Texas Longhorns Recruiting: Defensive Players Still On the Board
National Signing Day is just one month away, and college football recruiting is reaching a fever pitch. With time running out and positions filling up, there are still some big names left on the board.
Recently, Hook’em Headlines looked at the offensive players that Charlie Strong is still recruiting, and today we will look at some of the defensive players that the Texas Longhorns recruiting machine is trying to bring on board.
The currently uncommitted recruit most likely to chose to play in Austin is Houston Lamar cornerback, Holton Hill, who also holds offers from Alabama, LSU, and Florida State, as well as many other top programs. Hill will make his official visit to Austin on January 16th, and many believe that the Longhorns are in very good standing to receive his commitment.
Texas Longhorns
Another defensive recruit to keep an eye on is Gilmer 4-star CB, Kris Boyd. It’s nearly impossible to predict what Boyd will do as he has been all over the map. It was believed that he was going to commit to the Longhorns on Christmas Day; instead, he postponed his announcement until late January, hoping to take more official visits. Though Boyd has spent a lot of time in Austin for camps and unofficial visits, he hasn’t yet taken his official to Austin.
Recently, four-star DB from North Carolina, Mark Fields, surprisingly listed Texas and Clemson as the only two schools that he is really considering after decommiting from South Carolina. He will make the trip to Austin on January 16th as well. Clemson is likely the team to beat here, especially considering he will take his official visit there the week following his trip to Austin, however, Texas is certainly still in play.
DeAndre Baker is another name watch for, though the CB from Miami, Florida is considered a solid verbal to Georgia. Regardless, Baker has a visit to Austin scheduled for January 23. He is believed to be a long shot for the Longhorns, but with the Florida Five hyped up about playing for together in Austin, one would think they would be after him pretty hard.
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Perhaps the most important defensive recruit the Horns are chasing is Texas A&M decommit, DT Daylon Mack. Mack decommitted from the Aggies the day after Malik Jefferson and Deandre Davis chose to play for Texas. Mack then went on to name LSU and TCU as his favorites, though he did say that Texas could still be a possibility as well. However, since the Aggies stole DC John Chavis from LSU, it is believed that the Aggies are back in the picture, and could even be the team to beat.
On the other hand, Mack seems to be pretty open recently about his interest in TCU. He does, however, have a visit set up to Austin on January 16, and word is that his friend Malik has been selling the Longhorns pretty hard. He will visit TCU the following weekend, just before signing day.
Though it seems that the Longhorns are behind in the race, if they were to land Mack, he and Jefferson would no doubt be the team’s top recruits. Obviously the Horns will be ok without him, but adding him to the stout defense that Charlie has assembled on the Forty Acres would almost be unfair.
The new regime at Texas certainly runs recruiting a lot differently than did Mack Brown and staff. At this point, Brown had already assembled his recruiting class, and there was very little excitement surrounding National Signing Day. Now, Charlie Strong has thrown out nets all across the country, and it’s been a while since it has garnered so much suspense and anticipation. It’s going to be a fun month for Texas fans.