HOOP IT UP: BIG DAY AHEAD FOR TEXAS BASKETBALL
Amid 2013 cautionary tales, Mayfield totally overlooked.
Robbie Rhodes sported a vibrant blue-chip recruiting résumé in 2013.
The wide receiver from Fort Worth Southwest tied a national record back in October 2011 when he caught eight touchdown passes in a 66-21 victory over Arlington Heights. His stat line: 10 receptions for 394 yards. No receiver in the state of Texas ever had more yardage, and he enjoyed the stat-prolific game as a junior.
So why wouldn’t Rhodes, who also was a basketball standout and such a speedster that he won a combined five gold and silver medals at the UIL state track meet, be the most celebrated recruiting sensation in the state on the first Wednesday in February 2013?
Rhodes topped the American-Statesman’s Fabulous 55 list of the state’s top recruits that year. He was wooed heavily by Texas and also considered TCU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. But he signed with Baylor, giving the Bears their first No. 1-ranked player on the annual list that started in 1989 since quarterback Odell James back in 1996.
Baylor was riding into heady times in February 2013; Robert Griffin III had won the Heisman Trophy in 2011, and the Bears would win Big 12 titles
in 2013 and 2014.
The good, bad and ugly of recruiting
Rhodes, however, proved to be a cautionary tale on how having an extraordinary skill set doesn’t guarantee college success. College fans who follow recruiting probably should remember these sort of sobering blue chips-gone-wrong tales Wednesday on national signing day, as the final prospects sign their national letters of intent around the country.
Rhodes was kicked off the Baylor team the summer before his sophomore season. He transferred to Bowling Green, which at the time was coached by Dino Babers, a former Baylor assistant who was running a similar high-octane offense. But Rhodes was dismissed from that school, too.
In just about every football way possible, Rhodes was a bust, possibly the biggest in Fab 55 history. In his career, he played in 17 games, caught a benign 13 passes, rushed the ball once and returned seven kicks.
Every year, the Statesman looks back at its Fab 55 from five years before to see how our original rankings stood up after those prospects fared after signing day. That 2013 group was a mixed bag — overall, 20 of the 55 players later transferred from the school with which they signed; eight of them were kicked off their team or teams; five ended up quitting football; and four ended up giving up football to play another sport.
At least seven players from that year’s list are playing in the NFL. And perhaps the best player from that year’s class — an under-recruited 3-star quarterback who had to walk on twice at different schools but went on to win a Heisman Trophy — didn’t even make these type of statewide lists.
And the lack of stars in that class may be the reason why state flagship programs Texas and Texas A&M have been struggling.
Rhodes had legal issues at Baylor. In May 2014 he was arrested for suspicion of marijuana possession and tampering with evidence following a traffic stop. Charges never were filed, but former Bears coach Art Briles dismissed him weeks later, telling the media, “We’ve parted ways for undisclosed reasons.”
After transferring to Bowling Green, Rhodes sat out the 2014 season. The next year, he touched the ball only 10 times — with only one play coming over the final 10 games. He then was dismissed for an unspecified violation of team rules.
Only three other No. 1-ranked players on the Fab 55 ended up transferring or leaving their schools because of nonfootball reasons. Wide receiver Mike Miller, who signed with Notre Dame in 1991, ended up getting dismissed by the Fighting Irish because of legal issues. Texas quarterback Shea Morenz, who signed in 1992, left football in 1995 when he was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by the New York Yankees. And Garrett Gilbert, the top player on the 2009 Fab 55, left Texas and transferred to SMU.
Rhodes was only a symptom of what turned out to be a sickly Fab 55 that year. Take a look at the top 10. Four players transferred, including fifth-ranked Darius James, a 5-star offensive guard who was Texas’ top-rated signee.
Texas A&M’s Isaiah Golden, a defensive tackle who was ranked No. 7, was sentenced to prison for armed robbery.
Receiver Derrick Griffin, ranked No. 8, seemed headed for Miami. But he didn’t qualify academically. He ended up playing both football and basketball at Texas Southern. He was dismissed from football in 2016.
Quarterback Cody Thomas, who was rated No. 9 and signed with Oklahoma, eventually gave up football to concentrate on baseball. He’s now in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system, one of three Fab 55ers from 2013 who gave up football for baseball.
Linebacker Mike Mitchell, who ranked 10th, signed with Ohio State, transferred to Texas Tech, then left for Southeastern, where he was a reserve player.
Effects on Horns, Aggies
Back in 2013, A&M’s Kevin Sumlin was putting together his first real Aggies class with a surge of enviable momentum. Johnny Manziel was fresh off winning the Heisman, and A&M finished 2012 at 11-2, including a regular-season win at Alabama and a Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma.
Nationally, the Aggies’ group of 31 players, including 14 off the Fab 55, ranked ninth. Ricky Seals-Jones, the No. 2 player in the state, was A&M’s top signee. He left school after three seasons and made the St. Louis Rams’ roster as an undrafted free agent. Ten other members off that Fab 55 quit the team. Quarterback Kohl Stewart never made it to College Station after being drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Twins.
In Austin, that 2013 class turned out to be Mack Brown’s final one at Texas. The Longhorns signed only 15 players, and the group was listed as the 17th best in the country, one spot behind Oklahoma, which signed the best class in the Big 12.
Nine members of the Fab 55 signed with the Longhorns. Only three posted double-digit starts. Five transferred.
But it’s not like the state didn’t produce brilliant talent in 2013. It’s just that the recruiting gurus and college coaches got it so wrong.
We give you Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner who was woefully under-recruited. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Mayfield was only the 1,029th best prospect in the country that year.
Mayfield, after hoping for a scholarship offer from TCU, accepted a walk-on invitation at Texas Tech, then transferred to Oklahoma in 2014. He led the Sooners to three Big 12 titles and two national playoff spots and was invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony two times.