THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Things continue to trend well for Kobe Black
It’s taken a bit more patience than the Texas fan base would have liked, but we’re officially on Kobe Black commitment watch, with Black set to make his decision on Wednesday afternoon at his school.
The Waco Connally standout officially listed a top five way back in August that consisted of Texas, Ohio State, LSU, Texas A&M and Oregon. Most of those schools are non-factors at this point, while Oklahoma State is the one program that’s perceived as a minimal threat to the Longhorns’ chances.
As we reported a couple of weeks ago, there is a surprising level of confidence coming from people in the Oklahoma State program, but that doesn’t coincide with what OB is hearing, and it really just doesn’t pass the smell test. Yes, Black’s brother plays at OSU and yes he’s visited Stillwater numerous times to watch his brother play. But he never did take an official visit there and Texas has been the one team that’s seemed to have had a stranglehold on this one ever since Black visited UT in June, and even that date may be a conservative estimate.
Full transparency, there was actually talk coming out of Black’s official visit to Texas in late June that a commitment could go down at any time, enough so that the OB staff got to work in preparation for a sudden announcement. Black, to his credit, stuck to his guns of not having a timeline and wanting to wait things about a bit. Nearly six months later, we’re finally nearing a conclusion.
There are a lot of factors that would seem to give Texas a decided edge in this on, things like proximity, relationship with the UT staff, former teammates on the Texas roster, the Longhorns’ move to the SEC and the trajectory of the UT program. Add it all up and I see little concern with my Texas FutureCast that was put in place back in June, during Black’s official visit.
2. Texas is looking better and better with Xavier Filsaime with each passing day
For the past few weeks, there has been some back and forth with Xavier Filsaime in terms of which team held the momentum. Florida looked good, only to have Filsaime take a Texas unofficial visit and it was UT picking up some steam. Filsaime would follow that UT visit up with a trip to Gainesville, and the word coming out of that stop was the Gators had reconnected in a way that had them solidifying their grasp on his commitment. But shortly after that visit, Filsaime’s lead recruiter and potential position coach, Corey Raymond, was relieved of his duties and all signs began point towards the Rivals100 defender landing in Austin.
Texas was in-home late last week and will get Filsaime on campus this weekend for an official visit, barring a sudden change. Florida has hired its replacement for Raymond in Will Harris, who comes from the NFL, and the Gators are expected to go in-home this week for one last swing at getting Filsaime back on board and even possibly cancelling his Texas visit. I’m not expecting that.
Common sense has had this one trending UT’s way for the past couple of weeks and there’s a strong confidence in Austin that Filsaime will eventually flip to Texas.
We’re a little more than one week before the opening of the early signing period, and while there’s always room for some late movement with any recruit, weights keep getting added to the Texas side of the scale and as I’ve said before, it feels like an official visit this weekend will pretty much lock this one up. Rivals doesn’t allow for “flip predictions” with our FutureCasts, but I’d pretty comfortably put one in for Texas for the borderline 5-star Filsaime if the software allowed for it.
3. Texas will welcome in two more members of the Umeozulu family in January
When defensive end Zina Umeozulu signs with Texas next week, he won’t be the only Umeozulu looking forward to making the move to Austin on January to join older brother Neto Umozulu. Ziky Umeozulu, Zina’s twin, will be enrolling in January as a preferred walk-on safety.
Steve Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski were in-home with the Umeozulus last week. The “recruiting” portion of their process is over. Now the brothers are just putting the finishing touches on things like finals and UT paperwork before enrolling at Texas in January.
“Pretty much everything is already done with my recruiting,” Zina said. “We were mostly just talking about me graduating early, what to expect.”
Ziky, a 6-3.5, 190-pound safety, said he hopes his size and versatility will help him make a contribution for the Texas defense.
“I think I’m very versatile. I can play safety, nickel, can play slot corner. I think my length really helps me on the field,” Ziky said. “I feel like it makes me more rangy as a safety. I’m very excited. I’m just ready to get to work, ready for coaches to develop me.”
