2 p.m. update - More good stuff here, this time from UT DT commitment Gerald Wilbon.
The Destrehan (La.) product said he had a great visit overall.
"I was very impressed. The coaches treated me well. It was nice meeting my future teammates, some of the players that already go to the university," Wilbon said. "It was great spending time with them, getting to see the city, what Austin has to offer."
The Texas coaches never really went over depth chart talk with Wilbon, but there were talks about how he would be used. Wilbon is locked in with his commitment.
"It just makes me more comfortable with everybody, with my decision," Wilbon said of the visit. "I'm just ready to get done with high school, get to Texas.
"This pretty much sealed it for me. I'm 100 percent with Texas, not interested in any other schools."
Now, for the note you all have been waiting for. I asked Wilbon if he heard the talk of silent commitments from the weekend.
"Yeah, I heard it. I think it's actually true, a couple guys made silent commitments so that's big for us," Wilbon said.
******
2:10 p.m. update - Just spoke with Jeffrey McCulloch and he described his official visit to Texas this weekend as "productive." He has a very straight-forward style to him. He said the coaches talked to him most about the impact that he could make on the team and about the depth chart in front of him. The coaches told McCulloch that he could make an early impact as a hybrid player because of his versatility; in that they could see him playing either the fox, the mike or the will linebacker position.
McCulloch did not tip his hand much about where he may be leaning as he still has an official visit to Alabama on deck. McCulloch will be committing on national signing day live on ESPN. He said his top five remain the same: Alabama, Texas A&M, Stanford, Notre Dame and Texas. (Dunlap)
*****
1:55 p.m. update: Looks like we'll have a decision from Zach Shackelford soon.
1:50 pm update: If you are looking for some more good news from this weekend, look no further than Duncanville defensive tackle Marcel Southall.
Texas has been working hard for weeks to get Southall on campus. It looks like the hard work Longhorn coaches put it might be paying off.
“It was a great visit,” Southall said. “It was good visiting all the players and the coaches and seeing what coach Strong is all about.”
I asked Southall if he was leaning toward Texas after his weekend or if needed to take more visits to figure out a leader.
“I was cool with it, but at this point, I’m still undecided,” Southall said. “I’m open-minded right now, but I’m thinking about UT.”
Texas desperately needs defensive tackles after the departure of Hassan Ridgeway to the NFL draft. The position is extremely thin, and any player who is a part of this year’s recruiting class will probably contribute right away.
Those are facts Texas coaches emphasized to Southall during his visit.
“They need guys to come in and play at that position,” Southall said. “The position is there for me. I just have to go get it.”
Southall intends to visit the University of Miami and Ole Miss before making a final decision.
For the record, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary is Southall’s primary recruiter right now. (Richardson)
****
1:40 pm update: Just caught up a little bit w/ Deontay Anderson to follow up on his visit and he had a great time. He said "ATX had the juice this weekend I loved it." Anderson said he's making his commitment on National Signing Day and will take his two remaining officials to LSU and Ole Miss in the coming weeks. This one seems like it's picking up steam for Texas. (Dunlap)
*****
1:30 p.m. update: Deontay Anderson just texted me that the visit was "live and great!"
Working to get a little more info, but the initial report seems to be very good.
****
1 p.m. update - Caught up with UT OL commitment Tope Imade briefly but we had a bad connection so I texted him a couple questions.
Imade said the highlight of the weekend was getting to spend a lot of time around Charlie Strong and listening to coach Strong talk about the program and why the recruits should join the team.
The Arlington Bowie product said he feels very good about his decision to be a Longhorn.
"I feel like I made the right decision," Imade said. "I'm just waiting until June to get down there."
And how much recruiting did Imade do on the uncommitted guys?
"I was mainly talking to Zach (Shackelford) but I don't know how that went," Imade said.
12:20 p.m. update - You all will like this update ...
I just hung up with UT commitment Jean Delance. Our conversation was brief, but he said it was a great weekend overall. For everybody. I told him I'd heard through the grapevine that it's been a productive weekend and he agreed.
"It's been very good. There's lot of recruiting going on," Delance said. "I'm trying to get some guys to make some moves. We'll have number one class in the Big 12."
How successful was he?
"We've got some stuff going, got some action," Delance said.
