John Brantley, and why he's (kinda sorta) to blame for Texas not offering Jameis Winston

There's been considerable discussion in the media since Monday night when Florida State redshirt quarterback Jameis Winston, fresh off perhaps the most impressive debut by a quarterback in college football history, dropped the bomb in post-game interviews that he had originally wanted to attend Texas. Had Mack Brown and the Longhorns offered the gifted two-sport athlete out of Hueytown, Ala., he would likely be suiting up for both Mack Brown and Augie Garrido in Austin right now, as opposed to being a weapon for Jimbo Fisher and Mike Martin's squads in Tallahassee.

Jameis Winston wanted to go to Texas but was never offered: "Dang, I'm good enough for Alabama & Auburn but not good enough for Texas"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) September 3, 2013

Jameis Winston: "I'm an OU fan but I always wanted to go to Texas. If I'd gotten offer from Texas I'd be going to Texas right now"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) September 3, 2013

It should be pointed out, however, that there is probably a bit of revisionist history here. It's easy for an athlete to say "well, I wanted to go to ________ University, but they didn't offer/show much interest in me," after the fact. Had Texas offered and recruited Winston, perhaps they would have landed him, maybe they wouldn't have. There's so many things that can go right or wrong when a team pursues a player, that we don't know if a team could or would have signed a given prospect unless they actually go after him. That clearly didn't happen in this instance. It becomes a hypothetical situation for which we will never know the answer to.

Of course, this revelation plays right into the "Mack Brown is losing touch" storyline that sportswriters have been harping on in recent years. Winston is just the latest dynamic, dual-threat quarterback that the Longhorns missed on. Before him, Texas decided to recruit Heisman Trophy-winning signal-callers Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel to play safety. Oops.

But the "miss" of Winston by the University of Texas staff can likely be tied to a pair of players who left the Longhorns at the altar several years before, and caused Mack Brown to alter his approach to the way he recruited top-shelf quarterback prospects moving forward.

Texas missed on a pair of highly-rated gunslingers in quick succession back in the mid-aughts. Ryan Perriloux (2005) and John Brantley (2007) were top-50 prospects from Louisiana and Florida, respectively. Both got caught up in the (sometimes) high-pressure tactics Mack Brown employs on in-state prospects to great success. Each player made an early commitment to the Longhorns. However, Perriloux was in a region known as a traditional LSU stronghold for recruiting. Likewise for Brantley, who was also a well-known UF legacy. Both ended up flipping relatively late in the process, despite LSU going through a transition from Nick Saban to Les Miles, and Urban Meyer already having a top QB prospect committed to the Gators in future No. 1-overall draft pick Cam Newton. Obviously, those losses on the recruiting trail stung Mack Brown – a man not used to losing much for prospects he really wanted – right to his core.

In an effort to prevent that from happening in the future, Texas started instituting a new policy on out-of-state recruits. With few exceptions, those players didn't get offers until they made a visit to Austin on their own dime. Winston would have fallen under that policy, since he hails from Alabama, and the Crimson Tide has done an excellent job locking down the state for players they really wanted in recent years.

On one hand, that idea does make sense, as it is a great way to test the interest of a prospect. But once again, it can also limit the size of the net the program casts on potential prospects. The philosophy gives less margin for error. Plus, top high school players often employ the same tactic. They won't visit a school using their money until the program extends an offer. The potential stalemate likely killed any chance the Longhorns had of recruiting Winston.

It should also be noted that Bryan Harsin, who had been recently hired from Boise State to become the new offensive coordinator at Texas, hand-picked Connor Brewer out of Arizona to be his quarterback in the Class of 2012. Brewer committed on Feb. 7, 2011 and enrolled the following January at UT. With Harsin now the head coach at Arkansas State, Brewer has since transferred back home to play at the University of Arizona.

Recruiting is ultimately a crapshoot. Mack Brown really shouldn't be blamed for failing to sign any of the three QB's individually. And it should be noted that the oversight of Winston is much different than Griffin and Manziel. The latter two were Texas natives playing at a time when the Longhorns had their pick of almost any player in a state (which is no longer the case, with the recent emergence of A&M.) Winston hails from Alabama – not exactly a recruiting hotbed over the years for the UT. There's also an element of luck involved in the game of recruiting. But as Ernest Hemingway once said, "you make your own luck." With Texas now on the decline, and a trio of potential star UT quarterbacks playing or having played somewhere other than Austin over the past five years, the whispers around Brown's future will only continue to get louder.