Tom Herman is known as a maniacal recruiter and evaluator of talent. But, at least in his first go-round at Texas, those skills resulted in an underwhelming haul in the 2017 class.

On National Signing Day the Longhorns had three major targets left on the board, and Texas missed out on two of them. That means that for the first time in the history of 247Sports' backdated recruiting rankings, since 1999, the Longhorns won't sign a top 10-ranked player out of their state. Additionally, Texas' current ranking of No. 26 nationally in the team rankings is its lowest mark yet.

Houston product and five-star defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson, the No. 11 overall prospect in the nation per 247Sports, chose LSU over Texas at the last minute. Four-star offensive tackle Stephan Zabie, who is from Austin, spurned the Longhorns for UCLA.

Jordan Pouncey, a three-star wide receiver from Florida, will likely commit to the Longhorns this afternoon. Texas, in a bit of a surprise, also flipped junior college defensive end Jamari Chisholm, a prospect who didn’t hold a Longhorn offer until the last second and didn't rank among the Top 100 junior college players in the country.

Ripping Herman and his staff for missing on Chaisson and Zabie would be irresponsible. Herman’s full staff has been together less than a month, and it’s an uphill battle to put together a transition recruiting class.

Herman said as much earlier this month.

“As much as we have to sell here – from the coaching staff to the academics, to the coaching staff, to the style of play, to the championships that we’re going to win, to the city of Austin, to the rich, storied tradition and history – what we don’t have is relationships with a lot of these guys,” Herman said. “That makes it very, very difficult to get in.”

The only issue is: The Longhorns did have a relationship with both Zabie and Chaisson.

Zabie isn’t from Texas – he moved there a few years ago – but he’s good friends with Texas quarterback signee Sam Ehlinger, his high school teammate. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive tackle also didn’t have a lot of other options. His head coach at Westlake High School, Todd Dodge, played at Texas.

Forced to sit out his senior season, many schools backed away from Zabie. Texas came into the picture on Jan. 16 to extend an offer, while UCLA did so two days later. The Longhorns offered first and got his official visit last, but Zabie still picked the Bruins.

Texas has depth at offensive tackle on its roster, but it’s still a big blow for a class that features just seven players ranked as a four-star prospect.

Chaisson is a different story, but similarly disappointing for Herman and his staff.

Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando has recruited Chaisson for over a year, dating back to his time at Houston with Herman. The Longhorns, under Charlie Strong, were also considered one of the favorites for the five-star linebacker.

When Herman arrived at Texas, it was widely thought Chaisson would be the crown jewel of Texas’ transitory 2017 class. Instead, in a last-minute decision (Horns247 reported Wednesday that Chassion told those close to him a day before he'd select Texas), Chaisson picked LSU.

You can’t ever question a defensive player who picked LSU – the Tigers put players in the league – but it’s still a huge blow for Texas.

Stars aren’t everything, but they’re certainly the lifeblood of championship teams.

Put simply, the Longhorns lost out on a hometown prospect to a school that finished 4-8 a year ago. They also missed on their top target to a team that also went through a coaching change this offseason.

Difficult is the only way to describe the recruiting task Herman inherited two months ago when he took over a 5-7 team with just six commits. For Texas to finish with a borderline Top 25 class, with that in mind, is remarkable even if the Longhorns appeared to reach on a few players – they signed four players 247Sports ranked outside of its Top 900.

Yet it’s hard not to look back to 2014 when Strong’s transition class finished 16th overall with the same timeframe remaining to recruit.

Strong proved himself to be a recruiting closer in his three years at Texas.

That distinction could still be earned by Herman down the line, though it’s still to be determined. More importantly, his ability to develop talent and translate it to wins will be tested. Strong recruited at an elite level and never finished with a winning record during his three-year tenure with the Longhorns.

This 2017 class will be long forgotten in Austin if Herman can mange to do that.