Recruiting Q&A – “We got no food, we got no jobs, our pets’ heads are falling off!”

Prediction on final class ranking

I’d love to sit here and confidently predict another top-five class, but with the recent losses on the recruiting trail, I’m not sure I can do that without feeling like a bit of an Orangebloods homer. It’ll still be a very good class and yes, it could very well wind up in the top five if Texas can close on some uncommitted guys or flip a guy or two, but the guess right now is top 10 rather than top five.

Linkon Cure (TE) is staying home in Kansas, but did Texas ever take a run at him? Also update Townsend.

Texas offered Linkon Cure but there was never really much interest on Cure’s part, which caused Texas to focus its efforts elsewhere.

Coming out of his Texas official visit, Nick Townsend actually told me that he still had Alabama and Texas A&M leading the pack, with Texas close behind. Alabama did pick up a tight end commitment since then, Texas A&M has Kiotti Armstrong committed and I’ve heard that Texas has made a strong impression both in terms of football opportunities and NIL opportunities. Put it all together and the Longhorns look pretty good ahead of next week’s announcement, but things can certainly change in a hurry in today’s recruiting world where things oftentimes aren’t settled until the last minute.

Which flips will dry our pants out in December?

There are a few guys we’ll be watching closely, including Dakorien Moore, Riley Pettijohn, Zion Williams, Myron Charles and Josiah Sharma. Most of those guys have recently committed so they’re still riding high with their current teams, but if there’s one thing we know with this staff it’s that it won’t throw in the towel.

Does losing Moore help with French and Lockett?

I haven’t talked to either Jaime Ffrench or Kaliq Lockett since Moore committed on Thursday but it certainly can’t hurt. I’ve been on record for a while saying Texas wouldn’t get all three, but I assumed it would be Moore and one of the other two. Texas has a shot to land both players but with Ffrench and Lockett not expected to announce until August, there’s still time for movement in both of those recruitments.

Question regarding all the weekend commitments … WTF???

It wasn’t exactly a banner week for Texas with a couple of key misses, but let’s not forget about two very nice additions for the Longhorns in Smith Orogbo and Kade Phillips. What can I say? I’m a glass-half-full type of guy.

I’ve read on OB that we are doomed and won’t successfully recruit so we might as well give up.

Is there anything I need to worry about or will Texas truly be fielding a team of walk-ons and cheerleaders?

All gas no players!

Would a team of (non-male) cheerleaders be the worst thing in the world? If it comes to that, just focus on the action on the field and not the scoreboard.

All 3 of the “big 3” wide receivers spurn us?

You all know I try to be a straight shooter and not blow smoke up your @$$ so I’m not going to say it’s not a possibility, but I’m certainly not expecting that. Schools like LSU and Miami are still threats for French, while programs like Alabama, Texas A&M and Florida State are still in it for Lockett. Could Texas swing and miss on both guys? It’s possible, but I don’t see that happening.

Next three commits will be?

Next three?!?!?! Usually the question is about the singular next commit!

Give me Jonathan Cunningham, Nick Townsend and I guess Kaliq Lockett since he has a date on the calendar (August 7), but I would fully expect a wildcard commitment to come in before Lockett announces.

More chance of flipping Lamont Rogers than Pettijohn?
Fasusi to Texas?

Lamont Rogers is more likely than Riley Pettijohn to flip his commitment, but as things stand right now it wouldn’t be Texas that I would predict as a landing spot for Rogers should he eventually flip.

Michael Fasusi has some news he’ll be releasing on Friday (it’s not expected to be a commitment). That one will come down to Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Right now, I wouldn’t call Texas the outright favorite but there are some moving parts in that one that could come into play if he continues to hold off on a commitment, including what other OL dominoes fall at the schools he’s considering. I’m still going with Fasusi to Texas, dammit, because the Longhorns can’t afford to lose him.

At this point Texas needs a big splash like being in the SEC title game to flip these top recruits.

I would sell that. Not to say it wouldn’t help, but I thought Texas would get a much bigger bump off of last year’s success but we haven’t seen that yep. Would a successful season help? You bet. Maybe it would confirm in recruits’ minds that last year wasn’t a one-hit wonder and Texas can have the same success in the SEC, but making it to a conference title game in December might be a little too late to flip most guys.

Which of the following commit to Texas:
Fasusi
Townsend
Sanders
Terry
Cunningham
Lockett

I feel like we need some positive updates, so can I just say “all of ‘em” and move on?

Objectively, I would think getting four of the six you listed would be a realistic goal, but that total could certainly go higher.

Nansen pursuing the Cali LB pushed Pettijohn away. Gave other schools ammunition to say – “he’s going to prefer and go get his guys out west”

Nah. We’ve heard that Nansen does really like Madden Faraimo, but that’s not what pushed Pettijohn to Ohio State. Two different styles of frames/players, by the way.

Who are some top in state WR prospects for 2026?
Do you think Texas has better luck with them than the 2025 group?

It’s not a top-heavy year at wide receiver in 2026, but the Longhorns have already offered a handful of guys, including London Smith, Brayden Robinson, Jalen Lott, Kaydon Finley and Jordan Clay, not to mention current commitment Chris Stewart. It remains to be seen how Texas will fare with most of those guys, but the Longhorns are in a strong early position with a couple of them, including London Smith.

Do we get Ffrench, Lockett and Fasusi?
Do we flip Moore and/or Pettijohn?

I’d put the odds of sweeping the three you mentioned at a little less than 50 percent, but it’s certainly doable.

As for flipping Dakorien Moore and/or Riley Pettijohn, both guys seem extremely happy with their decisions as of now. Let’s give those recruitments a couple of months and reevaluate things, but right now I’d lean towards both sticking with their current schools. If I had to pick one to flip, it would probably be Moore.

Is Schloss going to offer Jonah like aggy did to play both sports. Can’t believe we aren’t putting more heat o him considering our recruiting at his position. That seems to be the only reason aggy leads. Can play both sports

The previous Texas staff was recruiting Jonah Williams so it’s not like the baseball side of things at UT has been completely ignoring him. I’m sure he’d be a welcome addition by the new baseball staff and the football coaches have told him they encourage him to play both sports, but for whatever reason, Williams has just never felt like he’s been in love with Texas.

In Sunday’s buy or sell Ketch basically mentioned that Texas shouldn’t settle. I take that as you go swing for the fences on the big name recruits. I know we have new faces on the staff. But our offensive line coach is not one of them. We throw all these accolades out there about how great of a player developer he is and such. But when you look at who he has committed this go round it makes me wonder if he is settling. Is the room too full of lineman and these recruits see that and just don’t want to wait their turn. I know we are still in on some big names but why take what you’ve taken and not wait out?

Offensive linemen recruiting is tricky because you’re usually talking about bigger classes, so you have to take some guys who aren’t “bigger names.” You can’t just sit around and recruit nothing but Rivals100 guys. I actually like a couple of UT’s current takes, including John Mills, and Kyle Flood is one coach on the staff where I pretty much defer to his evaluations every single time.

With Brew committed and Anding leaning to LSU, where do we go from here with DB recruiting? Seems like the only realistic target right now is Tilmon.

You’re right that Nathan Tilmon feels like a guy that will be in this class. Honestly, I thought that one might have gotten done by now. There aren’t a ton of other options right now, but Texas does continue to work on guys like Auburn commitment Devin Williams and USC commitment Trestin Castro, although Castro seems to have solidified his USC pledge after his recent OV there.