– If you follow recruiting, and I know you do, then you’ve probably heard of Bru McCoy. After all, McCoy is a five star ATH out of Santa Ana, CA (Mater Dei).

Since McCoy isn’t from this area, I wanted to get to know a little more about him. His father was gracious enough to speak with me about his son, his background, and his recruitment.

I usually end with a quick evaluation of a player but I’ll do things a little different here and begin with a few thoughts on McCoy’s film.

The size and athleticism is obvious. More on that later. But the thing you know that has the Texas staff fired up about McCoy is just how violently he does everything. Bru plays both ways. He’s a wide receiver and a rush OLB. And no matter what he’s doing, he’s doing 100% and he’s doing it with ferocity. His releases are aggressive. When he puts his foot in the dirt and turns to look for the ball, it’s violent and aggressive. When he comes off the ball, it’s aggressive. When he clubs, it’s aggressive. When he finishes off a quarterback…it’s…savage.

So, my first question to McCoy’s father, Horace, was about how ferocious his son is on the football field. It turns out, what you see on film, is written right in his name.

“Bru is a nickname. It’s short for ‘Bruiser’. We gave him that name when he was young because everything he does, he does at a hundred miles per hour. When he was little he smashed into a wall and the daycare lady said, he’s such a little bruiser. So, we chopped it to ‘Bru’”

Horace corroborated what I observed on film, “Bru plays wide receiver like a defender, like a linebacker”. His violence even shows up in 7v7. It’s always frustrating to watch the big wide receivers struggle to get off a jam. One of the reasons it happens is because of surface area. It’s easier for a DB to get his hands on a big wide receiver and if a wide receiver doesn’t know how to use his hands or doesn’t have the mentality to be physical at the line of scrimmage, they become ineffective.

Bruiser doesn’t have that problem, “Every game in seven on seven he (Bru) gets the best cornerback and he’s destroying guys that try to press him…getting off the line is a mentality. You have to have that dog mentality and I see that in him. He has that, ‘I’m going to win my battle’ mentality. Off the field he’s the nicest guy; well respected, well spoken and polite”.

Horace isn’t a casual observer of the game. He’s a former college football player himself. In fact Bru gets the athleticism from both sides of the family. Horace played football at Northern Illinois and his wife, Bru’s mother, played Volleyball at Northern Illinois.

Those genetics show up in Bru’s measurables. At the recent regional Nike Opening Bru measured in at 6’3 and over 200 lbs. At the size he ran verified 4.62 40, 4.22 shuttle and jumped nearly 40 inches!

But get this. He did all that, at that size, with a sports hernia that he recently had surgery for. Horace tells me Bru was actually in pain from the hernia but wanted to compete so badly that he pushed through it.

If you listen to Tom Herman talk about what they look for in football players, above all else he seems to be looking for attitude and effort – players who goes 100% all the time.

You don’t need to imagine that player, anymore. It’s Bru McCoy.

Recruiting and Texas

If you’re 6’3 and over 200 lbs and you can play football, it shouldn’t surprise you when you get an offer. If you’re the son of two former athletes, it should surprise you even less. Despite that, Horace McCoy was overwhelmed when Bru received his first scholarship offer. The offer came from Oregon during Bru’s freshman year, “I didn’t believe it. I told my wife I didn’t believe it. I’ll be honest, I got a little choked up because you put in all that work, you see your kid put in that work and when it comes to fruition, it’s amazing”.

Now, Bru has just about every offer you can imagine. But Texas is a school that certainly has the family’s attention. As we reported in April, Bru will take an official visit to Texas this upcoming weekend.

The plan is that Bru will take his unofficial visits in the spring and then the official visits in the fall – three officials during the season and two after the season.

But here’s where it get’s really interesting, Horace tells me that Texas will definitely be one of the official visits they take. They haven’t even stepped foot on campus but they’ve already decided they will take an official visit to Texas.

Why?

“It’s the relationship with BC (Brian Carrington). We have such a strong relationship with BC. He’s developed that rapport with myself and Bru. That’s important. With him I see that Texas builds a relationship with us. I don’t need to be recruited but I’d like to know who’s speaking to my son and what’s being said”.

In addition to the upcoming unofficial visit to Texas, the family plans to visit Oklahoma followed up by Ohio State and Michigan.

What’s Important

Horace laid out the things that are important to him and the family as they look at various schools. Being from the Midwest, originally, Horace wants his son to get a chance to feel what it’s like to see 100,000 fans cheering for a team. That isn’t something you really see on the West Coast. Being from Michigan, Horace knows how big football is in other parts of the country.

Among other things, the family is looking for:

1. A place that has tradition. As Horace put it, “I want Bru to feel it…”

2. Academic prestige of the institution is something Horace emphasized as very important.

3. A strong alumni base was another important factor.

4. Early playing time, “Bru works hard so he wants to play early, even if it’s just special teams…”

But perhaps above all else, and perhaps the reason the relationship that BC and the staff have built with McCoy is so important is that Horace says says, “I’m looking for a coach that truly care about him (Bru) as a young man. I’ll give you a good young man and I want you to give me back a great young man”. – (Super K)

– One of the visitors that was in Austin this weekend was Dekaney (TX) CB Marcus Banks. Back in early March, following Texas’ Junior Day, Banks set a commitment date. It looked like Texas was going to be the choice. He instead pushed the decision back because he wanted to take some extra visits. He’s been to LSU, and has visited Texas A&M twice, and now Texas.

Those are the main three schools in the mix for Banks right now. He doesn’t have a firm decision date set up right now, and it sounds like it could just happen whenever he feels right. He has an official visit set for Texas on May 5th.

