Texas Football: Coveted 4-Star OT Savion Byrd still considering the Horns

While they might be slipping, the 2021 Texas football recruiting class is still alive among the finalist schools for 4-Star OT Savion Byrd.

The results for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class in the trenches so far this cycle can’t have pleased the likes of fourth-year head coach Tom Herman and offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator Herb Hand. Texas missed out on a number of key offensive line targets, in what was a loaded class in the trenches in-state for the 2021 recruiting cycle.

The most notable misses for the Longhorns along the offensive line in their 2021 recruiting class thus far includes the highly touted Brockermeyer brothers, five-star Episcopal offensive guard Donovan Jackson, and four-star Foster offensive tackle Reuben Fatheree, among others.

This leaves the two most crucial offensive line targets of the 2021 class to be the elite four-star Duncanville offensive tackle Savion Byrd and four-star Katy-Taylor offensive guard Bryce Foster. The former of those two prospects did just name the Longhorns as one of his five finalist schools in an announcement on his Twitter timeline on the night of Nov. 13.

The other four finalist schools that Byrd named included the Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers, Auburn Tigers, and SMU Mustangs. This sizable 6-foot-5 and 295 pound OL hailing out of Duncanville, TX, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is keeping nearly all of his finalist schools pretty local to home.

Byrd cut more than 15 schools that offered him as of Nov. 13 by announcing his latest round of finalist cuts. Some of the more significant schools that offered him that he cut with this finalist news includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, Baylor Bears, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, Miami Hurricanes, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Oregon Ducks, Texas A&M Aggies, TCU Horned Frogs, and Texas Tech Red Raiders.

The 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions don’t look all too promising for the Longhorns to land a commitment from Byrd at this point in time. Oklahoma and SMU look to be the favorites among the 247Sports experts as of the afternoon of Nov. 14.

This doesn’t mean, though, that Texas should slow down in their pursuit of making headway with Byrd a little more than one month ahead of the Early Signing Period. Winning over the interests of a highly touted prospect like Byrd would do wonders for the momentum for Herman and the Longhorns on the recruiting trail.

Moreover, Byrd ranks as the nation’s No. 45 2021 high school prospect, No. 6 offensive tackle, and No. 8 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 75 high school prospect, No. 10 offensive tackle, and No. 12 prospect out of Texas.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 17 in the nation and holds steady in the second spot in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma. If they land a commitment from four-star Shadow Creek outside linebacker on the afternoon of Nov. 14, then they could move up in the national class rankings this weekend.