems in the coming years.

Good call, Jason.

Westlake doesn't prduce the speed guys SMU seems to be in love with right now, but they do crank out some well-schooled, disciplined linemen (see Steve McKinney -- former Aggie OL now playing for the Indianapolis Colts -- and his brother Seth McKinney, the current Aggie center who's supposed to be a first- or second-round draft pick). We could use some folks like that.

TexasStang

I played with Thornal and he was good. But I tell you what, Rafiq Cooper and Jimmy Moore were fine players that for whatever reason did not blossom into their full potential. They had moments of grateness though.

Jimmy Moore was well on his way to a strong career. Didn't he get derailed by grade problems?

[This message has been edited by Hoofprint (edited 01-02-2001).]

Jimmy had some conflicts with one of the coaches that is no longer around and ended up getting disillusioned with the game for awhile. I think he did have some grade troubles, but there were other things going on too. He did end up playing for UMASS and had 90 receptions and 1400 yds for them and I believe was their conference player of the year.

As for Rafiq, he is playing over in Germany and doing quite well. He has moved back to WR for them and I've heard he is planning on heading back there next season.

All in all, I would give the nod to KT though. He was was huge in some games and always seemed to come up with the big catch for us during his career (see A&M game 1995, and his 7 consecutive games with a TD) He also ran incredible routes and could turn the safety around better than anyone I've seen at SMU.