Texas Football: 2021 class gets vital uplift with 4-Star LB Terrence Cooks

A potential momentum-shifting commitment arrived for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class on Nov. 14, with 4-Star OLB Terrence Cooks.

A highly anticipated commitment arrived for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class on the afternoon/evening of Nov. 14 to give this weekend a positive light to it. Fourth-year Texas head coach Tom Herman might be able to start reversing his momentum on the recruiting trail in the near future, and he got a nice boost this weekend. This momentum boost came from a commitment from the rising four-star Shadow Creek 6-foot-2 and 210 pound outside linebacker Terrence Cooks.

The Longhorns had a really rough run on the recruiting trail throughout the last month and a half. The last commitment Herman and the Longhorns landed prior to getting the pledge from the Pearland, TX, product Cooks came from three-star Strake Jesuit offensive tackle Max Merril back on Sep. 25.

This commitment from Cooks was announced at his high school on a live stream, and on his Twitter timeline on Nov. 14. He wound up picking the Longhorns over three other notable finalist schools. Those three other finalist schools were the Baylor Bears, Georgia Bulldogs, and LSU Tigers.

Cooks did have a lot of attention from blue bloods and top college football programs all over the country. He chose Texas over offers from a whopping 35 other schools. The other highlighting schools on his offer sheet (outside of the finalists already mentioned) were the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Oregon Ducks, Stanford Cardinal, Tennessee Volunteers, USC Trojans, and Texas A&M Aggies.

The latest offer that Cooks received prior to committing to Texas came from the LSU Tigers, back on Aug. 25.

What the Longhorns are getting out of Cooks is the nation’s No. 302 2021 high school prospect, No. 20 outside linebacker, and No. 46 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the No. 28 outside linebacker and No. 52 prospect out of Texas.

More specifically, the impact that Cooks will bring to the table for the Longhorns is a very versatile and athletic linebacker that can play in a number of different looks for defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Cooks is one of the faster linebacker targets that the Longhorns 2021 class offered, and his closing speed is tremendous.

Cooks is also a sure tackler that is able to read plays very well. There needs to be some size and strength that Cooks adds to his frame to get him more competitive on a consistent basis around the line of scrimmage, but that will come over time.

During the 2019 season with the Shadow Creek High School football program, Cooks registered 72 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles. He’s also having a stout 2020 season so far to round out his career at Shadow Creek.

Texas is now up to 18 commits in their 2021 class. Cooks adds their eighth four star commit to the mix, and they also have one five-star commit in the elite Denton-Ryan athlete Ja’Tavion Sanders. He’s also their second four-star outside linebacker commit in the 2021 class, now along with the Arlington-Martin product Morice Blackwell.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 17 in the nation and holds steady in the second spot in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma. Hopefully this commitment from Cooks brings more positive results for the 2021 class in the very near future for Herman and the Longhorns.