The brothers will be in Austin on Saturday with a number of other Texas commitments to have one last meeting with the staff, have some fun and go over their final paperwork. They’ll then officially move to Austin on January 11.
Looking back at Zina’s recruitment, it really came down to a Red River decision. Texas A&M was involved to a lesser degree, but Zina said it was a pretty close race between Texas and Oklahoma.
“There was a lot of back and forth between OU and Texas. At the end of day, I feel like I made the right decision,” Zina said. “I feel like personally, I feel at home with Texas. I feel like it was meant to be in a sense. My heart is set on Texas.”
Ziky, who wants to major in psychology, said he’s looking forward to joining older brother Neto, who has enjoyed his first couple of seasons in Austin.
“He’s loving the school so far. He loves the city, loves the team,” Ziky said. “He always talks about how close they are in the locker room. He’s excited.”
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TWO QUESTIONS
1. Does Texas need to be worried about Aeryn Hampton?
When we spoke with Texas commitment Aeryn Hampton a couple of weeks ago, he was pretty open and honest that Alabama wasn’t throwing in the towel, the Tide staff was still in regular contact, but Texas didn’t have anything to worry about “as of right now.” Fast forward a couple of weeks and Nick Saban was in Daingerfield to do an in-home visit, which he obviously wouldn’t have done if Hampton had told him he was completely locked in with Texas.
Hampton’s high school career ended last week with Daingerfield falling in the semifinals of the playoffs. After an October visit to watch the Bama-Tennessee game, Hampton took to Twitter to shoot down rumors of him wavering. He’s been mostly quiet since Saban’s visit, but Hampton doesn’t traditionally do a lot of social media to begin with.
Texas will obviously continue to work to keep Hampton in the fold and Sark will do his in-home visit with Hampton on Wednesday. There’s an expectation that an Alabama assistant (or multiple) will visit Hampton sometime this week as well. I’m told that Bama absolutely will hold a spot for Hampton and I’m hearing mixed levels of confidence on the Tide’s chances of flipping him. The usual things that can flip a recruit this late in the process (like big NIL offerings) aren’t expected to be a big factor, from what I’m told. For right now, we favor Hampton remaining in the UT class, but this one feels like it might have some bumps in the road all the way up until next Wednesday.
2. Texas is in a good early position for 2025 DL Carmello Brooks
Katy Paetow defensive end Carmello Brooks was a regular visitor for UT games this fall, taking in a couple of Longhorn home games and also seeing UT when the Horns played in Houston. Brooks was in town for the Horns’ home finale against Texas Tech and said he loved the experience.
“It was really fun. There were a lot of fans coming out to see UT play, see them dominate,” Brooks said. “There was a lot of energy before the game and they brought it on the field.”
After the game, Brooks got a chance to connect with Bo Davis to discuss the action and pick up some tips that Brooks can utilize on the field.
Brooks, who possibly wants to study nursing or marine biology, said he likes UT’s strong combination of football and academics.
“They’re just really good football players. I’m a student-athlete, a student before being an athlete,” Brooks said. “They really have a good learning program at UT.”
Brooks holds a UT offer. He hopes to commit sometime next summer and Texas should be a major factor, partly due to UT’s successful 2023 season.
“It gives them a really good look from all the other colleges that offered me. Not every school is playing in the championship,” Brooks said.
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ONE PREDICTION – Texas lands Kobe Black, Xavier Filsaime and Hunter Andrews
I’ve detailed my thoughts Black and Filsaime above.
Hunter Andrews picked up a Texas offer on Wednesday but things have been pretty quiet since he’s chosen to keep a low profile. In talking to Magnolia head coach Craig Martin on Monday, it sounds like an official visit to Texas this weekend is still a strong possibility, as we reported last week.
Anderson remains committed to Utah and has a sense of loyalty to the Utes’ staff, which is respectable. But he also understands that Texas presents a really good opportunity and could benefit him long-term with the connections he could make in Austin.
Tough one to call right now. As of Monday, a Texas visit is still undecided but the fact that Andrews hasn’t shut down his contact with Texas makes me think the trip will happen. If it does, I like UT’s chances of a late flip for the versatile H-back/LB.
