It was, for both the program and its fans, an embarrassing revelation.

Texas’ 2017 recruiting class didn’t include a single prospect ranked among the state’s top 20. In fact, UT’s highest rated in-state recruit was wide receiver Damion Miller, ranked No. 23 by 247Sports.

Even after three straight losing campaigns sapped the program of some prestige, this news still landed like a sucker punch.

The coaching turnover played a role in UT’s worst recruiting effort this century, but coach Tom Herman’s first class also signaled a potentially frightening shift for one of college football’s most storied programs.

“We can’t go pick guys anymore,” Herman said. “We have to fight, scratch, claw, battle with teams. Is it going to be that way forever? No. We’re Texas. We’ll always be Texas. We’re going to be back to where it was.”

Nothing is guaranteed until Herman gets the kids to place pen to paper, but it looks like UT won’t have to suffer through similar humiliation in 2018.

UT owns verbal commitments from three of the state’s top five recruits: new No. 1 DeMarvion Overshown (Arp), No. 2 BJ Foster (Angleton), and No. 5 Caden Sterns (Steele). Overall, seven of its 11 pledges are in-state products.

Sterns originally committed to LSU in November, but an unofficial visit to Austin in May caused him to reconsider.

“I wasn’t expecting to change like that, but it made me take everything into consideration when I left Texas,” Sterns said. “A lot went into play — family for sure, but also the way they wanted to use me and just the love I felt.

“I just felt like a lot of good things are about to happen here.”

UT’s class is ranked No. 7 nationally in 247’s newest 2018 class rankings, two slots ahead of Oklahoma and four above Texas A&M.

Still, another disappointing season could torpedo a class that currently projects as one of the nation’s best.

“You’ve got to win,” Herman said. “At this point, this class of 2018 coming up, they’re 16 years old. Since they were 10, they’ve seen two winning seasons of Texas football. Winning helps. The Texas that they know is different than the Texas we know. We’ve got to show them what Texas is capable of, what Texas was in the past and what Texas is capable of being in the future.”

nmoyle@express-news.net

Twitter: @NRMoyle