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Steve Sarkisian's 2025 Texas recruiting class adds more bread — 5-star Ffrench bread

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•08/30/24
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Photo: On3

Forget the summer body, it’s time to start layering up for the fall.

With the addition of Jaime Ffrench, Steve Sarkisian continued to load up on five-star carbs in the month of August. For those not familiar with the term, it’s akin to going to a fine restaurant and gorging on bread like RG3 ahead of the main course. If you’re not careful, carbs will inflate you and inflate early rankings. It’s wise to wait for the main course but sometimes the temptation is just too much. Late-stage Mack Brown is a good example of loading up on carbs (no pun intended?). 

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Sark and Chris Jackson could have been full at receiver in the late spring or early summer but chose rather to wait on the Michelin rated receivers they were chasing. They missed on Dakorien Moore, but hit big on Kaliq Lockett and now Jaime Ffrench. 

Their evaluation process and patience is something to applaud. Texas casts a pretty wide net at receiver when it needs to. Even when the state has numerous quality options they continued to look far and wide, similar to last year when they landed Ryan Wingo from St. Louis. Their process allows them to not just identify top targets, but to better understand which players they have a real chance for and who fit program culture. Over time, the initial wide cast narrows considerably.

In a way, it’s like when Stanford was recruiting at a high level. Every now and then Jim Harbaugh followed by David Shaw were able to pull nationally elite prospects due to Stanford’s unrivaled academics in P5 college football. The scope was limited but when Stanford was in it, they were really in it. 

When Texas finds the right combination of talent and personality fit, they’re really in it. In back to back classes Texas has been able to land elite receiver talent from regions it isn’t typically active. A large part of that is due to Ryan Wingo and Ffrench, a Jacksonville native, being such good program fits, something the coaches discovered and took advantage of as early introductions turned into strong relationships.

At one point both Wingo and Ffrench seemed like pipe dreams. When Nick Saban retired it didn’t really cross my mind Texas would be the team that benefitted the most with Ffrench. We heard he and Texas quarterback commit KJ Lacey knew each other well but it was far too early to know if Texas and Ffrench had real legs. That changed quickly after Ffrench’s first visit to Texas earlier in the spring. Indeed, that visit went so well Inside Texas felt UT was the team to beat well before his June official visit. 

This recruitment was eerily similar to Wingo’s, though there weren’t any last minute theatrics provided by an instate school.

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Yet another job well done by Jackson and Sark of identifying a great program fit then helping him realize it over time.

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