Linebacker Talanoa Ili has never visited the Texas campus, but that hasn’t stopped the Rivals100 member from locking in a Texas official visit for mid-June.
For Ili, out of Orange (CA) Lutheran, the Texas interest comes down to trust and relationships. He’s known Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian from a distance for a few years now. The same with Texas linebackers coach Johnny Nansen, who actually started recruiting Ili when Nansen was at Arizona. Texas also has a connection on its roster that is helping the Longhorns’ chances.
“I’ve been talking to coach Nansen and coach Sark, I’ve been in touch with them since my freshman year,” Ili said. “I just want to get out to Texas, see what it’s like. My cousin goes to Texas, Brandon Baker, so I want to know what it’s all about.
“He said he loves it out there. I can’t wait to see what he does out there. I’m expecting big things from him.”
* Ili has a busy official visit schedule with stops planned at UCLA (May 10), BYU (May 27), Oklahoma (June 6), Notre Dame (June 10), Texas (June 13), USC (June 17) and Oregon (June 22). Of the schools he’s scheduled to visit, Ili says he’s wide open and the picture won’t come into focus until he takes those seven trips.
“I just want to take my visits and then I’ll go from there,” Ili said. “We’ll see from there. I’ll just weigh out my options and be patient with it.”
* When it comes time to eventually decide, the 6-4, 220-pound Ili said he’ll be looking for the total package – a place that can develop him as a football player but also help him grow as a person.
“For me, I’m looking for a place where I feel at home, a place I feel like I can produce, get the best version of myself,” Ili said. “A place that can help me be a better man and better football player.”
* In his conversations with the Texas coaches, Ili said the UT staff has just stressed to him that they just want a shot for him to see in person what Texas has to offer. Do that, the coaches have said, and Ili will love what he sees from the UT program and the city of Austin.
“They want me to get up there to see it for myself. That’s the big thing for them. They want me to see for myself,” Ili said.
* Ranked No. 58 on the Rivals100, Ili’s film shows an explosive defender who can make plays in the offensive backfield but is also athletic enough to run down ball carriers from behind and play sideline to sideline.
“I think I bring versatility, can rush off the ball, can play off ball linebacker,” Ili said. “I can rush off the edge, rush the A gap , B gap, C gap. I can play in space. I can really do whatever the coach asks me to do.”
My thoughts: It would not be wise to ever count Texas out in any recruitment because we’ve seen time after time that this staff is able to close on prospects that at times feel like longshots, but it does feel like there’s ground to make up in this one. Ili has never visited Texas (compared to multiple visits to places like Oregon, UCLA and USC) and the chatter behind the scenes is that it’s Oregon that is setting the pace. That being said, if there’s a school that can close the gap with just one official visit, it’s Texas, and the Longhorns will have their chance to knock it out of the park when Ili comes in for his official visit in June. Johnny Nansen has done a good job in build a relationship with Ili, so we’ll see if he and the rest of the staff are able to get Texas in that lead group when Ili takes that official visit.