One thing to note about Banks’ recruitment is that his mother LOVES Texas and their staff. And you know that they say about mom getting what she wants…

May could be a very good month for Texas recruiting wise… – (Andrew)

– We have been told by the family of A&M DB commit Demani Richardson that Coach Naivar was up in Waxahachie visiting Demani. Interestingly, A&M was also on campus in an attempt to block any momentum Texas gathers here.

Texas is very much in this one from what we’re hearing and A&M’s no visit policy may finally bite them in the rear.

While Naivar was in Dallas, he also went to see 2019 Lewis Cine, 2019 Jalen Catalon, 2020 Darius Snow, and 2020 Chris Thompson. All four are top priorities.

The Longhorns are not shying away from fighting for the best talent in the country. The Longhorns continued their pursuit of elite prospects on the West Coast by heading to Arizona.

2020 CB Kelee Ringo

The #1 Corner Back in the 2020 class received an offer recently after the Texas staff stopped by to evaluate Ringo. The 6’2″ 185 pound blue-chip displays the speed to stay with any receiver, the strength to dislodge a ball, and technique and awareness that makes him look like he could come into any program and fight for playing time. He seems to have a nose for the ball and an physical ability to make plays others just can’t.

Ringo is no secret as he’s pulled in 9 major offers over the past month and has already established relationships with the staffs at schools closer to home in Oregon, USC, and Washington. His family would like him to stick closer to home, but they understand the opportunity that has been presented to Kelee.

I’d expect Kelee to make a few trips outside of the West Coast and for Texas to be one of those if they push the right buttons.

2019 DB Noa Pola-Gates

The next stop in Arizona was to see 2019 Defensive Back Noa Pola-Gates out of Gilbert, AZ (suburb of Phoenix). Even though Noa has a composite of 0.902, his film clearly indictates he’s much better than that. Noa is a ridiculous athlete who just knows where the ball is going and how to get downfield to lay out a ball carrier. But don’t take my word for it. Watch his film. It’s worth it.

Oregon, Penn State, and especially Alabama have shown him a lot of love. While he was originally looking to commit after his Senior season in November, it looks like that decision will come sooner than that. Right now Alabama is the clear favorite due in large part to the fact they are recruiting him at CB.

While Noa does not have an offer at this time, I’d expect the staff to give one to him soon after the visit. If that happens, I’d also expect a visit shortly afterwards. Noa Pola-Gates has quite a bit of family here in Texas, mostly in Austin, Fort Hood, and Corpus Christi. His family loves Texas and his mama wants him to be close to relatives.

2019 TE Brayden Liebrock

We confirmed that Coach Warehime made the trip out to Chandler, to visit the fast rising tight end. With the loss of Baylor Cupp and solitary take of Epps in 2018, Brayden Liebrock is a priority for the staff and are treating him as such. Liebrock recently visited Austin, which put Texas in a great place in this recruitment. – (Will)

The coaches are on a California Crusade this cycle. It all started with getting the commitment of the elite LB DeGabriel Floyd and has blossomed from there. Now that they have hit the road, the staff has put significant resources into making their way to check out the top talent out West. As I posted yesterday, they already hit up Arizona and had a lot of successful visits that generated a lot of excitement.

Now they’re finishing out the week in a hot bed of D1 talent and home of Texas greats like Ricky Williams and Johnnie Johnson.

2019 5-star OLB DeGabriel Floyd

Anyone who follows Texas football recruiting knows who DeGabriel is and why he is so important. He’s a heckuva player and a heckuva recruiter.

Even though he is solid to Texas, Todd Orlando made his way to Westlake in Los Angeles earlier this week to throw some more cement on the pile and make sure he’s sold.

2019 5-star ATH Bru McCoy

He may be coming to Austin tomorrow, but Todd Orlando made it a point to go make the 5-star punisher understand how much a priority he is for Texas. The staff thinks he is a world beater on the defensive side of the ball, but still recruiting him to be a WR because he has the tools to be great.

2019 5-star CB Chris Steele

Earlier this week Orlando stopped by St. John Bosco to visit the coveted CB. Texas is playing from behind here, but getting a face-to-face meeting will go a long way.

2020 5-star QB Bryce Young

Add another 5-star to the list of May 6th weekend visitors. Bryce Young will be coming in for his third trip in last year and second in the past month. The staff had another successful visit with Bryce Young earlier this week where the decided to finally extend an offer. Texas is making him a priority, and if they continue showing the love, they could land a blue-chip 2020 QB before too long.

2020 5-star LB Justin Flowe

Seems like the Longhorns are trying to create a pipeline of LB talent out of California. Todd Orlando traveled to Upland, CA (between LA and San Bernardino) to meet the elite 2020 LB and extend an offer. Flowe is an electric LB and a natural fit at the Rover position for Texas, but could even add some weight and play Mike.

2020 4-star RB Kendall Milton

Stan Drayton stopped by Fresno to meet Kendall Milton and extend an offer. This is interesting because the state of Texas is LOADED at RB in 2020, but he’s a 15 year old superstar and Texas likes the guys who are young for their class.

Blessed and honored to receive a HUGE offer from The University of Texas!! AG2G!! Thank you @StanDraytonUT #Hookem 🤘🏽 pic.twitter.com/fwXQB7QQzo — Kendall Milton🕊 (@therealkmilt) April 25, 2018

2020 4-star QB DJ Uiagalelei

Tim Beck stopped by St. John Bosco as well to see the talent, and the front runner for the start QB of the 2020 All-Name Team caught his eye.

Blessed to receive an offer from The University of Texas, thank you Coach Beck #HookEm🤘🏽 pic.twitter.com/xauB39CBw8 — 🌟 DJ Uiagalelei 🌟 (@DJUiagalelei) April 25, 2018

DJ is a for sure offer, but they’ll probably focus on Bryce Young. – (Will)