Memories of Malikmas - Malik Jefferson's commitment to Texas, almost a decade later

For most of my life as a Texas fan, following recruiting down to the wire of signing day offered very little drama. I grew up in Austin in the 1990s and 2000s, and usually most of the signees that Mack Brown was landing for the Longhorns had committed back during their February Junior Days. When a recruitment did go down to the wire, it usually ended in disappointment, like the Ryan Perrilloux pursuit. I still recall how my high school blocked Rivals on our school computers, so I remember a friend having to call his dad in the hallway to get the result of that recruitment, only to find out the quarterback was LSU-bound.

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Most of Brown’s recruitments offered little fanfare. A case in point would be former Longhorn and Buffalo Bills great Aaron Williams, who I went to McNeil High School with in Northwest Austin. If he were around today, he would be the type of recruit every single SEC school would be after, inspiring a hard-fought battle for his signature. But on a Monday morning, I asked how his Texas visit the previous weekend had gone, and he casually replied, “I committed.” A borderline five-star committing before the spring of his junior year, with no drama, no tweet, no commitment video, nor hat science. It was par for the course then, but seems straight out of a bizarro world now.

When Brown’s tenure began to erode, Urban Meyer and Nick Saban elevated the SEC, and Texas A&M left for that conference, it all changed. The gates into Texas were open, and the SEC began to flood in. After Johnny Manziel’s arrival in College Station, the Aggies were surging over the Longhorns in recruiting. Landing players like Myles Garrett from Arlington, who didn’t even consider taking his talents to Austin, was a kick in the teeth. While Brown hadn’t participated in many recruitments that required dogfights, it didn’t seem like Charlie Strong began recruiting until the season was over.

His first season in Austin was a dismal 6-7, but the biggest test of the season came afterward, as the Longhorns were in a straight-up war with the Aggies for Mesquite Poteet linebacker Malik Jefferson. Jefferson was the No. 1 linebacker in the country, and his recruitment represented much more to Longhorn fans than just securing an extremely talented defender. It was the pursuit of a new type of player—one that the entire SEC wanted, someone whose signature wouldn’t come easy. The night before he committed, Jefferson sat down with teammate DeAndre McNeal, and they decided they were headed to Austin together. #LetsRide

New Texas commits Malik Jefferson (@Official_MalikJ) and DeAndre McNeal (@tbhmcNEal) pic.twitter.com/YVNxBZMeW9

— Max Olson (@max_olson) December 19, 2014

“The commitment to Texas was amazing,” Jefferson told IT. “It was really cool they thought so highly of me and thought I was such a big deal because it created a wave of other guys going to Texas. It was an honor to represent my state and Texas, and I’m proud to be a Longhorn.”

Say what you will about Strong—and no offense to Brian Kelly and Notre Dame—but landing Jefferson was probably the biggest victory of his three years in Austin. Eric Nahlin had coverage of the entire recruitment on Inside Texas and told everyone never to count the Longhorns out, despite how rough the previous season looked. When Jefferson and McNeal committed on an early morning in December, it put a pause to #WRTS from the Aggies and gave the Longhorns some much needed momentum.

I was in the early grind of my sales career and heard about the commitment on the radio during my drive to work. I almost ran my car off the road. Though it became a famous day in Longhorn internet history, known as Malikmas, it paid even bigger dividends than that. Not only was Jefferson a great three-year starter for Texas who would be a freshman All-American in 2015, and an All-American and the Big 12’s Co-Defensive player of the year in 2017, but his commitment also kept NFL player and Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu from decommitting, according to Jefferson.

It briefly gave Texas A&M fans heartburn, causing prized recruits Daylon Mack and Kyler Murray to look more closely at Texas. But more than anything, it paved the way for Kris Boyd to stay home, along with Holton Hill. It paid dividends in later classes too, influencing TexAgs documentary icon Brandon Jones and future star wide receiver Devin Duvernay. They were all the type of players who weren’t coming to Texas before Jefferson but started to after him. They served as a foundation for the Sam Ehlinger led and Tom Herman coached 2018 team—which was Texas’ real bright spot of the 2010s. That 2018 team which won the Sugar Bowl featured a ton of Jefferson’s teammates and classmates as key contributors. It was also the spark that landed Bijan Robinson, and even guys like Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton who are still contributing in key ways today. It all shows that recruiting is never done in a vacuum. Times are much better now at Texas than they were then, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that the inroads which were created ten years ago don’t matter.

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Malikmas is still giving us gifts all these years later and it will live on the internet and in the hearts of Texas fans forever. So, thank you, Malik, and happy 10-year anniversary.