Last week was an eventful one for the Texas Longhorns, with the football program picking up commitments from 2020 LB Prince Dorbah and 2021 TE Lake McRee.
This week is equally impressive for the Longhorns, with Texas having picked up a huge commitment from defensive lineman. Vernon Broughton, a Rivals100 member and one of the top overall targets on the Longhorns’ recruiting board, picked Texas over Texas A&M and announced his decision moments ago.
A Rivals100 member, Broughton’s commitment to Texas caps a bit of a roller coaster ride of a recruitment for Longhorn fans. The 6-6, 285-pound Broughton was long-believed to be Texas lean, only to have other schools shoot up his list after Broughton would take official visits to those campuses. His fifth and final visit in late June was to Texas A&M, and there was buzz coming out of that trip that the Aggies had surged into the lead.
In the end, Broughton came back to his first love, picking Texas in one of the more hotly-contested recruiting battles in the state so far this year.
“It’s close to home. There are a lot of reasons,” Broughton said of his interest in Texas. “They’re really close to home, they love me and my family. I’m a big family person, as everybody knows.”
Broughton leaned heavily on the impact of his family – mainly his mother and grandmother – in making his decision, and the longstanding relationship his family members had with the Texas staff was critical in the Longhorns winning out. While schools like Texas A&M, Ohio State and Arkansas made strong impressions on Broughton during his official visits, Texas’ consistency throughout the course of Broughton’s recruitment was enough to tip the scales in the Longhorns’ favor.
The Cy Ridge standout was one of Texas’ most important recruits for a number of reasons, mostly his pure talent and the Longhorns’ need to sign the state’s premier defensive line prospect after missing out on Demarvin Leal in last year’s class. Texas’ recruiting pitch, led by Oscar Giles, was about developing Broughton on and off the field, playing close to home and having the ability to compete for playing time early in his career.
“Their message to me is they need me. If I work hard enough, they want to see me as a starter. They want to see me develop as a person and a man too,” Broughton said. “With Texas, my family can come down since it’s like two hours out. They have nice facilities and everything. I’m good with coach Giles, coach (Tom) Herman. Really cool with them.”
A four-star prospect, Broughton ranks No. 60 on the Rivals100 and is the No. 4-ranked player on the Lone Star Recruiting Top 100. He’s the top-ranked defensive prospect in the state by the LSR.
Broughton becomes the Longhorns’ ninth commitment of the 2020 class. After a fast start on the offensive side of the ball with six commitments, Texas has now landed three straight defensive commitments, with Broughton joining Kitan Crawford and Dorbah.
