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Texas Recruiting Notes 2024: Bags Don't Beat Bankrolls

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MuellerHorn

MuellerHorn 4256

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247 Recruiting Stampede:

Notes on 2023 and 2024

Spoiler

The Stampede: Wrapping up 2023, updates on several 2024 targets

The 2023 cycle is still hanging around for Texas.

Two players on the board are undecided but we should get word on at least one of them this week. The Longhorns brought Red Oak defensive back Warren Roberson in for a last-minute official visit and all that is left is his official announcement. While the weather in Dallas wrecked any chance of that last week, we should see some finality this week.

Over the weekend Horns247 was in attendance at Pylon 7v7’s tournament in Desoto. While we were there, we caught up with a source regarding Roberson and spoke to quite a few 2024 prospects playing at the event.

In this week’s edition of The Stampede, Horns247’s weekly gathering of recruiting intel, we share the latest with Roberson and provide updates on several 2024 targets on the Texas board.

Decision time for Warren Roberson

Murphy’s Law is a timeless adage that boils down to the phrase, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” In many ways Murphy’s Law showed up on the recruiting scene last week. What was thought to originally be a light winter storm in Dallas-Fort Worth turned into a nearly week long affair shutting down schools and stopping Warren Roberson from making the public announcement he wanted to make. We thought that Friday might provide him that opportunity but he’s pushed it to this week with an eye on Tuesday.

Late in the week, we heard that TCU and USC were still holding some confidence and Roberson had a bit of a wildcard factor to him. That said, we had two strong sources indicating heavy confidence in Texas. Over the weekend, we connected with a third source who echoed what the first two told us.

The bottom line is, we should get an answer this week and we expect Roberson to officially be a part of the Texas class. While there’s always a little bit of uncertainty with recruitments like these, we are as certain as we can be that the Longhorns were able to do enough to finish on top.

Texas standing out with 2024 defensive backs

We’d expect the defensive back position to be an area of focus in 2024, and Texas is already doing well with a couple of targets in the class.

Four-star Bradenton (FL.) IMG Academy defensive back Jordon Johnson-Rubell spoke with Horns247 over the weekend while in Dallas to play in a 7v7 tournament, and the Longhorns have been able to make a strong impression.

Johnson-Rubell told us that Texas is hitting a lot of the right buttons and showing him he’s a priority. He liked what he saw from the defense last year and loved the way the Longhorns showed up against teams like Alabama.

He also mentioned that Blake Gideon came out to Florida to see him twice during the contact period in January which was a huge indication of where he stood. Texas is pitching Johnson-Rubell as a nickel in the same mold as Jahdae Barron. Johnson-Rubell mentioned that he loved the way they used Barron in the defense and felt he could make a similar impact at the college level.

Johnson-Rubell is looking at making a decision in the summer or possibly the early fall. He’s sorting out his official visits but he thinks that Texas will get one as of now. The Longhorns seem to be near the top of the pack for him along with USC and Ohio State along with a few other programs.

2024 Duncanville safety Ka’Davion Dotson has been on the radar since last year when he earned an offer in January. At times during the fall, Dotson said he wasn’t sure where he stood with Texas, but that changed during January when multiple members of the Texas staff dropped by his school during the contact period. At that time, they told Dotson he was a priority for them at defensive back.

Dotson didn’t make it to any Junior Days because he played in several 7v7 tournaments, but he’s looking forward to making some visits during the spring. LSU, Arkansas and Miami are a few schools making a strong push and I’d expect Arizona State to be a presence with Ra’Shaad Samples on staff. I think LSU is the most dangerous program at the moment. The Tigers have done a great job with Dotson and his teammate Colin Simmons.

Speaking of Simmons, I ran into him over the weekend at the same tournament but he said he doesn’t really want to talk about recruiting at the moment. Simmons is coming off of a recent Georgia visit and the Bulldogs seemed to make a big impression on that trip. Texas needs to get him back on campus in the spring and see where they are at, but I think he’s likely headed out of the state.

