Texas Football: 4-Star WR includes OU, snubs Longhorns from finalists

A big target of the 2021 Texas football recruiting class, 4-Star Aledo WR JoJo Earle, shockingly cut the Longhorns from his five finalist schools.

One of the top uncommitted 2021 high school prospects at wide receiver that it seemed like the 2021 Texas football recruiting class was really prioritizing among the skill positions could now be off their board. Four-star Aledo wide receiver JoJo Earle didn’t announce his commitment decision prior to the Early Signing Period, and Texas looked to still be in play ahead of National Signing Day. But he still has ample time before the Early Signign Period hits for his recruiting cycle.

But when Earle announced his top five finalist schools on his Instagram on Jan. 11, the Texas Longhorns football program weren’t one of the teams mentioned. The five finalist schools that Earle did announce over the weekend included the rival Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers, TCU Horned Frogs, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Texas missing out on Earle while out-of-the-way schools like Ohio State and Alabama got in along with the Big 12 foe TCU is hard to deal with considering how much Texas would use a wide receiver like him in their 2020 recruiting class. Losing out on Earle isn’t an “end of the world” scenario for the Longhorns, but he definitely would’ve helped to round out the skill positions in the 2020 class.

Before he announced his five finalists, Earle was actually considered to have the Longhorns as one of his top landing spots. The 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions favored Texas over any other named school prior to the announcement of his finalist schools.

The lack of a presence of a wide receivers coach for Texas had to play a role in the decision of Earle to cut the Longhorns. Head coach Tom Herman either let go of completely or demoted each of his wide receiver coaches a little less than two months ago. Former Rivals Recruiter of the Year Drew Mehringer (now with the Florida Atlantic Owls) and Corby Meekins were solid on the recruiting trail, but are now in different roles.

If Herman can nab a wide receivers coach soon, it could go a long way to winning back over the interests of Earle. That has to be the most sought after position coach void for the Longhorns to fill at the moment.

However, this 5-foot-9 and 170 Aledo, TX, native ranks as the nation’s No. 86 2021 high school prospect and the No. 15 wide receiver. He also ranks well inside the top 20 ranked 2021 high school prospects out of the state of Texas.

Other significant schools that Earle cut from consideration among his finalists that offered him so far includes the Florida Gators, Michigan Wolverines, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas A&M Aggies, USC Trojans, and Washington Huskies. But the school that he cut from his finalists that has to be considered the most significant is Texas. The Longhorns weren’t the second school to sent him an official scholarship offer.

There’s still a lot of time left for the Longhorns to get back in the thick of things for the recruitment of Earle. There’s a lot of turnover on the Texas coaching staff right now, but that should stabilize as we get closer to the beginning of spring camp.