Can the Texas Longhorns Still Benefit with Recruiting After Losing Season?

There are 40 bowl games and a College Football Playoff National Championship game featuring FBS teams that will take place between Saturday and Jan. 11. And to add, three teams will compete in a bowl owning 5-7 records.

Texas will not be one of them.

Call it an underachieving season for the Longhorns. Sure, they beat an Oklahoma team that made the College Football Playoff tournament and a Baylor team playing in the Russell Athletic Bowl. But that same team also was shut out by a three-win Iowa State squad and also was routed in road losses to Notre Dame and TCU.

So why shouldn't Texas panic with recruiting the 2016 class? The answer isn't as complex as some may think.

Here's what we know: Texas has 12 commits, with three of those being 4-star athletes in quarterback Shane Buechele and wide receivers Collin Johnson and Reggie Hemphill-Mapps. Of all the FBS programs in Texas, only North Texas has fewer commits.

Credit: 247Sports.com

Here's what we also know: Head coach Charlie Strong made some changes within his coaching staff. Out are Shawn Watson and Joe Wickline as offensive assistants who both once called plays. In are Sterlin Gilbert and Matt Mattox, the duo from Tulsa who helped the Golden Hurricane average better than 500 yards and nearly 36 points per game.

Gilbert will take over as offensive coordinator for the Longhorns. Mattox will coach the offensive line. They're looking to help turn around a Texas offense that didn't score 25 points in seven out of 12 games and only managed to compile single-digit points in three games.

Are recruits taking notice? Definitely. One in particular is 4-star all-purpose back Kameron Martin, a Baylor commit who Texas fans have been hoping for Strong to flip before national signing day. Martin, the younger cousin of NFL running back Jamaal Charles, said that while he's still a Baylor commit, "anything is possible" between now and Feb. 3.

"They said I can come in there and play immediately," Martin said of Texas. "I want to have a chance to play. I just want to go somewhere where I can get on the field immediately."

Credit: 247Sports.com

For the Longhorns, it's still a little too early for anyone to panic. There's still several days for this month to play out (linebacker Malik Jefferson committed on Dec. 19, 2014), and the month of January is expected to be big, as we saw last year with Strong and his staff. Athletes like linebacker Anthony Wheeler, running back Chris Warren III and cornerback Holton Hill all committed between January and signing day.

Each of the aforementioned freshmen are first-teamers on Texas' depth chart—which brings up another fact. Strong played his young athletes early. Six freshmen, either true or redshirted, were starters, and a handful of others saw significant playing time.

This has to be intriguing to uncommitted 2016s like 5-star safety Brandon Jones, 4-star safety Deontay Anderson, 4-star offensive tackle Jean Delance, 4-star linebacker Dontavious Jackson and a host of other athletes still considering the Longhorns.

A 5-7 record this year doesn't mean much to a group of athletes looking at the future of the program—and them being a part of it. Look for Texas to be in the running for several athletes until signing day.

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles