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Texas went heavy for defense to sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country, tossing in a quarterback with a familiar last name.
The Longhorns signed 25 players Wednesday, including nine defensive linemen and linebackers, in a class rated as high as No. 2 in the country by some recruiting analysts.
Among the top players are Plano defensive lineman Jackson Jeffcoat, son of former Dallas Cowboys star Jim Jeffcoat, and linebacker Jordan Hicks of West Chester, Ohio. Both were rated among the top players at their positions in the country.
Texas also signed quarterback Case McCoy, younger brother of former Longhorn Colt McCoy, who led Texas to last season's BCS championship game.
The group includes 17 players who earned high school All-American honors, but Longhorns coach Mack Brown deflected some claims that the 2010 group is the best in his 13 seasons in Austin.
``It definitely has the potential to be. A lot of recruiting is determined on how they finish,'' Brown said. ``In four or five years we hope all of these guys will graduate. We have some great players on campus. We feel like this group will continue in that tradition.''
Brown has long had a reputation as a master recruiter, but several classes in recent years were notable for the players who spurned the Longhorns at the 11th hour and signed elsewhere.
Most of Wednesday's class had committed before last season. Jeffcoat and Hicks waited until last week and their commitments bolstered a class already rated among the best in the country.
``We didn't have drama at the end. All of our guys were honest with us. None of our guys wavered,'' Brown said.
As usual, the class is dominated by homegrown athletes. Twenty-two of the 25 are from Texas. Hicks is just the second player from Ohio to sign with Texas. Running back A.J. ``Jam'' Jones of Youngstown (1978) was the other.
``He can do it all,'' Brown said of Hicks. ``He can hit.''
Jeffcoat is the second son of a former Dallas Cowboys player on the roster. Tailback Tre' Newton is the son of former Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton.
Case McCoy passed for 10,711 yards and 111 touchdowns at Graham High School.
``The fact Colt was here ... has absolutely nothing to do with signing Case,'' Brown said. ``We would have signed Case if his brother was not here or not a factor.''
Texas also signed quarterback Connor Wood, who passed for 8,417 yards and rushed for 1,482 in his career at Houston Second Baptist. It is the first time Texas has signed two quarterbacks in the same year since 2007 when Texas signed John Chiles and G.J. Kinne Jr. Chiles now plays wide receiver and Kinne transferred to Tulsa.
Texas believes it already has its quarterback of the future in Garrett Gilbert, the national high school player of the year in 2008. Gilbert was forced into action against Alabama and struggled early before throwing two touchdown passes in the second half.
Texas signed five wide receivers and will have immediate needs at the position next season. Last season's top playmaker, Jordan Shipley, has graduated and No. 3 pass catcher Dan Buckner (45 catches) transferred to Arizona in January after he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing and resisting arrest at a woman's apartment.
Notable among the receivers is Mike Davis of Dallas Skyline, who had 129 receptions for 2,764 yards and 39 touchdowns.
The Longhorns signed only one running back, Traylon Shead rushed for 2,695 yards and 39 touchdowns last season at Cayuga High School in Class 1A, the division for Texas' smallest schools.
Although rare, Brown has shown he's not scared to dip into the small schools for players if he finds one he thinks play at an elite level.
Colt McCoy played at Class 2A Jim Ned High School in Tuscola. He won more games (45) than any other starting quarterback in major college history and twice was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
``If we like the young man, good student, good character, he produces, we go for it,'' Brown said.
