The 361 Effect: UTRGV’s Next Recruiting Wall Starts in Corpus

Corey Holmes leads UTRGV in receiving. Broderick Taylor is averaging more than 12 yards a carry. Aidan Jakobsohn is taking snaps at quarterback. Jaydon Smith is stretching the field, and Christian Sabsook is in the rotation.

None of them came from Houston, Dallas or San Antonio.

They came down Highway 77.

That’s why Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend shouldn’t feel like just another recruiting stop for UTRGV anymore.

The 361 should start feeling like part of the backyard.

UTRGV doesn’t need to land every 361 kid. It needs to make sure every one worth recruiting knows there’s a road back south.

If Vanderbilt, Texas A&M or another Power Four program comes calling, that’s a different fight. But in this version of college football, losing a recruit at 17 doesn’t always mean losing him forever.

That’s where the 361 gets interesting.

THE 361 IS ALREADY PRODUCING FOR UTRGV

Holmes, the former Corpus Christi Miller star, has 11 catches for 187 yards through two games. His old Miller teammate Broderick Taylor has 121 rushing yards on just 10 carries — 12.1 yards a pop.

Jakobsohn, out of Ingleside, has thrown for 271 yards. Jaydon Smith, also from Ingleside, originally went to North Texas before coming back south. Sabsook starred at Veterans Memorial, spent his freshman season at Air Force and eventually made the same move toward home.

Holmes, Smith and Sabsook have combined for 300 of UTRGV’s 649 receiving yards through two games.

That’s 46.2 percent.

This isn’t just UTRGV collecting some Corpus-area names.

The 361 is already helping move the offense.

LOOK WHO THE 361 SENT OUT

Now look at the Coastal Bend names sitting on FBS rosters — and the players who have already produced after leaving the area.

Cameran Dickson, Flour Bluff to Vanderbilt.

Dylan Durbin, Veterans Memorial to Wake Forest.

Mykha Green, Sinton to UTSA after running for 3,444 yards and 48 touchdowns as a senior.

Clay Mitchell, Sinton to Rice.

Johnny Dickson III, Flour Bluff to Virginia Tech, then North Texas, now Oklahoma State.

Ernest Campbell, Refugio to Texas A&M, then Sacramento State, where he produced 755 receiving yards and eight touchdowns, and now Colorado.

Vanderbilt. Wake Forest. Texas A&M. Colorado. Oklahoma State. Virginia Tech. Rice. UTSA. North Texas.

Everybody else already knows there are players in the Coastal Bend.

UTRGV needs to make sure it knows them early.

THE NEXT WAVE IS ALREADY COMING

And this isn’t a history lesson.

Flour Bluff running back Samuel Smith is already committed to Air Force. Teammate Landon Meschi has stacked multiple college offers. Gregory-Portland quarterback Carter Dominguez is another name to know after earning District MVP honors with 1,761 passing yards, 912 rushing yards and 45 total touchdowns last season.

The next group is already coming through.

RECRUIT THEM ONCE. RECRUIT THEM TWICE.

This is where the portal changes everything.

Signing day isn’t the end anymore.

It’s halftime.

You recruit the kid in high school. If he chooses somebody else, keep the relationship.

Sabsook left Corpus for Air Force.

Now he’s at UTRGV.

Smith left Ingleside for North Texas.

Now he’s at UTRGV.

That’s the boomerang effect, and it might be one of UTRGV’s biggest advantages in the region. UTRGV’s current roster confirms both paths back south.

A Coastal Bend player can leave for an FBS opportunity, take his shot and still know there is Division I football waiting a couple hours south if the situation changes.

Maybe the depth chart gets crowded. Maybe a coach leaves. Maybe he wants more snaps. Maybe he just wants to play closer to home.

UTRGV can make a simple pitch:

Come back south.

Your family can make the game. Your old coaches can make the drive. Your teammates can pull up on Saturday.

And you’re still playing Division I football.

That kind of proximity is hard for an out-of-region school to duplicate.

THE RELATIONSHIPS ARE ALREADY THERE

Travis Bush isn’t learning the Coastal Bend from a recruiting spreadsheet.

He was an all-state quarterback at Gregory-Portland. His father, Bruce Bush, coached successful programs at Alice and Gregory-Portland and is now UTRGV’s Director of High School Relations. He’s also a Coastal Bend Coaches Association Hall of Honor inductee.

Those relationships aren’t new, either. Back when UTRGV was still building the program, Bush was already talking about the “hidden gems” in the Coastal Bend and the connections his staff had with coaches in the area.

Now they have proof.

The next Miller player can watch Holmes and Taylor. The next Ingleside kid can look at Jakobsohn and Smith. The next Veterans Memorial prospect can see Sabsook. The next Flour Bluff player can see Jayden Paluseo while watching players from that same program reach Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State and other FBS programs.

Paluseo himself finished his Flour Bluff career with 144 passing touchdowns before coming to UTRGV.

The pitch is changing from come see what we’re building to:

You already know somebody down here.

UTRGV should still recruit Houston, Dallas and San Antonio hard. There’s way too much talent in those cities not to.

But Corpus should feel different.

Kingsville should feel different.

Alice. Sinton. Ingleside. Portland. Flour Bluff. Miller. Veterans Memorial. Gregory-Portland.

That whole stretch between the 956 and the 361 should become territory where UTRGV is involved early, stays involved late and never completely disappears when a kid chooses another school.

UTRGV doesn’t have to win every Coastal Bend recruitment.

It needs to be involved with every player who fits what UTRGV is building — and still be there if that player wants to come back south.

Recruit them at 17. Keep the number when they’re 19.

Because in the portal era, losing a South Texas recruit once doesn’t mean losing him forever.