The Longhorns are also making a big push with Trophy Club Byron Nelson safety David Kabongo. I spoke to Kabongo over the weekend and he said that Texas is coming on strong early on. Oklahoma State is another school making a push, but Texas offered early and they’ve been recruiting him hard with both Jeff Choate and Blake Gideon on the case. Kabongo said that Oklahoma State is another school he’s interested to see but I think Texas is an early leader in this recruitment. While he’s looking to make a summer decision, I expect for the Longhorns to make a big push this spring to try and land him.

Two prospects who should have a strong rise this spring

The spring will provide an opportunity to see some new names rise to the top in the state of Texas. I saw two possible candidates over the weekend at Pylon 7v7 in Dallas.

Desoto linebacker Brandon Booker is a player I loved during the season. The 2024 prospect is up to 12 offers with programs like Florida State, Texas A&M and Arkansas recently jumping in. In 2022, Booker was a machine accumulating 137 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss in Desoto’s run to a 6A-II state championship. A long and rangy linebacker with coverage ability, Booker’s film is violent and impressive.

Texas has yet to contact him, but that could be because of the numbers they took at the linebacker position in 2023. Texas has a linebacker board in place right now and should be rather selective given what they just signed, but Booker is a guy who should be in the mix for quite a few top programs in the country.

A couple of weeks ago, Hudson sent me film of Lake Dallas wide receiver Keonde Henry. Henry is seeing a little bit of activity as of late with North Texas, Colorado State, Texas State, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt and Tulsa all jumping in on him in the last year. Last spring, Henry competed in track and field running the 400 meters with a personal best of 49.46. He’s a big and fluid athlete who shows some polish in his route running and ball skills to go along with it. I’d expect his stock to rise this spring after camps, 7v7 and the spring evaluation period.

 

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RGBIII
RGBIII

Finally can tell my aggy story.    Have a good insight into this kids recruitment and I’m still laughing about his visit to aggy. Dude gets his player host (I’ll let y’all find who that is) and

closetojumping
closetojumping

How do you think this is helpful? Not being a jerk, just asking y'all to keep your shit together and use common sense. In any event, I know for a fact that nothing ever happens with Texas until a

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closetojumping

He could have if he isn't. Play devil's advocate and tell us why you feel about this guy's overall approach to his recruitment and how that either translates to the next level or doesn't matter.

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TheContractor

TheContractor 70

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On 2/4/2023 at 10:16 PM, Hornlover said:

Interested to see what our top targets are going to be for 2024, and how many we'll take at each position. Here's some early wild-ass guesses:

QB (1) Trey Owens

RB(2) Jerrick Gibson, James Peoples, Jeremy Payne, Taylor Tatum

WR(3) Aeryn Hampton, Micah Hudson, Bryant Wesco, Parker Livingstone, GeKyle Baker, Freddie Dubose Jr

TE (1) ???

OL (4) Daniel Cruz, Michael Uini, Ory Williams, Blake Ivy, Blake Frazier, Collin Cubberly, Nate Kibble, DeAndre Carter

DL (4) Alex January, Nigel Smith II, ummm... Some Bo Davis guys from AL, MS, or GA(hopefully 2-3)

Edge (3) Collin Simmons, Zina Umeozulu, Elijah Rushing, Dakyus Brinkley, Caleb Mitchell

LB (3) Justin Williams, Payton Pierce, Aaron Chiles, Tyanthony Smith

CB (3) Jaden Allen, Kobe Black, Eli Bowen? , ??? 

S (3) Corian Gipson, Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Ka'Davion Dotson, Myles Davis, Landyn Cleveland, Braylon Conley

ATH (1) Hunter Moddon

 

 

We're probably not gonna take 28. 

Who else do we have at the top of our board with a realistic chance at signing?