He said he recruited the following guys the hardest: Zach Shackelford, Erick Fowler, Mark Jackson and Brandon Jones. And he feels Texas has a great shot of landing all of them.
******
11:45 a.m. update - I just spoke with UT wide receiver commitment Davion Curtis. Great visit overall for the Temple product. He was hosted by P.J. Locke.
"I was talking to coach Gilbert, coach Norvell, coach Strong. They very excited about me going to UT. We run that same offensive concepts that coach Gilbert has run. He has coached at Temple, Bowling Green, Tulsa. We ran that kind of stuff at our school," Curtis said. "Everything he's run, I should kind of know."
"I talked to coach Norvell. He said they'll put me in the slot or outside because my speed is a threat."
Curtis on the visit to Charlie Strong's house ...
"His house is like a dream mansion. He has movie theaters, game rooms, all that. it's very nice. Basketball courts. It was crazy," Curtis said.
The speedster WR said he really bonded with Jean Delance and Reggie Hemphill. He also did a ton of recruiting on OL Zach Shackelford.
"They wanted me to talk to Zach. I was with him most of the time. He really liked the visit. Hopefully that will be enough to get him here," Curtis said.
Oh yeah ... one more note. I asked Curtis if there was some chatter among the recruits about a few "silent" commits going down this weekend. He said he had heard the same.
******
Taylor said he had a great visit and Texas definitely helped its standing with him. He is still considering five schools (UT, LSU, South Carolina, Florida State, Oklahoma). He'll visit FSU next week and South Carolina on January 29.
"It was great place to come down and look at. It's a great environment, a great experience overall," Taylor said of the visit.
He was hosted by Poona Ford and said he clicked with a bunch of the other recruits, including Malcolm Roach and Erick Fowler.
A couple notes of interest ...
Taylor said he thinks Texas may be looking at getting back in with his teammate, DE Sci Martin. Martin is on an official visit to Alabama this weekend and he has his fifth visit set up for next week to LSU. Would seem like a longshot for Texas but I'll have to follow up on that.
Taylor plans to have his final decision on National Signing Day.
The Destrehan (La.) product said he had a great visit overall.
"I was very impressed. The coaches treated me well. It was nice meeting my future teammates, some of the players that already go to the university," Wilbon said. "It was great spending time with them, getting to see the city, what Austin has to offer."
The Texas coaches never really went over depth chart talk with Wilbon, but there were talks about how he would be used. Wilbon is locked in with his commitment.
"It just makes me more comfortable with everybody, with my decision," Wilbon said of the visit. "I'm just ready to get done with high school, get to Texas.
"This pretty much sealed it for me. I'm 100 percent with Texas, not interested in any other schools."
Now, for the note you all have been waiting for. I asked Wilbon if he heard the talk of silent commitments from the weekend.
"Yeah, I heard it. I think it's actually true, a couple guys made silent commitments so that's big for us," Wilbon said.
******
2:10 p.m. update - Just spoke with Jeffrey McCulloch and he described his official visit to Texas this weekend as "productive." He has a very straight-forward style to him. He said the coaches talked to him most about the impact that he could make on the team and about the depth chart in front of him. The coaches told McCulloch that he could make an early impact as a hybrid player because of his versatility; in that they could see him playing either the fox, the mike or the will linebacker position.
McCulloch did not tip his hand much about where he may be leaning as he still has an official visit to Alabama on deck. McCulloch will be committing on national signing day live on ESPN. He said his top five remain the same: Alabama, Texas A&M, Stanford, Notre Dame and Texas. (Dunlap)
*****
1:55 p.m. update: Looks like we'll have a decision from Zach Shackelford soon.
1:50 pm update: If you are looking for some more good news from this weekend, look no further than Duncanville defensive tackle Marcel Southall.
Texas has been working hard for weeks to get Southall on campus. It looks like the hard work Longhorn coaches put it might be paying off.
“It was a great visit,” Southall said. “It was good visiting all the players and the coaches and seeing what coach Strong is all about.”
I asked Southall if he was leaning toward Texas after his weekend or if needed to take more visits to figure out a leader.
“I was cool with it, but at this point, I’m still undecided,” Southall said. “I’m open-minded right now, but I’m thinking about UT.”
