Gusher of talent flows
Plenty of Texas prep stars cross to the other side and play for Oklahoma

By Barry Horn

Published: October 12, 2008

Jonathon Miller, a Garland, Texas, Naaman Forest running back with considerable talent, will be playing at Oklahoma next season.

Two reasons he’s leaving Texas: Perennial national power Oklahoma is close to home, and that’s where his idol, fellow Texan Adrian Peterson, played.

"I’m tall like Adrian Peterson,” said Miller, whom Rivals.com ranks 43rd among recruits in Texas. "I run straight to the goal line like him, none of that running around in circles. Maybe someday I can do what he did there.”

Miller, listed at 6-0, 180 pounds, committed last spring after rushing for 1,984 yards and scoring 25 touchdowns. This season he had 1,023 yards and 10 touchdowns before Thursday’s game against Rowlett.

The rationale for Miller’s crossing the Red River is typical of Texas players who migrate to Norman, Okla.

"It’s 2 1/2 hours in the car each way,” says Jonathon’s father, Keith Miller. "That proximity means the whole family can watch him play all of his home games.”

Where would Oklahoma be without the annual influx of Texas talent?

Nobody knows the answer better than Sooners coach Bob Stoops.

He understands Norman is a convenient place when it comes to recruiting, which this week he reiterated is the "lifeblood” of college football. Just down the road is the gusher known as Texas high school football. Stoops, in his 10th season at Oklahoma, has made a habit of annually soaking up more than his fair share of the royalties.

For example: On the depth chart for last week’s 49-17 victory over Baylor, Oklahoma listed 10 starters and 11 backups from the state of Texas. That shouldn’t change when Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 in the nation, takes the Cotton Bowl field Saturday against fifth-ranked Texas.

"When you go down to Texas — Dallas and the whole Metroplex area and East Texas — they (recruits) are as close to us as they are to about any other school,” Stoops said.

His recruiting pitch to some of the best and brightest Texans is simple, he said. "Why not come here and have the success you want individually but also be on the big stage playing big games and having success in them?”

Last year, Stoops’ pitch landed him the highest-rated Texas player on the respected Rivals.com recruiting list — R.J. Washington, a defensive end from Keller Fossil Ridge.

Of course, recruiting rankings come with the disclaimer that high school performance doesn’t guarantee future success.

In 2004, Peterson, from Palestine, was not only the No. 1 player in Texas, he was ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to Rivals. He left Oklahoma for the NFL after three seasons with 4,045 yards and 41 rushing touchdowns.

On the flip side, Stoops also landed 2004’s No. 2 Texan. Grand Prairie quarterback Rhett Bomar was ranked fourth in the nation. His Oklahoma career ended when he was dismissed from the team in 2006 for breaking NCAA rules. He now plays at Sam Houston State.

The Texas pipeline to Oklahoma has been going on for decades. It was legitimized in 1968 when Abilene Cooper High quarterback Jack Mildren decided to play 300 miles from home in Norman. Mildren played in the first Wishbone backfield with Greg Pruitt, a running back from Houston. To say they were a smash hit that re-invented the way the Sooners played would not be an exaggeration.

In 1972, running back Joe Washington arrived from Port Arthur Lincoln. He was followed in 1975 by future Heisman Trophy-winning running back Billy Sims of Hooks, Texas, and in 1977 by Big Sandy’s David Overstreet, who were recruited by Barry Switzer, a coach who didn’t mind calling himself "Red River Raider.”

Texas coach Mack Brown, whose Longhorns won the 2005 national championship with a lineup littered with Texans — including quarterback Vince Young, Rivals’ No. 1 national recruit in 2002 — said he has no rivalry with Stoops over Texas high school players.

According to Rivals, Texas has non-binding oral commitments from 16 of the state’s top 100 players; Oklahoma has eight.

"The old battles that everybody thought that Coach (Darrell) Royal and Coach Switzer had, Bob and I just don’t have,” he said. "You go pitch your deal to the young man, and he decides where he wants to go.”

Washington, director of Oklahoma’s varsity alumni association, pointed out that the Sooners "had a head start over most Texas schools in recruiting black players.”

He said that was a factor in his choosing Oklahoma, but he also wanted to play with Pruitt.

"But kids today don’t go back 35 years for history lessons,” said Washington, who trails only Sims on Oklahoma’s career rushing list.

"They don’t come to Oklahoma because at one time it might have been more accepting of black players. They hardly go back 10 years. But they remember Adrian Peterson and just like for me, the school was far enough away from home but close enough.”

Jamarkus McFarland is rated the country’s third-best college football recruit by Rivals.com. He is the top defensive lineman in the class of 2009. He is the state of Texas’ No. 1 recruit.

Back home in East Texas’ Piney Woods, the 6-3, 280-pound McFarland, a senior at Lufkin, is deciding where to take his considerable talent. He has narrowed his choice to three schools — Texas, Oklahoma and LSU.

"All three won national championships recently,” drawls Lufkin football coach John Outlaw, who takes most calls about his star player’s recruiting. "All three are great programs. All three are within six or seven hours from home.”

Should McFarland chose Oklahoma, he might someday play on the same line as defensive end R.J. Washington of Keller Fossil Ridge, rated the top Texas recruit last year. If he chooses Texas, he might someday play alongside Pflugerville’s Alex Okafor, the No. 5 prospect in the state this year

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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