THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. The official visit for Hudson Card was a success from top to bottom

Quarterback Hudson Card has been committed to Texas for more than a year. The Lake Travis standout is the top-ranked quarterback in the state of Texas. He’s the second-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the entire country. He’s a dynamic playmaker with his arm or with his legs, he’s been rock-solid with his UT commitment ever since he announced it on May 25, 2018, and Card is a fan favorite despite keeping a relatively low profile and not thrusting himself into the media spotlight. Card has been an active recruiter for the Longhorns behind the scenes (as have his parents). Card took his official visit to Texas last weekend and we caught up with his father, Doug Card, to get his perspective on the trip why the family is so enamored with the Longhorn program.

On the visit overall:

“We had a great time. The coaching staff, everybody involved was just super hospitable. We had some great dinners. Our first night we did a lake cruise on Lake Austin, which I think from an official visit standpoint they haven’t done before. It was a cool venue to show everybody, not just campus but some of the stuff Austin has to offer. We went basically to the 360 bridge, had dinner, turned around. It was a nice night.

“And then after that we went back to a hospitality deal at the hotel. The next day, we had breakfast, then went on campus and had a good talk with coach (Tom) Herman. Hudson is going to be a business major so Hudson went over to the business school and the assistant dean gave us a tour of the business school, just had a question and answer deal with him. That was really nice. They did a photo deal where everyone gets together. From there, we went back to the hotel, had lunch, had some pool and downtime. We went to dinner that night and then went to coach Herman’s (Sunday) morning for brunch, Father’s Day brunch, they did a really nice job and he has a beautiful home obviously. There were four guys on officials – Jase, Prince, Lathan, Hud – they all got along. The boys hung out with the guys on the team at night. It sounds like they had a good time.”

On the boat tour:

“I think what happens, a lot of times, when you land at the airport and go straight to campus, it’s pretty flat and nothing spectacular. Once you get west, it shows them another part of Austin that’s pretty cool, opens their eyes a little bit.”

On the role of the McCombs School of Business in Hudson’s decision:

“That was a big driver of the whole thing, the McCombs School of Business. That being a top-10 business school in the country. That was definitely one of the reasons why he moved that way. When you take a look at everything, UT is obviously a great school. But then, on top of that, if you’re going to be a business major and you go to the McCombs school – now, he of course has to make the grades to get in.”

On how this visit was different than the other times they’ve been around the campus/program:

“We have been around the campus quite a bit. But I think when you’re there for two days, constantly together, I think you get to a deeper level. Even though we’ve been around there, there’s always things we’ve wanted to kind of confirm and justify. Then the school side of it, it was good to go to the business side of it and see that.

“You just get a deeper relationship with a lot of the coaches. We knew Beck since he’s our primary guy and Herman. It was cool to get to know coach Washington, Naivar, coach Meekins. We knew them all, but you get to know them on a better level, have fun and laugh. It’s not all business, it’s a social atmosphere and not all football. It’s everything, it’s life. You talk about things other than football, whereas a lot of times when you get on campus it’s more football than anything else. It’s good to meet their families, their wives, their kids and all that kind of stuff too. You get a different perspective of it.”

On what it is as a parent that gives him comfort in the idea of handing his son off to the UT coaches:

“I think more than anything, I think it’s that they’re real. They care about the kids. And they’re pretty upfront. That first semester, he’s going to be homesick, there’s going to be an adjustment – just being real about their expectations of what he’s going to be faced with, the expectations of college football. And knowing that these guys, truly like Hudson and care about what’s going to happen with his future. And again, they want us to be aware of it, and not just be blindsided by it. That’s the main thing.”

On him, his wife and Hudson being active recruiters on UT’s behalf:

“Well, I think because we’re local, and we have access and live close to Lake Travis and have a boat – it’s like we talked about earlier, some of these kids who just go to campus don’t see that. So if there’s an opportunity that we can kind of help, and Hud can form a relationship with some of these kids and benefit the whole thing, and again get to know the kids and then get to show them a little bit more of Austin. Austin has a ton to offer and it’s tough to see it in two days. We’re just game to kind of promote and help.

“Obviously our kid is going there so we want big linemen, good receivers and running backs. Our goal is to try to surround him with the best kids and hopefully get back in that national championship picture. It takes people, it takes kids. It takes good kids. It’s all about recruiting. You have to have the horses.”

On what’s next for Hudson this summer:

“He has the Elite 11 deal and there’s another event he might go to. He might hit another one, then kind of just doing his workouts here. He has a quarterback trainer that he works with in town. So just some individual workouts and things.