Texas desperately needs defensive tackles after the departure of Hassan Ridgeway to the NFL draft. The position is extremely thin, and any player who is a part of this year’s recruiting class will probably contribute right away.
Those are facts Texas coaches emphasized to Southall during his visit.
“They need guys to come in and play at that position,” Southall said. “The position is there for me. I just have to go get it.”
Southall intends to visit the University of Miami and Ole Miss before making a final decision.
For the record, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary is Southall’s primary recruiter right now. (Richardson)
****
1:40 pm update: Just caught up a little bit w/ Deontay Anderson to follow up on his visit and he had a great time. He said "ATX had the juice this weekend I loved it." Anderson said he's making his commitment on National Signing Day and will take his two remaining officials to LSU and Ole Miss in the coming weeks. This one seems like it's picking up steam for Texas. (Dunlap)
*****
1:30 p.m. update: Deontay Anderson just texted me that the visit was "live and great!"
Working to get a little more info, but the initial report seems to be very good.
****
1 p.m. update - Caught up with UT OL commitment Tope Imade briefly but we had a bad connection so I texted him a couple questions.
Imade said the highlight of the weekend was getting to spend a lot of time around Charlie Strong and listening to coach Strong talk about the program and why the recruits should join the team.
The Arlington Bowie product said he feels very good about his decision to be a Longhorn.
"I feel like I made the right decision," Imade said. "I'm just waiting until June to get down there."
And how much recruiting did Imade do on the uncommitted guys?
"I was mainly talking to Zach (Shackelford) but I don't know how that went," Imade said.
12:20 p.m. update - You all will like this update ...
I just hung up with UT commitment Jean Delance. Our conversation was brief, but he said it was a great weekend overall. For everybody. I told him I'd heard through the grapevine that it's been a productive weekend and he agreed.
"It's been very good. There's lot of recruiting going on," Delance said. "I'm trying to get some guys to make some moves. We'll have number one class in the Big 12."
How successful was he?
"We've got some stuff going, got some action," Delance said.
He said he recruited the following guys the hardest: Zach Shackelford, Erick Fowler, Mark Jackson and Brandon Jones. And he feels Texas has a great shot of landing all of them.
******
11:45 a.m. update - I just spoke with UT wide receiver commitment Davion Curtis. Great visit overall for the Temple product. He was hosted by P.J. Locke.
"I was talking to coach Gilbert, coach Norvell, coach Strong. They very excited about me going to UT. We run that same offensive concepts that coach Gilbert has run. He has coached at Temple, Bowling Green, Tulsa. We ran that kind of stuff at our school," Curtis said. "Everything he's run, I should kind of know."
"I talked to coach Norvell. He said they'll put me in the slot or outside because my speed is a threat."
Curtis on the visit to Charlie Strong's house ...
"His house is like a dream mansion. He has movie theaters, game rooms, all that. it's very nice. Basketball courts. It was crazy," Curtis said.
The speedster WR said he really bonded with Jean Delance and Reggie Hemphill. He also did a ton of recruiting on OL Zach Shackelford.
"They wanted me to talk to Zach. I was with him most of the time. He really liked the visit. Hopefully that will be enough to get him here," Curtis said.
Oh yeah ... one more note. I asked Curtis if there was some chatter among the recruits about a few "silent" commits going down this weekend. He said he had heard the same.
******
10:35 a.m. update - Most guys are still on campus and will be leaving a little later. DT Stephon Taylor is already on the road home (he drove in so his family could come with him).Taylor said he had a great visit and Texas definitely helped its standing with him. He is still considering five schools (UT, LSU, South Carolina, Florida State, Oklahoma). He'll visit FSU next week and South Carolina on January 29.
"It was great place to come down and look at. It's a great environment, a great experience overall," Taylor said of the visit.
He was hosted by Poona Ford and said he clicked with a bunch of the other recruits, including Malcolm Roach and Erick Fowler.
A couple notes of interest ...
Taylor said he thinks Texas may be looking at getting back in with his teammate, DE Sci Martin. Martin is on an official visit to Alabama this weekend and he has his fifth visit set up for next week to LSU. Would seem like a longshot for Texas but I'll have to follow up on that.
Taylor plans to have his final decision on National Signing Day.
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