The University of Texas spent $630,000 on two football recruiting weekends in June, including $280,000 to host top 2023 QB recruit Arch Manning and eight other prep players.
The Athletic reported the spending bacchanalia on Friday, based on the results of a public-records request.
The Manning weekend, which included five-star accommodations and all-you-can-eat fare, has paid off well so far for Texas, which landed the QB and three other top recruits, including Manning’s high-school teammate, Will Randle, a three-star tight end.
The other weekend included $350,000 in expenses to host 14 recruits. According to ESPN, 12 of those targets have committed to Texas, which currently has the third-rated recruiting class for the 2023 cycle.
The money is a drop in the bucket compared to what SEC powers Florida and Georgia spend. Georgia, according to Athletic Director U, spent just short of $3.7 million overall in football recruiting in fiscal year 2019, nearly three times the $1.3 million that Texas spent that year.
Florida, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel this summer, upped its recruiting budget to $2 million for the staff of new coach Billy Napier, a total that doesn’t include the staff’s access to two private jets with a total budget of $839,000.
UVA was further down the Athletic Director U list, reporting $745,347 in fiscal year 2019 football recruiting expenses, ranking 41st among the 52 schools in Power 5 for which figures were available.
Virginia Tech hadn’t published its 2019 data in time to be included in the Athletic Director U report. In 2018, Tech spent $563,744 on football recruiting, ranking 42nd among public Power 5s.
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Chris Graham
