THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas is poised to finish on a high note
The Longhorns picked up a big commitment from wide receiver Joshua Moore on Sunday afternoon and another from offensive lineman Christian Jones on Monday. Texas is in a great spot to land several other prospects over the next 24 hours, including players who not only fill needs, but were also part of some hotly-contested recruiting battles.
As it stands on Tuesday, Texas would appear to be the odds-on favorites with the following recruits … Joseph Ossai, Mojo Oromo and Andrew Parker. One of those - Parker– is a recruitment in which Texas only recently got involved. Ossai and Ojomo were two players who had lengthy lists of options, including some strong competition from regional rivals. In Jones, who gave his pledge on Monday night, Texas landed an intriguing prospect that could play a huge part for the offense in the coming years.
Let’s take a look at each of those four …
--- Joseph Ossai - DE – Conroe Oak Ridge – Key offers: Texas, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford, Arkansas, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, TCU
Texas’ primary competition for Ossai has always been Texas A&M, and to a lesser extent, Notre Dame. Early on, going back to a UT junior day visit nearly one year ago, just about everyone had Ossai pegged for A&M after he labeled the Aggies his childhood dream school. In fact, there were multiple times when people thought Ossai might be close to committing to A&M, but Texas kept chipping away and the fact that Ossai couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger on an A&M pledge was a pretty good indicator of just how strongly he felt towards Texas.
After taking official visits to Texas in October and then to A&M, all signs once again pointed to the Aggies with them getting the latter of the two visits, and Ossai popping in for an A&M bowl practice. Once again, Texas stayed patient and continued to put in max effort on Ossai, and the tide would eventually turn in UT’s favor while A&M transitioned through its coaching change.
This is one in which Texas could have peeled off and prioritized other players when it looked like Ossai was going to fall A&M’s way, but the staff’s persistence has paid off and it looks very likely that Ossai will be big part of UT’s class.
--- Moro Ojomo - DT – Katy – Key offers: Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Oregon, Miami, Notre Dame, Alabama, Nebraska
Two things stand out to me in this recruitment ...
First, how did Ojomo fly under the radar for so long in terms of scholarship offers? He plays at Katy, a school on the radar of every college recruiter, and his senior film is about as impressive as any defensive lineman in the state of Texas.
Second, credit goes to Texas for being the first big school to really make Ojomo a priority when the Longhorns offered in early December. Once UT offered, several other powerhouse programs, including Oklahoma and Notre Dame, quickly followed suit.
Texas and Ojomo had been on each other’s radars for a while, but the staff’s willingness to be the first of the power players to jump in with an offer appears that it will pay dividends.
Christian Jones – OL – Cypress Woods – Key offers: Texas, Cal, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Houston
Jones is an under-the-radar prospect and he doesn’t possess the same type of offer list as Ojomo or Ossai, but I do think he has a chance to be a good find for Texas after choosing the Longhorns over Cal. A two-way lineman, Jones has been playing football for only two years and was actually a very skilled soccer player before taking up football. He’s not a player that is going to help a college program right from the jump, but in a couple years, as his body continues to develop, he could be develop into an athletic tackle that could wind up being one of the steals of the class.
Andrew Parker – LB – New Orleans Wright – Key offers: Texas, Arkansas, Texas A&M, TCU
Parker’s stock really elevated up in the last month, with him picking up all of his four biggest offers in the month of January, including a UT offer about 10 days ago. Parker remains committed to Arkansas, but the Longhorns had to fend off interest from schools like Auburn, Texas A&M and TCU just to make this a two-team race between Arkansas and Texas.
He’s rated as only a two-star prospect (he’s not crazy about that assessment, understandably), but if you put the film on you seem him making plays on both sides of the ball, knifing through traffic on defense, shedding blockers, showing good speed and delivering punishing hits. Parker flew under the radar for so long, including with college coaches, that it hindered his ranking, but he’ll be a nice pick-up as an athletic linebacker that can play inside or outside should he pick Texas.
2. New offensive line commitment Christian Jones has intriguing upside
In case you’ve missed our other reports on the Longhorns’ newest commitment, offensive lineman Christian Jones, a little background for you …
- Jones is a two-way player who was being recruited by schools as both a defensive lineman and an offensive lineman.
- He recently measured in at 6-6 1/8 and 294 pounds.
- Jones has been playing football for only two years after taking up an offer from a coach at his school to give the sport a try. Prior to that, he was a highly-skilled soccer player who was on a U.S. Soccer Development Academy team before trying out football.
- Jones is a very strong student. Along with Texas, he was holding offers from the likes of Cal, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Rice and Yale. His two finalists were Texas and Cal.
I caught up with Jones on Monday night, shortly after he announced his commitment to Texas. Some highlights:
On his decision:
“It’s a dream come true. I made the decision pretty much (Sunday) night. I just texted the coach this morning, talked to the Cal coaches. It was kind of hard, but they understood. Being at home, there’s nothing like it. Being at home and being able to see my family was big.”
On my assessment that he may not be an instant contributor, but is a player with high long-term upside:
“Definitely. My dad wanted to me to take a developmental role. I agreed with him. I’ve only been playing two years. I want to be able to redshirt, learn from the people who’ve done it already. Hopefully soon, I can make a huge impact. When I think about it sometimes, I’ve been playing for two years, and I’m in the same boat as everyone else. So I definitely feel if everything goes right, if I stay injury free, I feel like I can make a huge impact.”
