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Post by slxpress on Apr 11, 2023 5:22:12 GMT -5
I think some of it is simply the dynamic Texas fans are in right now specifically.
The program loaded up with two decent sized classes in 2022 and 2023, with 3 then 5 (plus some additional walkons). 8 scholarships in two years is A LOT!
Then you’ve had the massive influx in top tier transfer talent, including SKT, Skinner, Fleck, Caffey, Bergmark, Ewert, Wenaas, and Barnes.
But Texas didn’t sign a single player for 2024 because of those numbers. So Texas fans have been eyeing the 2025 recruiting cycle like hungry wolves, and regardless of whether she’s wholly deserving of the hype, Spears is getting recognized in some ways at a pretty unprecedented level, warranted or not. Shoot, Sheffield even risked some kind of NCAA penalty to get his face in the gym while she was playing. No matter how her eventual career pans out, she’s a big name in recruiting.
I just think there’s some extra salivating going on among Texas fans in part because we were sidelined in recruiting last year for the most part. I know that’s a factor for me, at least.
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Apr 11, 2023 6:47:32 GMT -5
I think some of it is simply the dynamic Texas fans are in right now specifically. The program loaded up with two decent sized classes in 2022 and 2023, with 3 then 5 (plus some additional walkons). 8 scholarships in two years is A LOT! Then you’ve had the massive influx in top tier transfer talent, including SKT, Skinner, Fleck, Caffey, Bergmark, Ewert, Wenaas, and Barnes. But Texas didn’t sign a single player for 2024 because of those numbers. Don't we have a libero for 24? Reese Emerick. |
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Post by horns1 on Apr 11, 2023 7:54:52 GMT -5
Everybody has opinions.
Spears was named the Texas Gatorade POY as a sophomore; don't know if that's ever happened before.
Spears earned a spot on the summer USA U18 (?) team being selected over the consensus best OH in the 2024 class and several 2023 players.
Bottom line is that several fans and coaches would love to have her join their program.
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Post by eyeroll2021 on Apr 11, 2023 9:17:30 GMT -5
I worry a bit that we’re putting too much hype on Spears. The last player with that much hype to go to Texas will…remain nameless, but we all know how that turned out. At this point Spears being just a very good player but not the best would be a letdown—and there are a lot of amazing talents every class I was going to say the same. I'm not throwing shade at her, and would be excited if she were to play for Nebraska, but if you watch her videos, I don't see an all-world once-in-a-generation player. Nor do I see one trait that is heads and shoulders above her peers, e.g. Plummer's hitting power, Butler's approach/block touch height, etc. I see a big, athletic, and talented, sophomore who still needs to develop quite a bit. That said, her potential is certainly exciting. By definition, there's only one of those every 20 years or so, so I think your standards may be a tad high, LOL |
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Post by haterade on Apr 11, 2023 9:58:58 GMT -5
Spears has been compared to Megan Hodge. So once in a generation isn’t a stretch. She’s very good now and has a higher ceiling than anyone in her class. Any program would take her in a heartbeat.
What will be most interesting is the timeline and how her decision making process affects the other top rated outsides. Does someone like Nebraska or Wisconsin think they’re not gonna get her and pivot to Kinney, DeMaria etc or wait out Spears and risk not getting a AA caliber in this class. Penn St, Pitt, Louisville will gladly skip Spears and push for these players early. Should be a fun next couple months.
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Post by hornfanaustin on Apr 11, 2023 13:39:40 GMT -5
I did a search on when the clusters of announcements for the class of 2023 went out and it looks like September 2021. So, we should be on the watch in September?
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Post by slxpress on Apr 11, 2023 15:09:23 GMT -5
I think some of it is simply the dynamic Texas fans are in right now specifically. The program loaded up with two decent sized classes in 2022 and 2023, with 3 then 5 (plus some additional walkons). 8 scholarships in two years is A LOT! Then you’ve had the massive influx in top tier transfer talent, including SKT, Skinner, Fleck, Caffey, Bergmark, Ewert, Wenaas, and Barnes. But Texas didn’t sign a single player for 2024 because of those numbers. Don't we have a libero for 24? Reese Emerick. I do not believe she’s a scholarship player. To me it proves my point more than disputes it. If you’re someone like me who enjoys Texas recruiting like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, Reese Emerick isn’t going to exactly do it for you. No offense to her. I’m excited she’s on board, and I look forward to seeing what she can do. But she doesn’t have the profile of any of the 8 players we signed in 21 and 22. I just think there’s a gap there and many of us are looking forward to what happens with the 2025 class after going a while without signing a high profile player. And regardless of how good Spears ends up being - nobody knows that - there’s no question she’s as high profile as they come for 2025. Not to mention she’s a Texas kid, and Texas hasn’t signed a player out of a Texas high school in 4 years. |
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Post by stevehorn on Apr 11, 2023 15:27:41 GMT -5
Don't we have a libero for 24? Reese Emerick. I do not believe she’s a scholarship player. To me it proves my point more than disputes it. If you’re someone like me who enjoys Texas recruiting like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, Reese Emerick isn’t going to exactly do it for you. No offense to her. I’m excited she’s on board, and I look forward to seeing what she can do. But she doesn’t have the profile of any of the 8 players we signed in 21 and 22. I just think there’s a gap there and many of us are looking forward to what happens with the 2025 class after going a while without signing a high profile player. And regardless of how good Spears ends up being - nobody knows that - there’s no question she’s as high profile as they come for 2025. Not to mention she’s a Texas kid, and Texas hasn’t signed a player out of a Texas high school in 4 years. Appears quite likely that the 2023 class is also the 2024 class as there is a good chance that three will redshirt - Helmers, Bunton, Tomkinson. The roster depth is available is to even redshirt Byrd if desired. |
