Texas Football: 3 takeaways from the 2020 recruiting cycle

2. Cornerback is difficult to recruit to the Forty Acres

If not for landing four-star John Tyler cornerback Kitan Crawford to the 2020 Texas football recruiting class, this position would be direly thin. Cornerback will be a position of need for the Longhorns 2021 recruiting class since it was still rather thin in 2020. The speedy and ball hawk of a defensive back is a nice get for the Longhorns.

Texas didn’t land anyone to add depth in the cornerback room in the 2020 recruiting class beyond Crawford. They missed out on the fast rising three-star Duncanville cornerback Ennis Rakestraw on National Signing Day. Rakestraw wound up giving his commitment to recently hired head coach Eliah Drinkwitz and the Mizzou Tigers on Feb. 5.

And maybe the most significant miss for the Longhorns for the 2020 recruiting cycle, five-star Saguaro cornerback Kelee Ringo, was a big detriment at the position. Ringo gave his commitment to another SEC East program, with head coach Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. Ringo finished up as a top five ranked 2020 prospect in the nation..

With Ash now taking over as the Longhorns defensive coordinator, they’ll really need to pick up the pace recruiting at the position to fill out the depth chart in their new scheme. Ash relies very heavily on lengthy and athletic corners that can hang on an island on the outside. And Crawford doesn’t tend to fit that mould. Ringo would be closer to what Texas is looking for in that regard, so is Rakestraw.