Texas Football Recruiting: 3 most important 2019 targets for February

The Early Signing Period closed out with the 2019 Texas football recruiting class ranking No. 9 in the national class rankings.

In April 2017, the NCAA ruled to reinstate an early signing period for college football recruits. It is a three-day period starting on the third Wednesday of December, which is also the early signing period for JUCO prospects. Texas football recruiting was immediately impacted by this newly instituted event each passing December.

Over the past two early signing periods, a good amount of recruits put pen to paper to officially sign with a university. For the 2018 Early Signing Period, 246 of the ESPN Top 300 signed their letter of intent, officially closing out their recruiting process.

The 2019 Texas football recruiting signed 21 of its 22 2019 recruits on Wednesday. The lone player to hold out was Houston product Javonne Shepard who committed to the Texas football recruiting class in July of 2018.

All of the Texas Longhorns 21 signees had already been committed to the University of Texas meaning they did not have any prospect pick their hat as a packed gym watched in angst. Texas football recruiting missed out on running backs Noah Cain and Trey Sanders who announced their commitments to Penn State and Alabama respectively on Wednesday.

With that being said, this Texas class has a ton of talent and currently ranks as the ninth best in the nation, according to 247Sports.

Head coach Tom Herman commented on the 21 signees, saying “these young men are the right fit for our program.”

In the early period the Horns signed nine offensive players and twelve defensive players.

On the offensive side, Herman secured four receivers and two tight ends as well as an elite quarterback and running back. They signed one offensive linemen, and still plan on having Shepherd on the 40 acres.

On the defensive side of the ball, Herman was able to sign four prospects at each level. However, all four defensive linemen project as ends, leaving a void in the middle.

Though this Texas football recruiting class is already one of the best in the nation and is filled with instant contributors, the coaching staff realizes the last month before the last signing day is crucial.

The Longhorns want to bring in some more help on the offensive line as well as a running back after whiffing on Cain and Sanders.

Lets take a look a at the three prospects the Texas staff should key in on over the next two months.