Texas Football: 2020 4-star OT Chris Morris gaining Horns interest?

Can the 2020 Texas football recruiting class get off to a fast start adding offensive linemen by hauling in four-star Chris Morris soon?

With National Signing Day about to close out the 2019 recruiting cycle for this class for Texas football, the attention afforded to the 2020 group of prospects is growing. This 2020 Texas football recruiting class is going to get a ton of attention if it can fill the positional needs left open by the 2019 recruiting cycle.

The excitement for what second-year co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Herb Hand would get from adding a few key linemen to this 2020 Texas football recruiting class would be immeasurable. Hand did a great job with what he had to work with starting last off-season and during the 2018 season.

Now, he could have the ability to pursue an important and skilled 2020 four-star Freedom Prep Academy and Memphis, TN, offensive tackle Chris Morris. This 6-foot-4 and 290 pound offensive tackle has an enormous offer sheet already, which is why he was able to narrow down his top 12 finalists schools so quickly. Texas football was part of Morris’ top 12.

As of Jan. 23, Texas football was going to be lacking for offensive line depth heading into the future. Only two of the three offensive line commits in the 2019 Texas football recruiting class have signed their National Letter of Intent. That leaves the possibility of one flipping to a program like the rival Texas A&M Aggies.

For that reason, among others, the Texas Longhorns need to put emphasis on 2020 offensive lineman like Morris in the next few months. Texas football got one step closer to helping fill that need for the 2020 recruiting cycle since Morris put them as one of his two Big 12 finalists among the 12 in total.

Some of the other significant programs included in Morris’ top 12 were the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, and Texas A&M. The only Big 12 school that offered Morris that was excluded among his finalists were the Iowa State Cyclones. Morris only kept the blue bloods from the Big 12 that had interest in him among his finalists.

https://twitter.com/ChrisMo75901/status/1085613233531219979

According to the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions, Morris is favored to land with head coach Chad Morris and the Razorbacks. There’s only two Crystal Ball Predictions published thus far, but Arkansas made a big push for some Texas football recruiting targets of late.

Whoever does land Morris will be getting a very athletic offensive tackle with one of the higher ceilings of any at his position in this recruiting cycle. Morris ranks as the nation’s No. 119 2020 high school prospect and the 16th best offensive tackle. He’s also the seventh highest ranked high school prospect out of the state of Tennessee. The state of Tennessee has a loaded group of high school prospects for the 2020 recruiting cycle.

As a native out of the city of Memphis is the western part of Tennessee, Morris hails from the thick of SEC recruiting territory. It’s no wonder that seven of his 12 finalist programs are from the SEC. Most recruiting sites favor Morris early to land with an SEC school.

Rivals FutureCast favors Morris to also land with the Razorbacks. The Rivals FanFutureCast gives the edge to the in-state blue blood Tennessee Volunteers. And, Rivals is very high on Morris as that site ranks him as the nation’s fifth best offensive tackle and the No. 33 2020 high school prospect overall.

The most recent listed visit that Morris took was to College Station with Texas A&M, on Nov. 24. The interest seems to be there for Morris with the two biggest programs in the state of Texas. Arkansas also hosted him on an unofficial visit back in October 2018. The offer from Texas football for Morris came back in April 2018. More significant events in his recruitment are sure to pop up soon with this announcement of his finalist schools.