Does Texas Loss Hurt with Recruits?

I'm sure many are wondering if the Sooners loss on Saturday to the Longhorns will effect their recruiting moving forward. The answer to this question is both yes and no. Here are the reason why it has some effect and why it does not.

YES

I believe that in order to truly recruit at the highest level, losses like what took place on Saturday have to become a rarity. The reason being is that the Sooners all but eliminated themselves from being in consideration for the College Football Playoff/Big 12 Championship talk. While technically the still probably control their own destiny, this type of loss takes the shine of a program at the national level.

NO

I don't in any way believe that the Sooners will lose any of their current verbal commitments after Saturday's performance. The primary reason is that the Sooners and Longhorns have not really had any head to head battles for any player in the class of 2016. The only current Sooner commits with Texas offers are:

JUCO WR Ryan Parker 6-2/175

DB Parrish Cobb 5-11/175

Both players listed above appear to be more than solid.

As far as remaining uncommitted prospects that have both a Sooner and Longhorn offer, the effect could be minimal. Here are several players that could be effected by the Sooners loss.

1. DL Marcel Southall 6-3/270 from Duncanville, TX.

Southall by all accounts had the Sooners at or near the top of his long list of offers. I expect the Sooners loss to the Longhorns to have minimal if any impact on Southall.

2. LB Dontavious Jackson 6-2/240 from Houston, TX.

The Sooners LB class appears to be all but locked in at this point, and while Dontavious is a great prospect, I didn't expect him to end up in Norman before Saturday anyway. None of the Sooner/Longhorn talk will likely even matter if Michigan continues to destroy all opponents, as Jackson is very high on the Wolverines.

3. DL Jordan Elliott 6-5/300 from Houston, TX.

While the Sooners have worked hard to get in this race, I believe they are on the outside looking in. If there was one recruit that the loss on Saturday could effect it would be Elliott. He is a great prospect, but I could see the Sooner's performance last Saturday pushing them off his list.