Texas Football: 3 most painful recruiting misses for Tom Herman

During the 2018 recruiting cycle, the Longhorns were trying to build a much better receiving corps for the future than they had in the latter years under former head coach Mack Brown and throughout the coaching tenure of Charlie Strong in Austin. And they had ample targets to build up their receiving corps, including the likes of Justyn Ross and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

The two teams that really struck gold during the 2018 recruiting cycle were the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers. A lot of the pieces that the defending National Champion LSU had on that record breaking offense that saw Joe Burrow breakthrough were signed in their 2018 recruiting class, including wide receivers Terrace Marshall and JaMarr Chase.

The prized wide receiver get in the 2018 signing class for head coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide was four-star Episcopal High School product and Bellaire, TX, native Jaylen Waddle. This 5-foot-10 and 180 pound standout speedster ranked as the nation’s No. 39 2018 high school prospect and the No. 5 wide receiver. He received an offer from Texas and had them among his finalist schools for a while.

In the two seasons he played in college since signing with the Crimson Tide, Waddle registered 78 receptions for more than 1,400 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. He’s just now entering his junior campaign, and would be by far the most productive returning wide receiver (in terms of those numbers with Alabama) if he had landed on the Forty Acres.