Top 10 Recruiting Classes That Have Been Busts In the Rivals Era

Sep 14, 2013; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown reacts against the Mississippi Rebels during the second half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Ole Miss beat Texas 44-23. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

9. 2007 Texas Longhorns Recruiting Class

Rivals Class Rank: No. 5

The seeds for Mack Brown’s downward spiral with the University of Texas were laid before his national championship loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2009. They began with quite a few misses on the recruiting trail, starting with this class.

We can start with Tray Allen, who was a major miss as a 5-star offensive lineman. But he was not the only one. Although Curtis Brown worked out okay as a 5-star defensive back, Russell Carter, Brandon Collins, and Kyle Hix were all busts, while John Chiles, Foswhitt Whittaker, and Ben Wells were all under-performers.

Sure, this class got to join the Texas teams that only had one loss in 2008 and 2009 behind Colt McCoy. But when it was their time to take over the reigns, they all came up grossly short. And it showed with the players who succeeded and the performance of the team on the field.

But this class can salvage the fact that it is far from the worst Texas class in the Rivals era. We have got a couple more of those, and for Brown, it gets worse, which shows why he ended up stepping down.

Next: No. 8 Ranked Recruiting Class Bust: 2009 Texas Longhorns Class