Texas Football: Impact 4-Star S Jerrin Thompson brings Longhorns

The 14th name added to the 2020 Texas football recruiting class is starting to round out the secondary haul, with 4-Star Lufkin, TX, native Jerrin Thompson.

A scorching July and beginning of August for the 2020 and 2021 Texas football recruiting classes kept on going on Aug. 11. Entering the middle of August, Texas football is getting on the right track with a commitment from four-star Lufkin safety Jerrin Thompson.

Good news arrived for head Texas football coach Tom Herman on the afternoon of Aug. 11, with Thompson committing to the 2020 recruiting class to bring the total number of names up to 14. Thompson picked Texas over offers from more than 15 other schools.

The Texas Longhorns football program is raking in the depth on the defensive side of the ball now for the 2020 recruiting class. Up until the beginning of the month of July, the 2020 class was mostly composed of talent at the skill positions and along the offensive line. Landing a highly touted prospect like Thompson is really pushing to shift that narrative.

Landing Thompson gives the Longhorns yet another top 200 ranked 2020 high school prospect in the nation for this class. He ranks as the No. 16 safety and the No. 32 prospect out of the state of Texas. He is also one of the initial defensive back commitments in the 2020 class. The only other true defensive back committed for 2020 right now is four-star cornerback Kitan Crawford.

Thompson dropped his commitment to play for the Longhorns on Aug. 11 with an interesting YouTube video that he linked on his Twitter timeline. He committed to Texas shortly after he received his official scholarship offer on July 23.

A big target of competing Big 12 programs like the Oklahoma State Cowboys and TCU Horned Frogs, this is a big win for Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando to win over the interests of Thompson. He had an official visit with head coach Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State on June 14 and with head coach Gary Patterson and TCU on May 3.

Other significant schools that sent Thompson offers that he passed up on included the Arkansas Razorbacks, LSU Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma Sooners, Penn State Nittany Lions, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Virginia Tech Hokies. Most of the 10 programs in the Big 12 had offered or at least scouted Thompson.

What Thompson brings to the table for the Texas secondary is a versatile and quick safety that reads the game very well. Thompson can blow up the play at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield or effectively command the defensive backfield by dropping back into pass coverage.

In the past two years with Lufkin High School, Thompson raked in five interceptions, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 185 total tackles, and 22 pass breakups. He’s a force to be reckoned with any way you look at his production and film.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2020 Texas football recruiting class ranks at No. 9 in the nation after landing Thompson and in the top spot in the Big 12. The defense is starting to build up in the 2020 recruiting class, now with two commitments to add to the secondary.