On how playing soccer has helped him in football:
“My movement. My feet don’t stop. I didn’t even know I had good feet until people kept on telling me that. So definitely my footwork, always being on your toes, changing direction and just body control. You need body control in soccer. And also fitness. Soccer is nonstop movement. I’ll drive someone 15 yards then run all the way downfield to get a block.”
On what he needs to improve:
“I need to practice my skills. I’m still extremely raw, not ready to go against big boys yet. I’ll get in the weight room, put on some muscle, get stronger, get faster, just learn what I’m doing.”
On what he’ll be doing this spring:
“I’ll do track, try to get my 40 down. I’ll be in the weight room twice a day, do yoga twice a day. If you’re not able to bend, you’re going to get hurt.”
3. The 2019 recruiting race is going to be intense
What Texas has been able to do in the 2018 recruiting cycle has been nothing short of incredible, and I’m not sure anybody predicted the kind of success the Longhorns have enjoyed. Texas’ class currently ranks No. 3 nationally and the Longhorns have secured commitments from six of the state’s top eight prospects.
Looking forward to next year, Texas has one commitment on its 2019 list – a big one from quarterback Roschon Johnson – but it’s looking more and more like the 2019 cycle is going to be a real dogfight.
Just like Texas was able to capitalize on momentum with the 2018 class after having to fight through a transition class in 2017 when Tom Herman was hired, Texas A&M seems to be finding itself in a similar position with the 2019 group under new head coach Jimbo Fisher. The Aggies are already up to six commitments, including recent pledges from Rivals100 safety Brian Williams, Rivals250 wide receiver Kam Brown and three-star corner Bobby Wolfe, who held a Texas offer.
The Aggies are off to a fast start, as expected, and schools like Oklahoma and LSU will continue to recruit the state hard. Texas will hold its own, of course, and the Longhorns are already in a good spot with several of the state’s top prospects, including guys like Jordan Whittington, Garrett Wilson, Jalen Catalon and DeMarvin Leal, to name a few.
A lot of this will sort itself out over the next 9-12 months as coaches continue to build relationships, and success on the field in the fall will go a long way towards determining each team’s overall recruiting success, but 2019 is already looking like it’s going to be a bare-knuckle slugfest for the state’s top prospects.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. How does Texas’ class finish up?
We might as well jump right to it. With less than 24 hours remaining until players start sending in their letters of intent, who do we feel will be in the class at the end of the day tomorrow?
Keaontay Ingram – The Carthage running back was a hot topic of late after he took a Texas A&M official visit, but all signs point to him sticking with his longtime Texas commitment.
Keondre Coburn – This one would have been easier to peg had Coburn gone through with his unofficial visit to Texas last weekend, but him not showing up caused some hand-wringing. Perhaps that’s exactly what Coburn wants. Miami made a late push but it’s hard to envision Coburn going that far away. Remember, he was actively recruiting for Texas during Under Armour week and has been pro-Texas on Twitter of late.
Daniel Carson – He committed to Texas in mid-January and has been very pro-UT ever since. No worries here.
Christian Jones – UT’s newest commitment will sign on Wednesday morning.
Joshua Moore – He gave UT a pledge on Sunday afternoon. No need to worry here.
Mike Williams – Williams has been quiet ever since he committed, but he’s supposed to have a signing ceremony tomorrow afternoon.
Joseph Ossai – He’s still uncommitted, but Texas has been the team to beat for a while here and we’re not expecting that to change now, despite a last-minute visit to Oregon.
Moro Ojomo – He’ll announce on Tuesday evening, and the smart money has him choosing Texas over Oklahoma.
Andrew Parker – He’ll sign with either Arkansas or Texas on Wednesday morning, and everything I’ve gathered is that Texas is likely to win out.
+1 … (keep reading)
2. Who are the biggest “sleepers” Texas will sign?
It’s hard to really call any player a sleeper when a prospect gets as much attention as he does just by being recruited by a school like Texas, but there are a few guys who I think have been somewhat undervalued, both in terms of rankings and in general discussion among fans.
1. Moro Ojomo – Technically he’s still uncommitted and we’ll know tonight if he’ll be signing with Texas, but if he does, I think he has a chance to be one of the better players in this class. He’s rated as only a three-star prospect and the No. 70 player in the state, but his film looks a lot better than that, he’s young and still developing and in the few times I’ve communicated with him he has bit of a chip on his shoulder about his ranking. I like that.
2. Reese Moore – Another three-star prospect, I’ve always thought Moore was a bit undervalued. He’s a tight end being converted to offensive line so he’s not a guy that’s going to steal the headlines, but Moore is a terrific athlete overall and with some time to develop, I think he has a chance to be a real find for Texas.
3. D’Shawn Jamison – He’s ranked No. 205 nationally so he’s not exactly a sleeper, but Jamison is about as good of a pure football player as anybody in this class. His size is the only knock you’ll hear from his critics, but Jamison is fearless, confident, versatile and just has a knack for making plays.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands one more wide receiver
This is really just a hunch on my part, mostly because this staff has been known to pull off a surprise or two, but I just have a feeling Texas is going to sneak in one more receiver in this class. To be clear, I haven’t heard that the Longhorns are clearly out in front for any of the receivers still on the board, but a guy like Tommy Bush seems to be torn at this point and it almost feels like he’s having to find reasons to keep Texas from the top spot on his list.