 

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Hornlover

Hornlover 8830

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38 minutes ago, TheContractor said:

QB (1) Trey Owens

RB(2) Jerrick Gibson, James Peoples, Jeremy Payne, Taylor Tatum

WR(3) Aeryn Hampton, Micah Hudson, Bryant Wesco, Parker Livingstone, GeKyle Baker, Freddie Dubose Jr

TE (1) ???

OL (4) Daniel Cruz, Michael Uini, Ory Williams, Blake Ivy, Blake Frazier, Collin Cubberly, Nate Kibble, DeAndre Carter

DL (4) Alex January, Nigel Smith II, ummm... Some Bo Davis guys from AL, MS, or GA(hopefully 2-3)

Edge (3) Collin Simmons, Zina Umeozulu, Elijah Rushing, Dakyus Brinkley, Caleb Mitchell

LB (3) Justin Williams, Payton Pierce, Aaron Chiles, Tyanthony Smith

CB (3) Jaden Allen, Kobe Black, Eli Bowen? , ??? 

S (3) Corian Gipson, Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Ka'Davion Dotson, Myles Davis, Landyn Cleveland, Braylon Conley

ATH (1) Hunter Moddon

That's 25.

Seems a pretty reasonable bet. Maybe we don't take as many LBs, if the Stampede is to be believed. I could also see us taking fewer OL, and maybe only 1 RB.

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TheContractor

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1 hour ago, Hornlover said:

That's 25.

Seems a pretty reasonable bet. Maybe we don't take as many LBs, if the Stampede is to be believed. I could also see us taking fewer OL, and maybe only 1 RB.

We can take 1 less WR or maybe OL but we need 2 RBs for sure in 2024. We also need 3 inside DTs. maybe 2 HS DTs and 2 portals. Sweat, Broughton, Collins could all go. Is Ross going to be big enough and/or good enough? 

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Hornlover

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3 hours ago, texifornia said:

Two Texas offers

https://247sports.com/player/joseph-jonah-ajonye-46129735/
https://247sports.com/player/justin-williams-46113777/

I'd be very pleased if we could get Justin Williams in this class. His highlights are exactly what you want to see in a LB prospect. He's got the speed, a good-sized frame to add plenty of weight, great instincts, and sure tackling.  

http://www.hudl.com/video/3/14314312/6321ebc290ef590e2ca27189

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11521

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9 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

I'd be very pleased if we could get Justin Williams in this class. His highlights are exactly what you want to see in a LB prospect. He's got the speed, a good-sized frame to add plenty of weight, great instincts, and sure tackling.  

http://www.hudl.com/video/3/14314312/6321ebc290ef590e2ca27189

You'd be pleased if a top-10 player in the state at a position of need was in our class? Really going out on a ledge there. 

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Vertigo

Vertigo 20290

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26 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:



Is my impression that we stand a good chance of getting the top three and four of the top six correct?

Colin Simmons is a guy that Georgia has it's hooks in pretty deep already. That one will be a fight through signing day. 

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texifornia

texifornia 56982

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6 minutes ago, NoName said:

interested to see what happens with him, dude has a weird offer list for someone who is ranked as the #153 composite player in the country? not sure what that's about

Given that someone upthread said his brother goes to OU, I wonder if some schools just aren't bothering with taking the shot.

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texifornia

texifornia 56982

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2 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Is this a surprise?  Seemed he liked Texas more than aggy.

 

Screenshot_20230209_160349_Chrome.jpg

It's a 6 from Perroni. Unless he did a writeup alongside it with a timeline or some quotes about loving small town life or poultry sciences it usually just means the prospect had a nice visit and he wants to throw his subscribers a bone.

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Getafix

Getafix 28674

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7 hours ago, texifornia said:

It's a 6 from Perroni. Unless he did a writeup alongside it with a timeline or some quotes about loving small town life or poultry sciences it usually just means the prospect had a nice visit and he wants to throw his subscribers a bone.

 

 

Perroni:

image.thumb.png.7d7be75b55340a25f2bf4550166554e9.png

 

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campcrunk

campcrunk 2484

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On 2/8/2023 at 2:27 PM, Ricky's one-hitter said:

Zina wants to be a top priority and he's.....not. So much like his brother, I'll be pleasantly surprised if. 

