Texas Football: Position-by-position grades for Horns 2021 signing class
Texas football 2021 position-by-position class grades
Running Back
The running back position was the biggest one of strength for Herman and the Longhorns in their 2020 recruiting class. Herman and running backs coach Stan Drayton were able to sign the nation’s top rated 2020 prospect at the position, the elite five-star Salpointe Catholic product Bijan Robinson.
The equivalent for the Longhorns in the 2021 class would be the highly coveted four-star Cy-Fair running back LJ Johnson. As it looks like Johnson is largely narrowing down his decision to Texas and the rival Texas A&M Aggies, his commitment decision will be one of the more highly anticipated for the rest of this recruiting cycle.
Moreover, the lone running back signee for the Longhorns, as of the first day of the Early Signing Period, is the underrated three-star Hallettsville product Jonathon Brooks. As one of the early signees in the Longhorns 2021 class on Dec. 16, Brooks was a nice get for Herman and his staff. Very few times could Texas land as impactful of a skill position commit as they’ll get starting next year out of Brooks.
Brooks ranks as the nation’s No. 420 2021 high school prospect, No. 23 running back, and No. 60 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the No. 25 running back and No. 70 prospect out of Texas.
There were just seven schools that sent Brooks a scholarship offer prior to him committing to Texas. Other highlighting schools on his offer sheet included the Colorado State Rams, Texas State Bobcats, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Louisiana Ragin Cajuns.