Recent UT offer Kary Vincent has ties to Texas A&M with his father having played for the Aggies as a wide receiver, but that doesn't mean Vincent is locked in to follow in his father's footsteps and attend college in College Station.
In fact, the 5-11, 175-pound Vincent is keeping an open mind with all schools that are recruiting him, and he doesn't even have a list of favorites.
UT offer: Texas offered Vincent in late February, and the recent hiring of new UT defensive backs coach Clay Jennings played a big part in that development.
"I had been offered by coach Jennings previously while he was at Arkansas. He had seen me in person. That was the big thing with coach Bedford. He loved my film, loved who I was as a person," Vincent said. "He just wanted to have someone in the program get eyes on me in person."
Jennings had previously visited Vincent at his school in January while he was still on the Arkansas staff. Jennings liked what he saw enough that it carried over to Texas and the Longhorns have now officially entered the mix for the Port Arthur Memorial standout.
A couple Texas ties: Vincent obviously has ties to A&M due to his father having played there, but Texas isn't completely shut out of having connections.
Port Arthur Memorial head coach Kenny Harrison played football for Texas and is a UT grad. He and Bedford have a good relationship and have talked about Vincent on a handful of occasions.
On top of that, Vincent actually grew up a Longhorn fan.
"Texas is right in the mix," Vincent said. "Texas, that's my childhood favorite. I grew up watching Jamaal Charles being from Port Arthur. I've been watching them for a long time."
How did that go over with his father?
"My dad hated it," Vincent said with a laugh. "We'd always made jokes about it."
UT visit coming up?: Vincent is busy with track so he hasn't hit any junior days. He and his Port Arthur Memorial teammates will not be competing in the Texas Relays but it's a near certainty that Vincent will be on the UT campus in May for the state track meet.
Taking things slowly: Vincent plans to trim his list to five or 10 schools sometime this summer. Until that point, he's keeping all options on the table.
Along with Texas, Vincent has been offered by close to 20 programs, including Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and TCU, among others.
