Texas Football: 2021 ATH commit Ja’Tavion Sanders gets fifth-star

Big news dropped for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class this week that Denton-Ryan athlete Ja’Tavion Sanders got his fifth star.

Early in the 2021 recruiting cycle, there is ample reason to be excited about what’s to come on the Forty Acres this offseason. So far the 2021 Texas football recruiting class provided some fruitful results to build up a good group.

The highest rated commit of that group in the 2021 recruiting class for the Texas Longhorns football program thus far is the now five-star Denton-Ryan athlete/weak-side defensive Ja’Tavion Sanders. In the latest release of the “Top247”, Sanders slid pretty far up the national recruiting rankings up to the No. 21 rated 2021 high school prospect in the nation. He’s also rated as the top overall athlete.

Sanders ranks as a top three prospect out of the state of Texas with this latest update in the Top247.

This made quite the impact on the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings standing for the Longhorns too. Texas ranks as the No. 7 2021 recruiting class in the nation, and the top group in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners. The top three schools in the national class rankings overall are the Ohio State Buckeyes, Clemson Tigers, and Florida Gators, in that order from one-to-three.

Moreover, Texas got very close to having a second five-star commit in their 2021 recruiting class in this latest rankings adjustment. A teammate of Sanders’, four-star 5-foot-10 Denton-Ryan athlete/wide receiver Billy Bowman, now ranks as the nation’s No. 37 2021 high school prospect. Bowman is less than 10 slots away in the national recruiting rankings to earn that coveted fifth-star.

That dynamic duo of Bowman and Sanders is largely what is keeping the Longhorns in the top 10 of the national class rankings at the moment. Sanders is a staple to the class, just like five-star Salpointe Catholic running back Bijan Robinson was for 2020.

If Texas can pick up another five-star commit or two in their 2021 recruiting class, then it would be the most since the 2018 signing class. Quality over quantity is going to be the name of the game again for the Longhorns during the 2021 cycle.

Furthermore, other significant schools that offered the 6-foot-3.5 and 220 pound Denton, TX, native Sanders includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida, and the Texas A&M Aggies. About every major program you could think of in the area in proximity to the Forty Acres sent Sanders a scholarship offer so far.

Sanders committed to the Longhorns back on Sep. 8. His pledge came during the back end of the hot stretch that head coach Tom Herman found himself in the midst of entering the 2019 regular season. Sanders has since taken an unofficial visit with Texas, which came on Jan. 18.