Please feel free to neg away if I'm out to lunch here but am I the only one that sees Zina's highlights and thinks "he just doesn't look like anything special?" Maybe there's a lot of untapped potential there but his highlight tape, which is supposed to be the best of his absolute best plays, just doesn't look all that impressive to me

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Ricky's one-hitter

Ricky's one-hitter 9116

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7 hours ago, campcrunk said:

Please feel free to neg away if I'm out to lunch here but am I the only one that sees Zina's highlights and thinks "he just doesn't look like anything special?" Maybe there's a lot of untapped potential there but his highlight tape, which is supposed to be the best of his absolute best plays, just doesn't look all that impressive to me

He's a longer, taller Prince Dorbah frame, but without the quickness. While Zina may be able to put on weight easier, he's probably 20lbs lighter than you'd like at this stage. The length is what separates him from your average tweener, but to your point, his hudl is like watching whatdoidowithmyhands.gif

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Getafix

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The Huddle: Friday Recruiting notes

Hudson Standish

Some pretty positive stuff on RBs.

(Texas is in a great spot for both Gibson and Peoples at the moment and are also hanging towards the top contending group for fellow top 100 back in Longview's Taylor Tatum. With Peoples specifically though it starts with the relationship with Choice, but the recent experience with Bijan Robinson was also an eye-opener. Peoples told me last summer that Bijan Robinson was the running back he looked up to most, so after the visit concluded he was over the moon about the experience. I think it's too early for a crystal ball for Peoples at the moment, but as of now I think Texas is the team to beat moving forward.)

 

Spoiler

 

The Huddle: Friday Recruiting notes

Hudson Standish

Yesterday San Antonio Veterans Memorial 2024 running back James Peoples released a top six of Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon, and TCU. The No. 6 running back in the country according to 247Sports and 5-foot-10, 192-pounder Peoples is coming off a terrific junior season where he rushed for 1,904 yards and 28 touchdowns for Vets Memorial on a deep playoff run and recently visited Texas for January's Junior Day.

Peoples gave this quote to to 247Sports' Steve Wiltfong detailing why the Longhorns made his cut to six schools.

“The coaching staff is awesome and they are really close to home!” Peoples said. “Me and Coach Choice got a get after it relationship. He is that Coach who bring the energy every single time you see him! All about putting in that work and I love that about him, he keeps it 100 and you can keep it real with him! Whenever we talk he talks about how to handle my business. Him being a former successful back in the league, he gives me the ins and outs on how to be great not only as a football player but human being at any level!”

In the fall I mentioned that Peoples was viewed as a perfect compliment to IMG Academy's Jerrick Gibson and one of the more encouraging signs from Texas Junior Day was that Tashard Choice handled having multiple elite backs on campus at the same time perfectly.

Texas is in a great spot for both Gibson and Peoples at the moment and are also hanging towards the top contending group for fellow top 100 back in Longview's Taylor Tatum. With Peoples specifically though it starts with the relationship with Choice, but the recent experience with Bijan Robinson was also an eye-opener. Peoples told me last summer that Bijan Robinson was the running back he looked up to most, so after the visit concluded he was over the moon about the experience. I think it's too early for a crystal ball for Peoples at the moment, but as of now I think Texas is the team to beat moving forward.

— Texas offered a pair of 2025 in-state prospects this week in Galveston Ball ATH Jonah Williams and Bellville defensive lineman DJ Sanders. Williams burst onto the scene after a standout All-American combine performance in San Antonio this January and quickly visited Texas afterwards where he enjoyed his time in Austin.

Sanders on the other hand hasn't recently visited Texas to my knowledge, however the 6-foot-3, 290-pounder has been on the Texas radar for a long time after a standout freshman and sophomore campaign for the Brahmas. Sanders reminds me a bit of current Texas Longhorn Jaray Bledsoe with his bouncy athleticism and quick first step at nearly 300 pounds.

