Texas Football: Impact of landing ex-Iowa St QB commit Charles Wright

The 2021 Texas football recruiting class made a nice recovery over the weekend by flipping 3-Star pro-style QB Charles Wright from Iowa State.

After losing the commitment of the talented four-star Katy Tompkins dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe in the 2021 Texas football recruiting class last week, head coach Tom Herman didn’t take too long to replace him. Texas managed to flip a hometown product, and three-star Austin High pro-style quarterback Charles Wright, from the Big 12 foe Iowa State Cyclones on Aug. 22.

This 6-foot-1 and 195 pound Austin, TX, native decommitted from Iowa State and flipped to Texas on the same day that he officially received his scholarship offer. The Longhorns got the announcement publicly from Wright on Saturday afternoon that he would be joining their 2021 recruiting class.

After that announcement on his Twitter timeline on Aug. 22, Wright became the 17th commit in the 2021 class. Texas was at 17 commits previously before Milroe flipped from the Longhorns to join up with head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

https://twitter.com/cwrightjr14/status/1297281622367248384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1297281622367248384%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.burntorangenation.com%2F2020%2F8%2F22%2F21397568%2Fcharles-wright-commits-flips-texas-longhorns-iowa-state-cyclones

Wright is also now the sole quarterback commit in the Longhorns 2021 class with Milroe now out of the mix. He chose to flip to Texas after he had originally committed to head coach Matt Campbell and the Iowa State football program back on Feb. 27, 2020. Wright received offers from Texas along with the Arkansas Razorbacks, NC State Wolfpack, and Louisiana Ragin-Cajuns since he committed to Iowa State roughly six months ago.

As far as Wright’s recruiting ranking is concerned, that shouldn’t be his calling card heading onto the Forty Acres. While he is the second-lowest rated commit (in terms of 247Sports Composite) in the Longhorns 2021 class, only ahead of three-star ProKick Academy punter Isaac Pearson, he does bring an intriguing fit to the table with newly hired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.

Other schools on Wright’s offer sheet, prior to flipping his commitment to Texas, were the North Texas Mean Green, Texas State Bobcats, and UTSA Roadrunners. He only had eight schools on his offer sheet on the day he announced his commitment to Texas.

Wright also had reported scout looks from the Rice Owls, SMU Mustangs, and TCU Horned Frogs. He ranks as the nation’s No. 1,128 2021 high school prospect, No. 39 pro-style quarterback, and No. 166 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). The Top247 ranks him as the No. 32 pro-style quarterback and No. 148 prospect out of Texas.

What the Longhorns are getting out of Wright is a local product that is very accurate and is sneaky athletic when need be. Although his arm strength is solid, it won’t leap off his film at you. He’s not insanely fast in the open field, but he can make plays with his legs and surprise some opposing pass rushers often when evading the pocket.

Wright completed around 56 percent of his more than 370 passing attempts with Austin High during his junior season, which went along with more than 2,500 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, 13 interceptions, more than 100 rushing yards, and one rushing score. For his career playing high school football, Wright has registered more than 5,700 passing yards, 65 total touchdowns, 290 rushing yards, and 21 interceptions.

This is a big get for the Longhorns to bounce back from losing the commitment of Milroe. The sequence of events for the Longhorns on the recruiting trail since landing the commitment from the nation’s top rated 2022 prospect, five-star Southlake Carroll pro-style quarterback Quinn Ewers, was pretty insane.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 15 in the nation and is now behind the Oklahoma Sooners for the second spot in the Big 12. But there is one ranking adjustment or a one blue chip commitment difference (maybe not even that big) between Texas and Oklahoma in the national class rankings.

Texas has roughly four months left until the Early Signing Period, and the 2021 recruiting class is starting to round out. They likely won’t need to add a second quarterback commit in the 2021 class, since they already have the pledge from Ewers for 2022.