Big 12 Recruiting Update: Texas Takes Over Top-Ranked Class in Conference

Tom Herman and his Texas staff took the wide world of recruiting by storm this week by adding three commitments — all three rated as top-250 four-star prospects — to their 2020 recruiting class. The surge now has the Longhorns sitting atop the latest Big 12 recruiting rankings despite holding fewer commitments than three other conference foes.

TEAM	TOTAL COMMITS	TOTAL POINTS
Texas	15	255.90
Oklahoma	15	236.75
Iowa State	19	182.57
Kansas	24	182.45
Oklahoma State	14	171.05
Kansas State	18	169.40
Texas Tech	15	165.53
TCU	11	161.31
West Virginia	12	152.02
Baylor	13	151.31

How Texas has risen has been a steady diet of selectiveness. The Horns’ entire recruiting class, save for three players, are rated inside the top-250 of the national rankings, a tactic that gives them a 93.10 national per-player average that will have them squarely in the top-5 nationally by signing day. Here’s a look at the updated rankings sorted by per-player commitment averages.

Rank	Team	Per-player avg.
1	Texas	93.10
2	OU	91.22
3	TCU	87.60
4	Oklahoma State	86.07
5	West Virginia	85.55
6	Texas Tech	85.29
7	Iowa State	85.23
8	Baylor	84.91
9	Kansas State	84.53
10	Kansas	84.15

Here’s what you may have missed in the Big 12 over the last week.

1. Texas surge is real

Texas added a five-star running back (Bijan Robertson) to kick off the month, and it’s been gravy since. Over the last week, four-star safety Jerrin Thompson followed suit by pledging to Texas (over OSU and others). Defensive ends Princely Umanmielen and cornerback Ethan Pouncey, both four-star recruits, also committed. Texas’ class now ranks sixth nationally.

2. Kansas keeps adding (two!)

Les Miles landing his biggest fish yet. Last week, four-star linebacker Brennon Scott out of Bishop Dunne in Dallas, Texas, committed to the Jayhawks. Several days later, defensive end Chris Jones from Florida, a three-star recruit, joined him. Scott is the sixth-highest-rated defensive pledge at KU in the program’s history.

3. Tech adds another talented defensive player

Tech moved up one spot in the per-player-average rankings this week, jumping past Iowa State with the addition of three-star defensive end Philip Blidi. Blidi is the seventh defensive pledge for Tech in its 15-man recruiting class, and the latest example of Tech’s new staff prioritizing defensive talent.