Title/Alt Text Welcome to the grand recruiting experiment of the 2016 cycle.

And no, it’s not a Jim Harbaugh sleepover, signing day bonanza or satellite camp. Instead, all eyes will be on Texas on National Signing Day.

Why?

Because viewers, even those with just a passing recruiting interest, won’t have a choice but to be inundated with Texas news on Feb. 3. Charlie Strong has guaranteed, one way or the other, the Longhorns will lead the news cycle Wednesday with 13 of the team’s top targets set to announce their final college decisions.

Most programs are hoping to add one or two prospects on National Signing Day. It’s the time where Michigan, Alabama, Clemson, USC and all of the other big programs want a few final additions that would make a good class great.

Not Texas.

Strong is instead making signing day an occasion of great magnitude. With only 16 players committed and spots for 22 or more, Strong is making an almost unheard of gamble in Longhorn recruiting history. He’s pushing for the best available prospects and allowing them to wait until the last day to announce their decisions.

There will be no backup plans or last-second pushes. If the players he’s targeting go elsewhere, the Longhorns will whiff. Not only will Texas miss out on its prizes, but, in many ways, the class would lack its foundation.

Sure, Texas already has a quarterback on campus and four really projectable offensive linemen committed. And yes, there are two excellent defensive ends pledged along with an All-American defensive back. But the pith of Strong’s 2016 weave is still out there.

Texas needs defensive tackles like a beaver needs wood, and the Longhorns are waiting on the decisions of six big tackles Wednesday. At linebacker, the position where there’s just one returning upperclassmen who played last season, Texas’ three top targets – Dontavious Jackson, Jeffrey McCullough and Erick Fowler – still haven’t announced their final intentions. Safety, where the Longhorns are searching for their five-star gem, is a question mark too as Texas waits on Chris Brown and Brandon Jones, the nation’s foremost safety prospect.

A program in the rebuilding stages, Texas can’t afford to take a class that’s not stuffed to capacity. But, to Strong’s credit, he also understands the Longhorns can’t turn things around by taking just anyone.

Many of the nation’s best wait until the final day to make their college decisions. It’s where the spotlight is brightest and the attention of many is focused on a select few players. That’s the space Strong wants Texas to occupy.

Create a wave of momentum on National Signing Day and it’s an unquestionable boost a program. Signing Day is the last moment college football truly matters on a national scale until fall camp. If the Longhorns pull in many of their top targets, they’ll own that news cycle. In addition, a finish of that magnitude carries over to Texas’ efforts in the 2017 class.

Texas’ strategy is bold and requires complete confidence from a staff in its ability to build relationships, target the right players and, most importantly, close.

Strong proved he could finish well at last year when he signed two four-star recruits (Chris Warren and Ryan Newsome) and flipped a top safety from Oregon (P.J. Locke) on National Signing Day. But the scope of this effort is considerably bolder this time around.

Texas wants to add at least seven prospects on National Signing Day and hopes to take more. Some, to be fair to the Longhorns, have already decided and told the staff their intentions – they just want the moment of announcing on the big day. But with others, some of them the elite players in the cycle, it’s not that simple.

Those top dogs could chose Texas or they could go elsewhere, which would leave Strong and his staff major holes to fill without any time to find any dirt.

Yet, as the proverb goes: fortune favors the bold.

Will Texas end up with a Top 10 or Top 15 class by the time National Signing Day comes to a close? It’s quite possible, but either way, the Longhorns’ efforts – with either positive or negative results – will be the story of the day.

An audacious scheme? Yes.

But foolish? Certainly not.

It’s the risky tactic a 5-7 team needs to land the players required to launch Texas back to a contending level in the Big 12. Now, Strong just needs it to work.