Kevin Flaherty
LonghornsDigest.com
November 19, 2010
Texas freshman safety Nate Boyer might not have the recruiting profile that many of his teammates do.
But he certainly has a more interesting story than most. Boyer didn't play high school football because his high school, Valley Christian (Calif.), didn't have the sport. He's a 29-year-old walk-on. And he's also a former Green Beret who earned a Bronze Star for a tour of duty in the Middle East.
Texas coach Mack Brown said Boyer didn't talk much about his past, and said that the coaching staff was unaware of his military status until his teammates began getting to know him.
Those teammates decided that Boyer should be honored at last Saturday's game, around Veteran's Day, and Boyer was named an honorary team captain. He also carried out the American Flag as the Longhorns ran onto the field.
Texas is credited as one of the country's top "early recruiting" teams, with the Longhorns often locking up the bulk of their class by the end of the spring. But that doesn't mean that Brown has to be happy about it.
"I don't like it. I would like to go back to what we did when we first got here," Brown said.
Brown said Texas used to have the luxury of evaluating players through their junior year, watching those players in spring practice and attempting to get those players into the Longhorn summer camp prior to the player's senior year.
Now, the Longhorns typically offer prospects over a series of Junior Days in February of the prospects' junior years.
Many schools are currently offering sophomores, but Brown said the Texas staff wouldn't start recruiting that early.
"It's a much more difficult thing than in the past," Brown said. "But I think that it's hard to stop when the train gets rolling."
Speaking of recruiting, Brown said he wasn't sure if the Longhorns would pursue another running back with the loss of Tr