2. Hudson Card welcomes the addition of Ja’Quinden Jackson to the UT commitment list

There was never really any doubt that Card would remain completely solid with his commitment to Texas, even if UT did take a second quarterback prospect in the 2020 class. Card is talented, he’s confident, he’s been a longtime commitment and he understands that he’s going to have to work if he’s going to attend a school that is going to compete for championships.

When QB/ATH Ja’Quinden Jackson committed to Texas earlier this month, Card was one of the first to congratulate him on Twitter. Yet there have still been some fans who have openly asked if Jackson’s commitment would impact Card’s decision. I asked Doug Card a question I pretty much already knew the answer to and as expected, he said Jackson’s commitment has no bearing on Hudson’s pledge.

“Hudson is still locked in. Competition is everywhere. You control what you control, and that’s what you can do best on the field. Hudson wants the best UT team possible.

“Obviously (Jackson) is a freak athlete, so you want him on your football team. He’s a multi-faceted kid. He can play quarterback but he can also play other positions. The jury is still out on all of that, for everybody. (Hudson) is fully aware that (Jackson) wants to get a shot at quarterback. If you’re going to play at a Power 5 school and you don’t think you’re going to get any competition, you’re fooling yourself.

“And if you look at both of those players, and this is my opinion, they both bring things. They’re different but they’re the same, so it’s kind of weird. (Jackson) is a power runner. They’re both dual-threat guys, but their game is a little different. From Texas’ perspective, it’s awesome. You have two pretty damn good quarterbacks.”

3. Texas is in a good position early with RB L.J. Johnson Jr.

The Longhorns offered 2021 running back L.J. Johnson Jr. last week and on Monday, Johnson took an unofficial visit to Texas. The Cypress Fairbanks product said it was a good visit overall.

“It went great. I really enjoyed it. I set it up after the offered me. They said they want to get me up there, so set up it,” Johnson said. “I got there and they showed me around the weight room, the facilities. We went around, looked at campus, dorms, talked to my position coach, went through some stuff. I talked to coach Herman too.

“They were just really telling me what UT offers. If I came there, how my role would be in the offense. Really just getting to know them was probably the main thing. Getting to know the coach was the main thing.”

As far as his role, Johnson said it would pretty similar to what he does in high school. He spent time breaking down his game with UT running backs coach Stan Drayton and said he picked up some tips he can implement in his game.

“They were telling me pretty much how I run right now, a power scheme, but it would be run out of different formation looks,” Johnson said. “Coach (Drayton) was telling me to how to read the defense, avoid certain hits, things like that.”

At this early stage of the recruiting process, Johnson said he does not have an official list of favorites since he’s only taken a few visits (UT, Michigan, Texas A&M for a camp). When he does dive into the recruiting process, the Longhorns will be a factor.

“Texas definitely made a big impression,” Johnson said. “After (Monday) - I really did enjoy it - they’ll be one of my top schools.”

Johnson doesn’t plan to make a decision until sometime during his senior year. He’s planning to take an unofficial visit to Alabama on Saturday.

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TWO QUESTIONS

1. How’d last weekend’s official visit go with Rivals100 safety Lathan Ransom?

Along with Hudson Card (as well as Prince Dorbah and Jase McClellan), one of the key official visitors from last weekend was top safety prospect Lathan Ransom. The Longhorns made a strong move with Ransom when he took an unofficial visit to UT a couple weeks ago and it was more of the same after the official visit. I caught up with Ransom’s father, Nathan Ransom, to get his thoughts on the visit.

On the overall experience of the visit:

“The official visit was more just getting to know the coaching staff, getting to hang out with the players. I think we got all that accomplished. My wife was out here, our daughter was out here. We got to spend a lot of time with Tom Herman and safeties coach (Craig) Naivar. We got to spend a lot of time with them, spend time with their wives.

“I think just really building on getting to know their personality on and off the field, that’s important to my wife, really just seeing who is going to be around her son. That’s what I told coach, this visit is more for that.

“We got to see the academics, Lathan is talking about doing communications, so we saw a couple professors for that and they were awesome. But mainly the trip was for my wife to spend time with the coaching staffs and their wives and their families. She enjoyed herself even more than I thought she would so that was really cool.”

On connecting with Hudson and Doug Card again after spending time with them two weeks ago:

“I think Lathan talked to Hudson and he was like, ‘When are you going on your official?’ and he was like ‘I’ll go on my official visit too.’ He’s a great kid. His family is a great family, couldn’t be any nicer. It was really nice to get to talk to them, spend a little time with them last time, and getting to talk to them and hang out with him, they’re just a great family and he’s a great kid.”

