Every year, the Lone Star State churns out some of the best, brightest, and biggest talent at the high school level, flooding collegiate teams across the country with blue-chip talent out of Texas.
While the Texas Longhorns land a lot of commitments from those top-tier in-state prospects, the Horns can't land every recruit, and that leads to a few slipping away to other programs. That's simply the way recruiting works.
However, there are a few in-state prospects that Texas has missed out on over the years that sting more than others, especially when you look at the success those recruits had at both the collegiate and professional levels.
Biggest in-state recruiting misses for Texas Longhorns
From El Paso to Houston and from Amarillo to Brownsville, hundreds of recruits have come through the college football pipeline. These are the five biggest recruiting misses from the state of Texas for the Longhorns:
Honorable mention
- Drew Brees, quarterback from Westlake, played for the Purdue Boilermakers
- Johnny Manziel, quarterback from Kerrville, played for the Texas A&M Aggies
While Drew Brees went on to have a Hall of Fame career in the NFL, his collegiate career wasn't necessarily a heartbreaker for the Longhorns as he left the state of Texas to play for the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten.
Johnny Manziel grew up just outside of College Station, the home of the Texas A&M Aggies, and it wasn't a big surprise when he didn't commit to the Horns. While he made an unforgettable name for himself at Texas A&M, his overall career fell short of expectations beyond winning the 2012 Heisman Trophy.
Adrian Peterson grew up in Palestine, Texas, just a few hours north of the Longhorns' home in Austin, but also just a few hours south of the Oklahoma Sooners' home in Norman.
Don't get anything wrong: Adrian Peterson is one of the all-time great running backs, both in college and in the NFL. However, it's not like Texas was exactly lacking for star running backs during Peterson's tenure at Oklahoma.
While Peterson was suiting up for the Sooners, the Horns were boasting elite RBs like Cedric Benson and Jamaal Charles.
However, Peterson did still manage to win the 2004 Jim Brown Trophy as well as being named a unanimous All-American, the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, and the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year that season.
He was named to the First-team All-Big 12 three times before going on to become the seventh overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, holding the league's record for most rushing yards in a single game to this day (296).
One of the greatest defensive ends of all time grew up in Arlington, Texas. Myles Garrett was one of the most highly coveted recruits in the class of 2014, and he took his talents to none other than the Texas A&M Aggies.
He won the Bill Willis Trophy in 2015 as the best defensive lineman in the country, was named to the All-SEC first-team in both 2015 and 2016, was a Unanimous All-American in 2016, and was a first-team All-American in 2015.
Garrett was 1st overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and went on to his record-setting career in the league, including holding the NFL records for most sacks in a single season (23) and the most consecutive seasons with 12 or more sacks (6).
While Garrett was at Texas A&M, the Aggies and the Horns never shared a field, and that is one of the biggest reasons he isn't higher on this list.
Now, onto the legendary quarterbacks that Texas missed landing a commitment from out of the Lone Star State. First up: Patrick Mahomes, who grew up in Tyler, Texas.
At the NFL level, Mahomes has put himself in the middle of the GOAT conversation, but while playing for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he wasn't quite at that caliber. However, he still produced a legendary career in Lubbock and has done a lot for the program since then.
Mahomes still holds the NCAA record for the most offensive yards in a game (819) and the most passing yards in a game (734), but beyond a few lesser-known awards, his career for the Red Raiders wasn't quite what it could have been.
Also read: Steve Sarkisian couldn't resist making Patrick Mahomes joke about Brendan Sorsby saga
He went on to become the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and has since become the legend that he is known as now, winning three Super Bowls, earning three Super Bowl MVP awards, and securing two NFL Most Valuable Player awards.
Second up is Baker Mayfield, who grew up just a few minutes away from the 40 Acres, playing high school football for Lake Travis High School. He rode the bench during his true freshman season for Texas Tech before transferring to Oklahoma in 2014.
During his three-year tenure with the Sooners, quarterback Mayfield was the bane of the Longhorns' existence, defeating Texas in the Red River Rivalry twice during his college career.
Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy in 2017, was the NCAA passer rating leader in both 2016 and 2017, was the NCAA completion percentage leader in 2016 and 2017, and was a first-team All-American in 2015 and 2017.
He was named to the All-Big 12 first-team for three straight years (2015-17) and went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Kyler Murray was a five-star, dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school football powerhouse Allen, Texas, when he committed to none other than the Texas A&M Aggies over a slew of college teams.
After one year in College Station, he took his talents to the Oklahoma Sooners, where Murray became a star, just like Mayfield before him.
Between winning the Heisman Trophy, the Davey O'Brien Award, the Manning Award, and the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, as well as being named the AP College Football Player of the Year, a first-team All-American, and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, Murray was unstoppable at OU.
He led Oklahoma to a win over Texas in the 2018 Big 12 Championship game and a subsequent appearance in the 2018 College Football Playoffs, six years before the Longhorns ever reached the CFP.
While Texas was struggling to find a star quarterback after legends Vince Young and Colt McCoy led the offense, the Horns' rivals were landing big-time prospects who turned into big-time stars. Murray was simply the biggest miss of that stretch, and the biggest in-state recruiting miss in Texas history,
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