THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. New offer Ceyair Wright plans to visit Texas soon
Texas continues to be active in recruiting the state of California, including an offer to Rivals250 athlete Ceyair Wright last weekend.
In talking to Wright on Sunday, it sounds like he’s been on UT’s radar for a while and the Longhorns are a team he’ll strongly consider.
“I’ve been talking to them for like a month. We’ve kind of been building a relationship for a while,” Wright said. “I talked to coach (Chris) Ash, but coach Jay (Valai) is the one who offered me.
“It means a lot. A lot of my family is from Texas. So this is super exciting.”
Wright’s grandfather’s side of the family is from Terrell, Texas. His grandmother’s side is from College Station. Wright said he and his family have made several summer trips to the state of Texas, and he plans to swing through the Lone Star State soon to visit Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor (he’s also planning to visit Oregon soon).
“Texas is one of the really good schools. They play great defense, are a great team,” Wright said. “It means a lot to know that a big-time school like that is interested in me.”
Wright, who plays at Los Angeles Loyola, ranks No. 119 nationally. He says distance will not be a factor in his decision.
“It’s not a big factor for me. I’m more interested in looking for a place to be successful after football is over, develop me as a player and person at same time,” Wright said. “Distance really isn’t that big of a factor for me.”
2. Kam Dewberry will be watching Texas closely in 2020
Humble Atascocita 2022 offensive lineman Kameron Dewberry was one of the standouts of the recent Rivals Houston Camp, earning an invitation to the Five-Star Challenge this summer. It’s very early for Dewberry, who is keeping an open mind to all schools recruiting him, but a January visit to Texas has the Longhorns in the mix.
“Right now, everybody's recruiting pretty hard so there’s nobody that’s higher than anyone else,” Dewberry said. “Everybody's recruiting me hard. Everybody's playing fair and I just like everybody right now.”
Texas has a bit of an ace up its sleeve in that former Atascocita lineman Sam Cosmi is currently on the team, and he’s been putting in a good word on the Longhorns’ behalf.
“Sam Cosmi is there and my o-line coach coached him, so that's a big relationship. And coach (Herb) Hand is a really good guy,” Dewberry said. “I really like how he coaches and everywhere he's been he's produced a lot of players.
“I talk to (Cosmi) all the time. He says it’s going to be the best decision I could ever make. Possibly next year he's going to be a first-round pick, and coach Hand developed him.”
Dewberry said he’s not putting too much emphasis on the recruiting process right now, although he is planning visits to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Tulsa and Arkansas over spring break. He’s hoping to narrow his list towards the end of his junior year.
Dewberry measured in at 6-4 and 312 pounds at the Rivals Camp. Texas’ message to him is to stay home and follow in the footsteps of Cosmi. Dewberry said he’s definitely interested in the Longhorns, but he’ll be paying close attention to how UT plays in the fall.
“They’re one of the best teams in the Big 12. They had an okay year, but I know they're better than that because they had a lot going on,” Dewberry said. “This year, I'm watching them pretty closely because it might be a make or break for them this year because they’ve got a lot going on.”
3. Manvel LB Justin Medlock is a name to know for 2022
If Dewberry was one of the better 2022 offensive prospects at the Rivals Camp in Houston, Manvel 2022 linebacker Justin Medlock was one of the best defensive players.
Medlock is still pretty new to the Texas radar, but he said the Longhorns have been in touch and new linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler has been by his school.
“They’re showing a lot of interest. They told me they want me to come up there this spring, so I’m going to go up there in March,” Medlock said.
Along with Texas, Medlock said he plans to visit Baylor, SMU, Texas A&M and LSU at some point this spring.
The 6-1, 200-pound Medlock has 11 offers, including scholarships from Oklahoma, Baylor, Houston and Nebraska. The Sooners appear to be the early leader.
“As of right now, OU is standing out. I’ve been to their junior day. They’re showing me a lot of attention,” Medlock said.
The Longhorns are in the race, and Medlock said he’s hopeful that Texas will extend a scholarship at some point.
“When you go to Texas, you already know they’re going to put a couple of linebackers in the league every year,” Medlock said. “They play fast, physical on defense, and that's what I like to do.”
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. Who is Texas’ biggest threat for Bryce Foster?
We highlighted Bryce Foster and his thoughts on his top five in the 3-2-1 last week, and I came away from my conversation with Foster thinking that the five-star offensive lineman is genuinely open among the schools still on his list – Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon, LSU and Oklahoma.
Foster isn’t planning on deciding until December so I still believe any one of his finalists could wind up winning the race. Official visits will be huge and Foster will weigh a number of decisions when he does decide, including the success of each school’s football and track programs.
Most of the early buzz centered on Texas A&M due to Foster’s family ties to the Aggies, but the word going around recently is that people are really sleeping on Oklahoma’s chances in this one. Again … long way to go, but it may be the Sooners that could wind up being the biggest thorn in UT’s side in this one.
2. What in the world has happened to the Texas basketball team?
It was back in late January when I wrote in this column that I might not watch another minute of Texas basketball this year. The Longhorns had just suffered a 38-point drubbing at the hands of West Virginia, it looked like the wheels had completely fallen off for the men’s hoops program and Shaka Smart seemed like a dead man walking in terms of his job stability.
I’m still not racing to find a television every time Texas hits the hardcourt, but what that group has been able to do over the last two weeks is absolutely stunning. Nothing about UT’s current four-game win streak makes any sense. Down a couple starters, Texas has knocked off two ranked opponents in back-to-back games and suddenly finds itself with a respectable 18-11 mark with two games left in the regular season.
Has Smart saved his job with his team’s play of late? It’s sure beginning to feel like it, and the Longhorns are now squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a huge game coming up on Tuesday night in Norman against an OU team that’s also fighting for its tournament life.
I haven’t seen any predictions that actually have Texas in the tournament, so there’s still work to be done, but wins over OU and Oklahoma State this week combined with a decent showing in the Big 12 Tournament would likely be enough to get the Longhorns over the hump.
What a bizarre year of huge swings in momentum. I haven’t seen much of it over the last month, but I may just have to tune in for Tuesday night’s game against the Sooners.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands a commitment from Jordon Thomas
Port Arthur Memorial defensive end Jordon Thomas took a late January visit to Texas, and he’s been very pro-UT on social media ever since that trip. Last weekend, Thomas posted that he’s close to a decision and it’ll be either Texas or Texas A&M. My money is on Texas winning this one.
