Babers: Recruiting in Texas harder than ever, even for the Horns

[Harry]

Lately Longhorn fans have been stressing about the lack of verbal commitments coming in for the 2016 recruiting class.

Texas only has six at this point while Baylor and TCU each have 11. Texas Tech has an astounding 19.

This piece is not intended to dispel any paranoia as it relates to recruiting in the current cycle. Its purpose is to merely bring perspective.

For numerous reasons -- some listed below -- the state of Texas has become the most contentious, cutthroat college football recruiting ground in the country. That's the reality facing Charlie Strong and why things aren't going to be easy on the recruiting trail.

-- No other state has more FBS programs, Power 5 programs or more FBS programs in major metropolitan areas than Texas. The Metroplex alone has SMU, TCU and North Texas; in Central Texas there's Texas, Baylor, UTSA and Texas State all within a short drive from each other; the same goes for Texas A&M, Rice and the University of Houston.

-- Football is a religion in Texas. Texas’ Class 6A Division I high school football state championship game drew over 52,000 fans at AT&T Stadium. All FBS bowl games had an average attendance of 43,770 last season.

-- Football isn’t just a religion in Texas, it's economics. Texas has more full-time high school coaches than any other state. In a growing number cases coordinators are no longer teaching, or they're working a limited classroom schedule and focusing almost solely on football.

-- Texas has 225 more high schools playing football today than 20 years ago.

-- Half of the top-10 fastest-growing cities in the country are in the Lone Star State.

read more:  http://texas.247sports.com/Article/Rod-Babers-Texas-Longhorns-football-recruiting-tough-in-Texas-37936613