Texas Football: Top 2020 5-star LB Sav’ell Smalls includes Horns among top 12

Another list of finalists schools for a top tier 2020 Texas football recruit was dropped on Feb. 10, playing to the benefit of the Longhorns.

The finalist lists from prospects offered in the 2020 recruiting cycle from the Texas football program are starting to drop in bunches after National Signing Day 2019. In the case of the nation’s top five-star 2020 outside linebacker Sav’ell Smalls, it worked out in the benefit of the 2020 Texas football recruiting class.

However, this is the time of the 2020 recruiting cycle where head Texas football coach Tom Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando need to get in line who the most important targets are on this side of the ball. The defensive haul for Texas football from the 2019 signing class was good, but left a few positional needs open for the 2020 class.

One of the things that would be great for the Texas Longhorns to add on the recruiting trail for the 2020 class is an elite talent at linebacker. Texas football did get one Under-Armour All-America standout at linebacker for 2019, with four-star Westlake Village, CA, product De’Gabriel Floyd.

If Texas football continues on a good track with 2020 linebacker prospects like Smalls, it could wind up landing one of these five-star elite talents. Smalls would be about the best Texas football could get since he’s a top five 2020 high school prospect in the nation.

The top 12 finalists that Smalls dropped wasn’t too surprising of a list. He does hold 32 offers on one of the lengthier offer sheets of any 2020 high school prospect.

Some of the more notable schools that Smalls included in his top 12 included the Alabama Crimson Tide, Oklahoma Sooners, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Clemson Tigers. The top 12 was filled with some of the bigger blue blood programs that sent offers to Smalls already. Another notable school that was included in his top 12 offered him pretty late, the Texas A&M Aggies. Head coach Jimbo Fisher sent out an offer to Smalls on Jan. 22.

Some of the other notable programs that offered Smalls but weren’t included among his finalists are the Auburn Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Tennessee Volunteers, and USC Trojans. Small had pretty much every blue blood in the nation after him.

Texas football needs to continue to push hard for the commitment of Smalls. This 6-foot-3 and 220 pound elite linebacker prospect has the capability of making an instant impact wherever he lands, and could be a complete game changer for the Horns defense.

Smalls is a native of Seattle, WA, which is why he has a heavy presence of PAC-12 programs among his finalists. But, he has finalists from each of the Power Five conferences amidst his top 12. Landing in the Big 12 with the Horns would be huge for this program.