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Post by slxpress on Apr 11, 2023 15:44:34 GMT -5
I do not believe she’s a scholarship player. To me it proves my point more than disputes it. If you’re someone like me who enjoys Texas recruiting like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, Reese Emerick isn’t going to exactly do it for you. No offense to her. I’m excited she’s on board, and I look forward to seeing what she can do. But she doesn’t have the profile of any of the 8 players we signed in 21 and 22. I just think there’s a gap there and many of us are looking forward to what happens with the 2025 class after going a while without signing a high profile player. And regardless of how good Spears ends up being - nobody knows that - there’s no question she’s as high profile as they come for 2025. Not to mention she’s a Texas kid, and Texas hasn’t signed a player out of a Texas high school in 4 years. Appears quite likely that the 2023 class is also the 2024 class as there is a good chance that three will redshirt - Helmers, Bunton, Tomkinson. The roster depth is available is to even redshirt Byrd if desired. Right. But you’re talking about roster management and I’m talking about getting a recruiting fix. If we’re being realistic there’s a decent chance we’ll see some players transfer. I don’t have any thoughts on who, but there’s a bit of a pig in the python problem when it comes to playing time, even with redshirts to help even things out. Not to mention Texas isn’t going to exactly ignore the portal from here on out. |
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Post by stevehorn on Apr 11, 2023 16:02:11 GMT -5
Appears quite likely that the 2023 class is also the 2024 class as there is a good chance that three will redshirt - Helmers, Bunton, Tomkinson. The roster depth is available is to even redshirt Byrd if desired. Right. But you’re talking about roster management and I’m talking about getting a recruiting fix. If we’re being realistic there’s a decent chance we’ll see some players transfer. I don’t have any thoughts on who, but there’s a bit of a pig in the python problem when it comes to playing time, even with redshirts to help even things out. Not to mention Texas isn’t going to exactly ignore the portal from here on out. Even if we took more in the 2024 class, you still would have to be looking at the 25 class for a recruiting fix. The 2024 would have been complete back in the fall. Possible transfer(s) after the season, especially if Skinner and Wenaas return for the 24 season. Front row will be kinda stacked. We won't ignore the portal, but I still will be waiting to see how much of a dropoff in talent and experience there will be after the last COVID class. |
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Post by slxpress on Apr 11, 2023 16:13:56 GMT -5
Right. But you’re talking about roster management and I’m talking about getting a recruiting fix. If we’re being realistic there’s a decent chance we’ll see some players transfer. I don’t have any thoughts on who, but there’s a bit of a pig in the python problem when it comes to playing time, even with redshirts to help even things out. Not to mention Texas isn’t going to exactly ignore the portal from here on out. Even if we took more in the 2024 class, you still would have to be looking at the 25 class for a recruiting fix. Right. But the point is it’s been two years without any meaningful high school recruiting for the most part. Which means the fixation on Spears has been going on longer than normal and has been more focused than normal by Texas fans. Hence a bit more investment in her recruitment over that period of time and hence more investment now. |
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Post by horns1 on Apr 11, 2023 16:20:12 GMT -5
As long as Cari Spears signs with Texas, the volleyball world as I know it will be perfect.
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Post by ay2013 on Apr 11, 2023 20:19:15 GMT -5
Spears has been compared to Megan Hodge. So once in a generation isn’t a stretch. She’s very good now and has a higher ceiling than anyone in her class. Any program would take her in a heartbeat. What will be most interesting is the timeline and how her decision making process affects the other top rated outsides. Does someone like Nebraska or Wisconsin think they’re not gonna get her and pivot to Kinney, DeMaria etc or wait out Spears and risk not getting a AA caliber in this class. Penn St, Pitt, Louisville will gladly skip Spears and push for these players early. Should be a fun next couple months. You can probably count on one hand the number of in-state talent in the last decade that Texas made an offer to but who purposefully chose to go elsewhere and didn't eventually come back to Texas. I think that if she was heavily considering going to a program other than Texas, you'd probably know it by now. Other programs may give her a call the first day during the open window, but unless she commits to not making a commitment before the August 1 visits can start, my guess is that very few, if any, of the other top programs will wait for her. |
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Post by volleyparent on Apr 11, 2023 21:15:42 GMT -5
I suspect that there will be a number of schools give a few offers to their top 2-3 choices and give a deadline. A lot more rides on getting 2025s than it did for 2024s.
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vballfreak808
Hawaiian Ohana 
2020 All-VolleyTalk 1st Team, All-VolleyTalk 2nd Team (2023, 2022, 2017, 2016), All-VolleyTalk HM (2021, 2019, 2018), 2017 Fantasy League 1st Runner-up, 2016 Fantasy League Champion
#GoBows
Posts: 13,444
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Post by vballfreak808 on Apr 15, 2023 14:58:34 GMT -5
Texas lands a 2024 setter commit from Rella Binney. She is a 5'10" recruit that plays for Ku'ikahi (same club SKT & Akana played for) and Punahou (same high school as Sydney Yogi)
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