Texas Volleyball's Hawaiian pipeline

[arieshorn]

I didn't realize that Kat Brooks is a walk on. Give this a girl a scholarship NOW! She deserves it.

Video LINK

 

[s102r18]

WVB is allowed 12 schollies with no splits. (By comparison baseball gets 11.7 with splits permitted and full rides rare.) There are 14 names on the roster, so two players had to be walk-ons. Megan Futch was the obvious top candidate. I wondered whether Amy Neal, as a natural Longhorn from a family that perhaps can afford to pay her in-state tuition, might be the other walk on. OTOH, Kat Brooks was the only "not ranked" member of the recruiting class (versus #1, #6, #9, and #18 for her fellow frosh). I wasn't sure what to conclude, so I did take notice when hearing "walk on" mentioned in that video.

The scholarship situation for 2013 is interesting and complex. Only Sha'Dare finishes her eligibility, so for a long time I thought our 2013 class would be limited to one scholarship recruit. As explained by texasdpt (see The Link), however, we have three schollies available for Chloe Collins, Chiaka Ogbogu, and Mirta Baselovic. If "Little Cat" Kat (versus "Big Cat" Khat) wants to be part of the 2013 repeat effort, it looks like she'll have to remain a walk-on to do so.

From another perspective: Wait...you mean we get to have Bailey Freakin' Webster, likely the early favorite for NPOY, leading the offense as a fifth-year senior without her even counting against the 12-woman scholarship limit???!!! What a good time to be a Longhorn Volleyball fan!!!

OK, so what about non-senior attrition? Well, between her 2010 sophomore season at Dowling College and her 2012 junior season at Texas, Megan Futch was an assistant coach at a high school in CA. The Natty ride had to be a thrill for her, but she might now be ready to push forward with her coaching career. As a walk-on, her decision doesn't impact the schollie situation, just the daily practice situation.

Heading into the Texas-Florida Round of 16 matchup, I saw many comments about how Molly McCage had improved so much since the Texas-Florida match in State College. True as that may be, Molly didn't even play in the earlier match. I was there and I distinctly remember being very impressed wth Madelyn Hutson's play in that match. Based on the first few matches of the year I thought Molly was noticeably better than Maddy, and I recall remarking to another Longhorn from Austin how impressed I was to see Maddy step up her game against the Gators. (She went 5-0-8/.625 with 1 dig and one block assist in the match. She did not play the next night against PSU, and Molly's numbers were not as good.)

So, whither Maddy? I have no idea. If she leaves we have an extra schollie to give to somebody, but at this point who that is more deserving is still available? I generally pay little to no attention to recruiting, so I have no idea.