re: Aranda hiring Austin Thomas as general manager of football operations (that's a thing)

quote:

---

You could have a hundred Austin Thomas' and still couldn't convince top talent to come to Waco, TX

---

But just imagine how organized the board would be.

quote:

---

You could have a hundred Austin Thomas' and still couldn't convince top talent to come to Waco, TX

---

Players Briles pulled to Baylor

2008 - RG3 top 300 player (not even a week after Briles was hired)

2009 - top 200 player (CB)

2010 - top 300 player (CB) top 60 player (S)

2011 - top 230 player (OT)

Here is where it gets good. This is the year after he put Baylor on the map. They were never higher than 8th in the Big 12 in recruiting before then.

2012 - top 70 player (DT), top 160 player (ATH), 2 top 290 players (CB and OLB)

2013 - 5 star (WR), top 300 (DTQB), top 140 (OT), top 10 JUCO (OLB)

2014 - 5 star (WR), top 50 (ATH), top 240 (ATH), top 300 (OLB)

2015 - top 40 (QB), top 200 (WR), top 225 (APB)

If you look at their all time commits on 247, which pulls commits back even to the earlier part of the century with the services that ranked them at the time, their top 10, and 16 of their top 20 came during his tenure.

If Aranda can make Baylor a success, guys will go there. If that stuff never happened with Briles, they'd probably be pulling in top 15 classes now.