Texas Football: 3 best players from the disappointing 2017 recruiting class

Best from 2017 Texas football recruiting class

Honorable mentions

The 2017 recruiting class had a lot of potential, but a lot of the signees from that group have since transferred from the Longhorns or are out of college football entirely. There’s also some that just missed the cut here that made a big and positive impact still.

Josh Thompson, Safety

The former four-star cornerback recruit Josh Thompson has played all over the place for the current defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chris Ash, as well as former defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, in his career to date. He was very versatile for the Longhorns secondary, he just ran into a lot of injury problems in his career so far.

Derek Kerstetter, Center/Guard

Likely the second best offensive linemen that offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator Herb Hand boasts this season is the senior former underrated three-star recruit Derek Kerstetter. The versatility and consistency that Kerstetter brought to the table the last few years for Texas was huge.

Gary Johnson, Linebacker

The lone big time JUCO signee from the Longhorns 2017 recruiting class, former four-star Dodge City C.C. linebacker product, Gary Johnson was really solid for this defense in 2017 and 2018. Johnson just didn’t get to stick around for as long as others on this list, thus not able to make as big of an impact.

Daniel Young, Running Back

The two big time running back signees from the Longhorns 2017 class, Daniel Young and Toneil Carter, have not lived up to the hype since their freshman campaigns. Carter transferred away from Texas after his first year on the Forty Acres, and Young sat out the 2020 season in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.