Texas Football: 4-Star CB target Isaiah Dunson picks Miami over Longhorns

A key remaining target of the 2020 Texas football recruiting class announced his commitment on Jan. 19, and it wasn’t to the Longhorns.

Battles for top prospects that received scholarship offers from the 2020 Texas football recruiting class are starting to come right down to the wire. Head coach Tom Herman has a few spots remaining in his 2020 recruiting class ahead of National Signing Day. But he’ll have to pick from a limited crop of uncommitted 2020 high school prospects.

The institution of the Early Signing Period around two months before National Signing Day definitely limits the importance. Most of the nation’s best high school prospects will announce their various commitment decisions and sign their National Letter of Intent prior to National Signing Day at this point.

The limited selection of uncommitted prospects left by now doesn’t mean that the Texas Longhorns football program can’t round out their 2020 recruiting class with an exclamation point. Texas still has the chance to reel in a top 10 ranked 2020 recruiting class by the end of National Signing Day next month.

One key prospect that the Longhorns did lose out on Jan. 19 is the 6-foot-2 and 180 pound Tucker four-star cornerback Isaiah Dunson. The school that Dunson committed to over the weekend was the Miami Hurricanes, who had an up and down 2019 season so say the very least.

Former Texas defensive coordinator, and Miami head coach, Manny Diaz is succeeding more on the recruiting trail at the moment than he is on the gridiron. The Hurricanes had a rough end to their 2019 season, by falling short against head coach Skip Holtz and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in shutout fashion in their bowl game.

Miami’s bowl result didn’t phase Dunson before he announced his commitment to the school. But he has yet to sign his letter of intent. So if the Longhorns are going to make a big late run to sway him away from the Canes, then he could technically still flip. That thought should be about the last thing on the minds of the Longhorns’ coaching staff right now.

Furthermore, Dunson ranks as the nation’s No. 322 2020 high school prospect and the No. 22 cornerback. He would be a nice boost to the Texas 2020 recruiting class in the defensive backfield, but losing his commitment doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world in Austin.

Texas did sign a much higher ranked cornerback than Dunson in their class. Depth could be a problem if Texas doesn’t add at least one more cornerback ahead of National Signing Day. And hitting the NCAA Transfer Portal shouldn’t be the answer.

There’s still a couple remaining uncommitted 2020 high school prospects that Texas could go after at cornerback. The fast rising three-star Duncanville product Ennis Rakestraw is a big name that comes to mind.