Texas Football: Elite 5-star 2020 OLB Mekhail Sherman snags Horns offer

To win over some of his interest, Texas football would have to make a big run for 5-star 2020 OLB Mekhail Sherman in the coming months.

The 2020 Texas football recruiting class continue to put in some hard scouting work lately. Within just the past few days, including National Signing Day 2019, the 2020 and 2021 Texas football recruiting classes handed out nearly a dozen offers. These next two recruiting cycles are really starting to ramp up with the very highly touted signing class in the books for Texas football for 2019.

Digging deep to find some of the gems of each recruiting cycle to fit what Texas football is trying to do on both sides of the ball is important to pulling together well-rounded classes consistently.

Granted you don’t have to dig too deep among the 2020 high school prospects to find one of the best linebackers in the nation to send an offer to. Texas football did just that with five-star St. John’s College High School outside linebacker Mekhail Sherman, who received his offer on Feb. 8.

Texas football would be very lucky to get its hands on a commitment from a prospect the caliber of Sherman. For the past two recruiting cycles, the Texas Longhorns did well to recruit for the linebacking corps. But, none of the prospects Texas football hauled in for the past few cycles matches up to the national ranking of Sherman.

This native of the nation’s capital racked up more than 50 total tackles and 18 tackles for loss for SJC in 2018. He ranks as the nation’s No. 15 2020 high school prospect and the second best outside linebacker. His 247Sports Composite Ranking alone places him as the nation’s No. 5 2020 high school prospect.

The film shows that Sherman is worthy of the ranking as a top 15 or top 10 high school prospect in the nation. His speed and strength explodes off his highlights at you. Sherman likes to live in opposing backfields, which is evident from his 18 tackles for loss and seven sacks with SJC this past season.

Very rarely will the Horns get a chance to see a linebacker with the explosiveness, range, and sure-tackling ability of Sherman. He reads plays in the blink of an eye and blows up the backfield before the ball carrier even knows what’s coming. The lateral speed and ability to set the edge for Sherman is also something that the Texas coaching staff has to notice.

This is the special type of player that head Texas football coach Tom Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando should put everything into pursuing. This linebacker has the ideal skill set for what’s needed in the Orlando defensive scheme.

However, the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions give the indication that head coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes have the early edge in the pursuit of Sherman. Rivals FutureCast also gives the edge to Ohio State to land the pledge from Sherman early on in his recruitment.

At this point of his recruitment, Sherman holds way more than 30 offers including the one he received from the Texas football program. The highlights of his long offer sheet include the Clemson Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Penn State Nittany Lions, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, and Michigan Wolverines.

Name a bit time college football program, and it has probably sent an offer Sherman’s way. He has to be narrowing down his commitment decision sometime soon. If Texas can make a good late run to snag some of his interest, it could be a big factor for this program.