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THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas is back in good graces with Ezavier Crowell
To be fair, I’m not sure Texas was ever out of Ezavier Crowell’s good graces, but the nation’s No. 1-ranked running back did temporarily cancel his Texas official visit after it was learned that Tashard Choice was leaving for the NFL. On Friday night, Crowell went to social media to declare that the Texas visit was back on after “a great conversation” with new Longhorns running backs coach Chad Scott.
“We just talked about his personality, everything about how he produces backs. And just about Texas, how they hired him, how he’s ready to get to work,” Crowell said. “He was amped up, ready to get on the phone with me.”
Crowell being one of the first calls that Scott made after he officially took in his new role in Austin was not lost on the potential 5-star runner out of Jackson (AL).
“It was amazing being a first priority of his mind since he got there,” Crowell said of the early call
The 5-11, 215-pound Crowell has visited Texas once previously when he was in Austin for the Georgia game. That experience left a strong enough impression to move the Longhorns into contention.
“I just like the city, the organization, the coaches, the feel, all the facilities. Everything really,” Crowell said.
Crowell ranks No. 32 on the Rivals 100. His official visit schedule is as follows: Georgia (May 30), Texas (June 6), Auburn (June 13), Florida State (June 15) and Alabama (June 20).
2. The running back recruiting board looks different this week
It was an interesting week for the running back recruiting board. Chad Scott gets hired on Wednesday. On Friday, you have Javian Osborne announcing on social media that he’s no longer visiting Texas. Later that same night, you have Ezavier Crowell announcing that his Texas visit was back on.
Let’s take a look at where things now stand with the guys who are realistically on the RB board …
Ezavier Crowell – Texas is obviously in the mix with the official visit back on the docket, but Scott will have to do some impressive work to land this one. Scott is playing from behind compared to other coaches who have longstanding relations with Crowell, and there’s already thought that schools like Alabama and Georgia are going to be tough to beat. Scott will get his shot to swing for the fences during Crowell’s June 6 visit, but this will be an uphill climb.
Javian Osborne – We had a breakdown of the recent developments with Osborne on Monday morning (read it HERE), but as of today, the Texas official visit is no longer in place. Could that change between now and June? Absolutely, but Scott will have to work quickly and establishing a bond with Osborne. This is one where the loss of Tashard Choice really has cut into UT’s chances. Michigan is probably the team to watch the closest here, although Osborne also has OVs locked in with Georgia, SMU, Miami and Alabama.
KJ Edwards – The Carthage product is set to take a Texas visit in June but other schools, including Texas A&M, are not going to make this one easy. I’ve long believed that Texas would get either Osborne or Edwards (or maybe both if Choice had stayed) and I’ll stick to that belief. Texas absolutely cannot afford to miss on both in-state players.
--- Texas does have a handful of other out-of-state offers and Scott will undoubtedly do his own evaluations, which could open the door for talented in-state players like Izayah Lee (who visited for UT’s junior day in January), Jonathan Hatton or Davian Groce.
3. Texas is still working to lock in an OV with Rivals250 Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis is a player who has already visited Texas once and he’s hoping to get back for an official visit at some point. While the Longhorns remain in his top group, Davis told OB this week that he has dates lined up for visits with Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss and Southern Cal, so his calendar is getting fairly full. Davis has been in touch with the UT staff about scheduling a visit, but said it may have to come later in the year.
“We don’t have a date yet. Probably during the season,” he said.
There’s been some chatter that Texas might be in a lead group that includes Auburn and Ole Miss. Davis hasn’t directly tipped his hand on that, but said there’s a lot to like about the UT program.
“It’s a great program. They win games, play good defense. Their linebackers are very good. Anthony Hill is a great player. He’s a dog,” Davis said. “Those things stand out to me.”
Davis said he communicates with Texas about once a week and his two main points of contact were Tashard Choice and Johnny Nansen. The loss of Choice is something the Longhorns will have to overcome if they want to win this one.
“I wouldn’t say for real for real (that it had an impact because he wouldn’t have been coaching me. But he was the one recruiting me. He’s a great guy,” Davis said.
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. What’s the latest with Zaden Krempin?
Propser offensive lineman Zaden Krempin has seven or eight programs that he’s still strongly considering. Schools like Texas, Michigan, A&M, SMU and LSU are all strong contenders for Krempin, who said development will be a huge part in his recruitment. Krempin’s not looking to play for a coach who just brings in portal players, he said, and instead is looking for a coach that develops prospects out of high school into NFL players. Kyle Flood more than fits that bill for Texas.
“Kelvin Banks is only 6-4. I’m 6-5. It just shows he can develop guys. He’s been doing it for a while, in the NFL and the college level,” Krempin said. “That’s why I have an OV set with them because I know they can develop kids.”
As we’ve noted before, Krempin has received positive reviews of Flood from some of his players, including Jake Majors. Those opinions carry some weight with the Rivals250 member.
“Jake calls my dad all the time and tells him, coach Flood is the real deal. He’s going to coach you and be honest with you. That’s very appealing to me,” Krempin said.
Prior to his official visits, look for Krempin to be active this spring in hitting some campuses. He mentioned Michigan and Texas A&M as places he’ll likely see and I’d expect Texas will get him on campus as well. Another selling point for the Longhorns, Krempin said, is the opportunity to play early.
