Various needs still remain for head coach Tom Herman to still fill out in the 2021 Texas football recruiting class before December.
There’s not much time left for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class to put together what will soon enough be the finished product for this cycle. Texas is less than four months away from the beginning of the Early Signing Period, and less than six months away from National Signing Day. Granted that assumes that there’s no delays in store in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Texas has a long way to go before it’s able to round out this 2021 recruiting class. A few looming positional needs in this class makes the job for head coach Tom Herman and his staff far from over. As a whole, Herman did a pretty good job piecing together the 2021 class despite a topsy turvy 2020 offseason to say the very least.
In the 2021 class, Texas holds commitments from 17 prospects. There’s one five-star prospect committed in the 2021 class (Denton-Ryan product Ja’Tavion Sanders), and seven other four-star prospects. With the loss of Katy-Tompkins four-star dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe, who flipped to join head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide last month, Texas does have a bigger void to fill among the blue chip prospects at the top of this class.
According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 15 in the nation and remains behind the Oklahoma Sooners in the second spot in the Big 12. But Texas looks to be just one commitment away from topping the Sooners again in the Big 12 rankings.
Here’s a look into three more “can’t miss” prospects that the Longhorns should be zeroing in on for the 2021 class.
3) Can’t miss prospects for the 2021 Texas class: Camar Wheaton/LJ Johnson, Running Back
These two top tier remaining uncommitted prospects for the Longhorns 2021 class belong on the same slide. It’s hard to emphasize how big it would be for Texas to land a commitment from either one of them. But it’s very unlikely that the Longhorns would be able to reel in both of them. Either Oklahoma or the Texas A&M Aggies could snag away the other if the Longhorns land one of them.
The first up is the elite five-star Lakeview Centennial 5-foot-11 and 190 pound running back Camar Wheaton. This native of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the top ranked running back prospect in the nation for this cycle. If Texas were to land a commitment from him, it would be the second straight cycle they’ve landed the top ranked running back in the nation.
Wheaton ranks as the nation’s No. 18 2021 high school prospect, No. 1 running back, and No. 2 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). He even slots as a top 500 prospect of all-time on 247Sports. And Wheaton holds offers that should remain at the forefront of his recruitment from Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, etc.
Moreover, the other top tier running back prospect for this part of the list is the freight train of a 5-foot-10 and 205 pound Cy-Fair product LJ Johnson. This highly touted running back out of Cypress, TX, ranks as the nation’s No. 42 2021 high school prospect, No. 4 running back, and No. 7 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).
The 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions are currently leaning in Texas’ favor over the in-state rival Aggies to land the commitment of Johnson. Texas and Texas A&M should be the two programs that ultimately duke it out to land the pledge of Johnson.
2) Can’t miss prospects for the 2021 Texas class: Shemar Turner, Defensive End
For each of the last two recruiting cycles, the Longhorns did well to fill in at the defensive end position. Texas landed multiple blue chip prospects to fill out the defensive line in the 2020 signing class (I.E. Alfred Collins, Prince Dorbah, Vernon Broughton, etc). And that trend should only continue for the 2021 recruiting class.
Thus far in the Longhorns 2021 class, they’ve landed commitments from four-star Memorial weak-side defensive end Jordon Thomas, four-star New Caney weak-side defensive end/linebacker Derrick Harris Jr, and Sanders (who could potentially play at linebacker or defensive end).
But the Longhorns could definitely still add one more to this defensive line class before the Early Signing Period arrives. Potentially the biggest target they have remaining along the defensive line for this cycle is the talented four-star DeSoto strong-side defensive end Shemar Turner. This in-state 6-foot-3.5 and 285 pound defensive end has nearly 40 schools on his offer sheet and has a ton of national recognition to his name.
Turner holds offers from Texas, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah Washington, and Wisconsin. It will be difficult for the Longhorns to win out in the race to land Turner.
But if they can nab his pledge when it’s all said and done, they would be getting the nation’s No. 115 2021 high school prospect, No. 9 strong-side defensive end, and No. 21 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). The Top247 slots him as the nation’s No. 65 high school prospect, No. 6 strong-side defensive end, and No. 9 prospect out of Texas.
1) Can’t miss prospects for the 2021 Texas class: Terrence Cooks, Outside Linebacker
The linebacker position was fairly deep for the Longhorns in each of the last two signing classes, but there wasn’t many headliners that came their way. Texas had also lost a few linebackers to the NCAA Transfer Portal in the last two offseasons. This offseason, they lost former JUCO transfer Caleb Johnson and Juwan Mitchell at various points to the transfer portal.
At least they did get Mitchell back to the Forty Acres by the start of fall camp.
However, adding depth and key talent at the linebacker position should be a key focus for Herman and recently hired defensive coordinator Chris Ash before the Early Signing Period arrives. One spot they could look to find an answer at linebacker could be with three-star Shadow Creek outside linebacker Terrence Cooks.
https://twitter.com/ii_cooks/status/1288246998743887873
As of the evening of Sep. 1, Cooks holds offers from more than 35 schools. Some of the highlighting schools from his offer sheet are Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Duke, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, Mizzou, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Stanford, Texas Tech, Tennessee, USC, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Washington.
Cooks ranks as the nation’s No. 428 2021 high school prospect, No. 25 outside linebacker, and No. 63 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). He would add a potential second linebacker commit to the 2021 class alongside four-star Martin outside linebacker Morice Blackwell. The good news for the Longhorns is that Cooks did include them in his most recent round of finalist cuts, in his top six.