Two SMU running backs mentioned in this Austin Statesman art

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Need a quarterback? Head to Texas
Lone Star State developing national reputation for producing major QB prospects.


By Alan Trubow
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Twenty years ago, if you needed a star running back or lineman for your college football program, you looked to the state of Texas.

In 1987, running backs like Darren Lewis and Randy Simmons dominated recruiting headlines, overshadowing even future NFL rushers like Barry Foster and Rodney Hampton, both of whom are Texans.

Yes, San Antonio's Ty Detmer would earn a scholarship to Brigham Young, where he would eventually win the Heisman Trophy, but for the most part, Texas remained the rushing state that produced the likes of Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson and Doak Walker.

Not anymore.

Now, more and more schools are beginning to pillage Texas for the most important position on the football field: quarterbacks.

Today, 21 high school quarterbacks from Texas will sign letters of intent with Division I colleges. The Longhorns will sign Gilmer's G.J. Kinne — the two-time Class 3A offensive player of the year — and Mansfield Summit's John Chiles, who is listed as an athlete.

"The state of Texas is producing quarterbacks better than any state in the country. That hasn't always been the case," Rivals.com editor-in-chief Bobby Burton said. "The two states that used to produce the best quarterbacks were California and Pennsylvania.

"It's not that those two aren't producing good quarterbacks now, it's just that Texas has passed them up."

It shows.

Texas High's Ryan Mallett is heading to Michigan. Brock Mansion from Dallas Episcopal is going to California. LSU will grab Brenham's Jarrett Lee and Missouri will hook Diboll's Gilbert Moye.

"After playing with quarterbacks from around the country, I really think that Texas had the best group," said Mallett, the No. 2-rated quarterback in the country according to Rivals.com. "That's why there are so many heading to great schools."

Annual contenders from four of the nation's six major conferences will grab field generals from Texas today.

"Everybody is looking to Texas for quarterbacks," Rivals.com's Texas recruiting expert John Talman said. "In terms of numbers, I don't think any state can match them. Maybe California."

So when did Texas become such a hotbed for quarterback prospects?

It began when high schools in Texas started throwing the ball with success. First there were anomalies such as Todd Dodge, who threw for 3,000 yards at Port Arthur Jefferson in 1980 en route to a scholarship at Texas, and Detmer, whose 8,000 career passing yards at San Antonio Southwest in the mid-1980s led to a scholarship at Brigham Young.

"For the most part, Texas has been known in the past for producing great running backs," Rivals.com's national recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree said. "You think of Earl Campbell, Doak Walker and Billy Sims."

But more and more high school teams began passing the ball throughout the 1990s, including Ron Schroeder's Westlake teams that produced Drew Brees.

But the Lone Star State really began its quarterback boom in the late 1990, when 7-on-7 summer passing tournaments took off.

"Honestly, I think that was the biggest thing when it came to producing quarterbacks," Burton said. "It's one thing to have players with strong arms, but quarterbacks are more mechanical. Ty Detmer didn't have the strongest arm, but he had a good head and an accurate arm. Quarterbacks have to have the right tools, and 7-on-7 really helps that."

Plus, teams started having annual success with the pass.

Under Dodge's passing offense, Southlake Carroll has won four of the past five Class 5A state championships. Westlake, behind Brees, also experienced success with the passing game in the 90s. And, in this decade, Graham Harrell — now at Texas Tech — led Ennis to a couple of state championships behind a passing attack.

Over the past five years, no state can match Texas' production of quarterbacks, though California comes the closest.

Texas boasted Vince Young and Reggie McNeal in 2002. There was Drew Tate (Iowa), Robert Johnson (Arkansas) and Matt Flynn (LSU) in 2003.

There was Rhett Bomar (Oklahoma), Stephen McGee (Texas A&M), Robbie Reid (Oklahoma State) and Kirby Freeman (Miami) in 2004. In 2005, it was Chase Daniel (Missouri) and Texas' Colt McCoy.

Last year, it was Matthew Stafford, who started at Georgia, Greg McElroy (Alabama) and Jevan Snead, who transferred from Texas to Mississippi.

"The bottom line is you can count on five or six good quarterbacks coming from Texas every year right now," Talman said. "That's what happens when the state with the most football teams becomes a passing state."

And 2007 might end up being the best of them all.

"I would say there's a lot of depth in this class, and they've got the best No. 1 drop-back quarterback of all the classes in Mallett, but I would put that 2004 class in front of them," Burton said. "They had a lot of four- and five-star prospects in that group, including Bomar, who was extremely highly thought of at the time."

No matter what quarterback class is No. 1, the bottom line is Texas has become a gunslinger haven.

"It's the place to look for quarterbacks," Talman said. "It might not have been that way in the past, but it is right now, and it's going to be that way in the future, too."