On Ransom’s upcoming official visit to Ohio State:

“That will be his last visit and we’ll be done. His timetable is sometime after that. We’re looking at July or August at the latest for him to make it official.”

On the time spent with the Texas coaches:

“I think there might have been a coach or two that even stayed (at the hotel). I’m not sure on that part, but obviously I know they hung out with us a lot. We hung out with us both days. Even coach Herman was there hanging out with us, coach Naivar was there hanging out with us, the wives were hanging out. I think we played dominoes with coach Herman (on Saturday) for like two hours, he and his wife and my wife. That was pretty cool.

“That was a real highlight of the trip for my wife because she really spent a lot of time with his wife and they really got along. That’s important, my wife is hard to read sometimes so for her to be happy after a two-hour domino game that probably should have lasted 30 minutes, we were sitting there talking and hanging out and really not talking about football. That was really nice. We were just talking about his life and her life really, and my wife’s life and my life – they were all very similar on family and what we think about it, raising kids and things. I really got to spend a lot of time with them and I know my wife, because I talked to her (Saturday) night, I know she really enjoyed spending time with his wife so that was cool.”

On if Lathan bonded with the other visitors who were in town:

“He did connect with those guys. This is the second visit he’s been on a visit with (Jase McClellan). He was with him at Oklahoma, so I know they really got along and they hung out. He’s a great-looking kid. You can tell he’s going to be a phenomenal running back. Then we got to see Hudson again. The linebacker (Prince Dorbah) looks like he’s playing in college right now. He’s a stud-looking guy. He got to hang out with him. They all hung out with the current players on the Texas roster. That was pretty cool.”

2. How does Ransom come to a decision and where does Texas fit in?

Prior to the unofficial visit to UT a couple weeks ago, most had Texas as a fringe player in Ransom’s recruitment, at best. Now, there’s talk that the Longhorns have surged so much that they could even be the team to beat coming down the stretch. According to Mr. Ransom, the family will take a measured approach on finding the best place for Lathan.

“I think as of right now, we’re going to go on this last official. Then my plan, me and the wife’s plans, is to sit down after the dust settle and go ‘What are the most important five, six, seven things to you?’ Is it school, is it location, is it what you’re looking for at our major? Whatever it is – football program, coaching staff, player personnel, getting on the field quicker than not.’ I don’t know what is the most important thing to him. I do know that being around the players and seeing if they vibe with him is important,” Mr. Ransom said. “That’s kind of what this visit was, kind of a double-down on the visit with the players and see if that fits with him.

“We’ll sit together, go from 3-1, with three being worst, we’ll kind of number it out and see from each category what’s high and what’s not and kind of add it up at the end and see who wins out. I think that’s the best way to do it. Some of these kids they commit on the visits, and you can’t do that because everything is great on the visits. I just tell him, ‘let’s have the last visit, take a couple days off, even a week off, let everything settle.’ Then really sit down and think where do I see myself being the next four or five years of my life? That’s what he needs to do.”

On where Texas fits in:

“Texas is an extremely strong contender. I think it’s in the top three. I’ll let him do whatever he wants to do, top three or whatever, but I know he kind of has a top three in his head. I think (Texas) is right up there. It’s like I said the last time you and I talked on the phone, it checks every box – location, coaching staff, top-notch football, top-notch school for communications, it’s close to home. It checks a lot of boxes. It’s definitely in for the running. It’s not out of the running, not even close.”

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ONE PREDICTION – It’s going to be an active couple weeks on the recruiting front

The dead period begins on Monday, but there will still be plenty of recruiting talk over the next couple weeks. In fact, it’ll be so busy that there will be some overlapping with my travel, so I’ll be leaning on @DustinMcComas and @Alex Dunlap this weekend to help me out.

A quick rundown … this weekend, Texas will host several unofficial visitors on Saturday, in addition to several official visitors who will stay in town until Sunday. I’ll be traveling to Atlanta for the Rivals Five-Star Challenge on Saturday, so McComas and AD will be around to help do interviews with the Saturday unofficial visitors. I’ll be working the phones on Sunday, just like last weekend, to get updates on the official visitors.

Players for the Five-Star Challenge (I’ll have a roster update later in the week) will arrive in Atlanta on Monday for media interviews and then we’ll watch them compete on the field on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it’s back to Austin and then a few days later it’s off to Frisco for Elite 11 (Hudson Card) and The Opening.

This column will take a break next week due to commitments to the Five-Star Challenge, but we’ll have plenty of recruiting content to bring to you all over the next couple weeks.