The 2021 Texas football recruiting class missed out on another big time target of theirs on April 26, with 4-Star WDE Landon Jackson committing to LSU.
Big hit after big hit to the 2021 Texas football recruiting class continued of late. During the novel coroanvirus pandemic, head coach Tom Herman had to get creative with how he would impress various 2021 and 2022 recruiting targets. But he hasn’t won over any commitments yet since the COVID-19 pandemic-induced recruiting in-person contact dead period began.
And with that aforementioned dead period set to last through May 31, the Texas Longhorns football program will have to be hoping for better results on the recruiting trail in the near future. But the Longhorns lost out on a big one on April 26, with the announcement that four-star Pleasant Grove weak-side defensive end Landon Jackson foregoing Texas in his commitment.
On April 26, Jackson dropped his highly anticipated commitment decision on his Twitter timeline. He would pick to take his talents to join head coach Ed Orgeron and the defending National Champion LSU Tigers over the likes of the Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide.
COMMITTED🟣🟡#GeauxTigers pic.twitter.com/y6I0Gx86ew
— Landon Jackson (@landonjackson40) April 26, 2020
Jackson held offers from 28 schools in total before announcing his commitment to LSU over the weekend. Outside of the aforementioned three schools, the highlights of Jackson’s offer sheet included the Baylor Bears, Florida State Seminoles, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Tennessee Volunteers, and Texas A&M Aggies.
Ranking as the nation’s No. 106 2021 high school prospect, No. 3 weak-side defensive end, and No. 19 prospect out of Texas, Jackson is a sizable loss for the Longhorns 2021 recruiting class. Jackson was a big time target for head coach Tom Herman and now defensive coordinator Chris Ash. And they lost out on the Texarkana, TX, native to an out of state program from the SEC.
Jackson is also the second recruiting loss to LSU in the last seven days for the Longhorns. Texas also lost out on four-star Aledo wide receiver JoJo Earle to LSU last week. Since the Longhorns are starting to miss out on a lot of four and five-star prospects for their 2021 class of late, hopefully this is a trend that soon reverses itself.
Texas is still clinging to a top 25 ranked 2021 recruiting class in the nation. Landing three-star tight end Landen King over the weekend does break a dry streak for the 2021 class that is a good sign for now.