Texas Football: Rising 2021 DE Jordon Thomas snags Horns offer

A potentially special strong-side defensive end prospect for Texas football for the 2021 recruiting class received an offer over the weekend.

One of the most underrated prospects that could start gaining a lot of attention nationally after the National Signing Day 2019 this week also received an offer from the Texas football program on Feb. 2. That offer that went out for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class a few days back was to underrated Memorial High School and Port Arthur, TX, strong-side defensive end Jordon Thomas.

Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and head Texas football coach Tom Herman successfully keep bringing in talent to fill in the front seven and upgrade the pass rush for the past few recruiting cycles. Adding a player like Thomas could continue that lineage on the recruiting trail and spark things on the defensive side of the ball for the 2021 cycle.

As is true for most programs in the nation at this moment, the 2021 Texas football recruiting class doesn’t have a single commit yet. There’s only a handful of programs that have a 2021 commit in the first place. That should make the priority for Texas football launching the efforts to pull together a well-rounded 2021 class the theme for the 2019 off-season.

By the end of the 2019 off-season, there’s a good chance that the Texas Longhorns could have at least one commit in hand for the 2021 recruiting class. It’s important that there be some balance in this class too, which looks to be the case with the distribution of offers by position for this 2021 cycle thus far.

However, Thomas picked up his fourth offer on Feb. 2 from Texas football. The only other significant offer that popped up for Thomas so far came from the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Jan. 15. But, his offer sheet could start to grow rapidly as the 2019 off-season moves along.

Until his recruitment starts to get more attention nationally, Herman has his opportunity to get the interest of Thomas coming fully toward the Forty Acres. This is the type of job on the recruiting trail that is great to see from the Texas football coaching staff, to try and haul in underrated prospects like Thomas.

The impact that this 6-foot-3 and 245 pound defensive end could bring for Texas football is still inconclusive. Thomas is a good pass rusher that has electric speed off the edge. He racked up more than 30 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, and five sacks during his sophomore campaign with Memorial.

Yet, what could really set Thomas apart at the college level is his pursuit and run stopping ability. Thomas doesn’t seem to give up on any play and he is great at setting the edge when the defense needs to come up with a big run stop. This is the type of skill set that is special for a prospect that isn’t getting much recognition now, like Thomas.