Texas Football: Impact 3-Star OLB Morice Blackwell brings for Longhorns

A nice depth addition to the 2021 Texas football recruiting class arrived on May 10 with a commitment from 3-Star Martin OLB Morice Blackwell.

Momentum keeps rolling for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class of late. Head coach Tom Herman and recently hired defensive coordinator Chris Ash got a big time commitment on May 10 from three-star Martin outside linebacker Morice Blackwell. Texas is now up to nine commits in their 2021 recruiting class. And this is the third commitment they’ve landed for the 2021 recruiting class in roughly the last two weeks.

It all started for the Texas Longhorns football program back on April 26, when the dry streak on the recruiting trail was broken by nabbing a commitment from three-star Atascocita tight end Landen King. Just a week after that, the Longhorns got one of their bigger pledges of the 2021 class by landing four-star Memorial weak-side defensive end Jordon Thomas (specifically on May 2).

Now the ninth commit in this class came from the 6-foot-1 and 196 pound Arlington, TX, native Blackwell. He is the second prospect in this class that plays at the outside linebacker position. The other is is highly touted 6-foot-3 and 215 pound four-star New Caney product Derrick Harris Jr.

On the morning of May 10, Blackwell announced his commitment to the Longhorns on his Twitter timeline, met with a raucous reaction from fans of this football program. He picked Texas over offers that he held from 13 other schools.

The highlights of the 13 other schools that were on Blackwell’s offer sheet were the Alabama Crimson Tide, Baylor Bears, Georgia Bulldogs, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Houston Cougars, and SMU Mustangs.

Blackwell had received two scholarship offers last month, coming from the Arkansas Razorbacks (April 16) and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (April 9). He had originally received his Texas offer back on Feb. 1.

However, the final 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction that was coming from just one expert had Blackwell committing to head coach Dave Aranda and Baylor over Texas. But that obviously didn’t come to fruition this weekend.

There was only one Rivals analyst or publisher that gave his pick on the FutureCast for Blackwell. That sole pick on Rivals did go to Texas.

What Texas is getting in Blackwell is the nation’s No. 498 2021 high school prospect, No. 32 outside linebacker, and No. 67 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). Rivals does rank him a bit lower, as the No. 80 prospect out of Texas. The sole 247Sports recruiting ranking for Blackwell had him out as the No. 35 outside linebacker, and No. 61 prospect out of Texas.

What Blackwell will be able to do for this Longhorns defense is command the field from the linebacker position with great range and quickness. His pursuit to the ball carrier is hard to match by any other three or four-star linebacker in this recruiting cycle. He’s a great athlete that is a sure-tackler.

An area where Blackwell will have to improve is his awareness in pass coverage and play deciphering at the line of scrimmage. Recognition and awareness are things that can take time for an outside linebacker that is just a rising senior in high school, though.

By his second or third year on campus, the Longhorns could already be looking at a quality starter in Blackwell. His immediate impact might not be felt as much in the linebacking corps as a commit like Harris Jr., but his long-term potential is very appealing.

During his 2019 season with Martin High School, Blackwell registered 128 total tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass breakups, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries (two of which were returned for touchdowns), and two interceptions. He also raked in three safeties and one interception returned for a touchdown during the 2018 campaign.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class is now back in the No. 12 slot in the nation. They are neck and neck with the Maryland Terrapins for the 12th and 13th spots in the national class rankings. But Texas is also within striking distance of the USC Trojans in the 11th spot.

Texas does still sit in the top spot in the Big 12 class rankings.