— A prospect that caught my eye recently, but isn't on the Texas radar yet is NFL Academy (London, England) 2024 EDGE Emmanuel Okoye. I've previously written about my fascination with international prospects and the growing rate of recruits being signed to D1 programs from across the pond. During the 2023 cycle there were 18 signees from the NFL Academy and international recruiting service PPI recruits combined.

Okoye might be the most physically gifted prospect that I've watched in my short time following international recruiting and has a ridiculous frame at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds with a 42-inch vertical and 83-inch wingspan but has only played a few games of American Football. Originally a basketball prospect from Nigeria, Okoye was specifically recruited to the NFL Academy by former NFL defensive end and Londoner Osi Umenyiora.

I attached a few clips below highlighting Okoye's lighting-quick first step and ridiculous explosive ability. UTSA and Vanderbilt were the first two schools to extend offers but I suspect once he tours the US camp circuit over the Summer his recruitment will truly take off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39934

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41 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Colin Simmons reacts to the Texas ---> SEC news:


 




 

That is a huge deal. Now the 2024 class knows 100% their entire career, if they choose Texas, will be in the SEC. I think this will increase talent at the bottom of the class more than the absolute top.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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Horn Under a Bad Sign

Horn Under a Bad Sign 20402

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37 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

That is a huge deal. Now the 2024 class knows 100% their entire career, if they choose Texas, will be in the SEC. I think this will increase talent at the bottom of the class more than the absolute top.


Colin's tweet certainly can't be a bad sign!

 

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Hookem2147

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IT

‘24 Onley (MD) Good Counsel EDGE Darien Mayo picked up a Texas offer a few weeks ago. Now, he’s set his first unofficial visit to Austin on April 3rd.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound rising prospect will see Michigan on March 18th, Texas on April 3rd, and Ohio State in late April.

https://www.on3.com/db/darien-mayo-154709/

http://www.hudl.com/v/2JuVd4

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HenryJames

HenryJames 66082

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2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

IT

‘24 Onley (MD) Good Counsel EDGE Darien Mayo picked up a Texas offer a few weeks ago. Now, he’s set his first unofficial visit to Austin on April 3rd.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound rising prospect will see Michigan on March 18th, Texas on April 3rd, and Ohio State in late April.

https://www.on3.com/db/darien-mayo-154709/

http://www.hudl.com/v/2JuVd4

image.jpeg.1d8d373c934e2e5ee2d4a9876ef79a58.jpeg

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Elmer_Fudd

Elmer_Fudd 22265

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On 2/8/2023 at 1:08 PM, Vertigo said:

Colin Simmons is a guy that Georgia has it's hooks in pretty deep already. That one will be a fight through signing day. 

 

On 2/8/2023 at 1:15 PM, Codaxx said:

unfortunately, he is the #1 priority/need for Texas

 

On 2/10/2023 at 12:23 PM, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

Colin Simmons reacts to the Texas ---> SEC news:


 




 

He recently did an interview with Chad Simmons from On3.  Went to Tigerdroppings recruiting board and some of the insiders on that board have acknowledged what CTJ said about this being an NIL recruitment.  He also has a brother with autism that he wants to provide whatever he can for.

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BurntOrange&White

BurntOrange&White 39934

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9 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

 

 

He recently did an interview with Chad Simmons from On3.  Went to Tigerdroppings recruiting board and some of the insiders on that board have acknowledged what CTJ said about this being an NIL recruitment.  He also has a brother with autism that he wants to provide whatever he can for.

Worth it. He’s elite and what a championship caliber team needs. 

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Bevo14

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1 hour ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

 

 

He recently did an interview with Chad Simmons from On3.  Went to Tigerdroppings recruiting board and some of the insiders on that board have acknowledged what CTJ said about this being an NIL recruitment.  He also has a brother with autism that he wants to provide whatever he can for.

sounds like a good kid

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