“You see the roster, they have a bunch of good dudes who are older, but they’re going to need guys who are going to go in and start early. They told me if you come here you’re going to be playing tackle and you have an opportunity to play early,” Krempin said.
2. What are everyone’s recruiting questions?
When you see staff shake ups, it impacts recruiting momentum for the position groups affected and regions a coach is assigned to. Based on previous history, how long does it take to get that momentum back? Also hearing that Texas reached out to LSU commitment Richard Anderson recently. Have you heard anything?
The honest answer is that it probably varies from coach to coach and from recruit to recruit. If a coach comes in with some recruiting crossover and recruited a lot of the same players, that can obviously speed up the transition. But we’ve seen a coach like Chris Jackson note that it’s tough in year one when you’re behind other coaches in the relationship-building process. Most coaches really hit their stride on that second recruiting cycle.
On Richard Anderson, Texas has offered and he’s a borderline 5-star talent at a huge position (DT), so I would assume Texas is continually putting out feelers. Anderson doesn’t say much or really do social media, so he’s a bit of a ghost for me. He did commit to LSU last summer, so that one feels like it would be a tough pull.
I guess I’m surprised that so far in early recruiting discussions that for all of our recent “positives”:
Top (4) last 2 seadons
Thorpe Award winner
Freshman of the year award
Arch Manning starting this fall - he was the # 1 recruit his year
The high # of players invited to the NFL combine and drafted the last year
It seems like the recruits are still not paying attention / focus.
Has recruiting changed lately so it Is purely a ($) thing at this time ?
Texas is still in a very strong position with a number of elite prospects, but this staff doesn’t really aggressively push for extremely early commitments. NIL will certainly be a factor for a lot of the guys Texas is recruiting, especially those highly-ranked prospects, but it’s definitely not the only factor that comes into play. I actually had one prospect Texas is recruiting tell me this week NIL won’t factor into his decision.
Sark ends up getting Boobie in for a game this season?
I’d probably sell that right now. Boobie Feaster will visit Texas in late March but he is planning on committing over the summer. If the choice isn’t Texas, and right now I’d guess that it won’t be, getting him in for a game in the fall might be tough.
What are the expectations for RB, and who? On the block, make your call.
The expectations are that they’ll get one of the two in-state targets and then try to find an out-of-state guy as well. With everything going on with Javian Osborne, I’d lean KJ Edwards right now but there’s plenty of room for movement there.
How will the Terry Joseph news impact our current targets?
I don’t think the loss of Joseph will have a dramatic impact, especially since he had moved to safety so there was probably going to be some shuffling of the targets he was in charge of. It remains to be seen how things will be divided up now that Duane Akina is back on staff.
Anwar reported in Sunday Pulpit that OU is off to a very strong start to 2026 cycle. That seems odd to me given how things appear to be spiraling for them, on the field and off. What's your sense as to where OU stands with top targets? Seems to me like aside from early PT there isn't much to offer and Venables being on the hot seat would seem to me to hurt them more than help for this cycle?
Oklahoma currently has only four commitments in the 2026 cycle, none of which Texas recruited. I think it’s going to be a tough recruiting year for that program for a lot of the reasons you mentioned.
At this moment who are your top 5 must gets for the 2026 class?
I’m assuming I can’t count Dia Bell in that group since he’s already committed, but he’d be in there otherwise. Beyond him, give me one out of Felix Ojo and John Turntine (why not both?). And then one more offensive tackle out of Samuelu Utu, Zaden Krempin and Kodi Greene. Give me Jaimeon Winfield, a badass LB like Tai'Yion King (or Tyler Atkinson, although that will be tough). Then give me WR Aaron Gregory, because he’s a very good player and because it would be a gut punch for Texas A&M.
Can we pencil in back to back #1 classes?
As long as that pencil has an eraser. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but pulling that off two years in a row is tough for any program.
Sark seems to be shifting generally from recruiters to developers with his position coaching hires.
In the NIL and portal era, are assistant coaches who are considered top recruiters still as important, or does it make sense to shift focus more towards player development guys?
Or does the answer depend heavily on which assistant? And if so, where would RB coach and DB coach fall in that analysis?
NIL and the portal have certainly shaken things up, but I’m a believer that you still need to have a couple of badass recruiters on your staff. Recruiting at an extremely high level in the high school level is the foundation of championship-caliber programs. You need to have coaches that can recruit those 5-star types of talents, but obviously no coach can get those guys without competitive NIL offerings.
Several of our 2026 targets seem to list aggy and OU as teams of interest. Are either a serious competitor for our top targets?
OU is a competitor for a few guys, but I view A&M as the much bigger threat right now.
If you are a great high school RB, what are your top 5 most attractive college destinations. Do kids still think the way they did decades ago, when wearing the burnt orange or SC colors was irresistible?
My top five? Give me Texas, USC, Georgia, Alabama and probably Ohio State. Do kids still think the way they did decades ago? Absolutely not.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas gets an OV out of Javian Osborne
Yes, Texas has ground to make up with Javian Osborne. Yes, he’s considering a handful of schools to fill that June 13 weekend visit schedule. There’s work to be done, but I also know how much Osborne likes the Texas program and even without Tashard Choice on staff, I think he gives Chad Scott a chance and winds up rebooking that official visit.
