Texas Football: Could Evan Stewart be the next Devin Duvernay?

Potentially two of the most highly rated commits in the 2022 Texas football recruiting class when it’s all said and done for this cycle could now be in the mix heading into the weekend. Newly hired Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has landed commitments from two elite skill position players in just the past 10 days.

One of those huge 2022 Texas commits came from the elite five-star Junipero Serra pro-style quarterback Maalik Murphy. And then the other, which arrived recently on the night of Feb. 18, came from the uber-talented four-star 6-foot and 175 pound Frisco-Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart.

Landing a commitment from a very agile and elusive in-state product like Stewart brings back reminders of what the Longhorns got from a wideout like their former star Devin Duvernay a couple of years back. In fact there are comparisons between Duvernay and Stewart that are really quite similar.

Stewart ranks as the nation’s No. 40 2022 high school prospect, No. 5 wide receiver, and No. 8 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 36 high school prospect, No. 6 wide receiver, and No. 9 prospect out of Texas.

Meanwhile, when Duvernay signed with the Longhorns as a crucial part of their 2016 recruiting class, he was an elite blue chip wide receiver prospect too. He ranked as the nation’s No. 37 2016 high school prospect, No. 5 wide receiver, and No. 4 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

Comparing the former Texas football WR to Stewart

Duvernay was known as a very slippery and elusive playmaker that could make an impact on multiple sides of the ball coming out of Sachse High School during the 2016 recruiting cycle. The difference between Duvernay and Stewart namely as high school prospects is the way that the former of those two was an established special teams threat and could make an impact in the ground game.

While Stewart has a similar wideout profile to that of Duvernay, most of those similarities come in the passing game. Stewart tends to work best out of the slot or as a deep threat, just like Duvernay. And Stewart is a versatile receiver that can help out in the blocking game when needed. That is similar to how Duvernay was in the later years of his college career.

Moreover, just the raw speed that Duvernay and Stewart bring to the table make them potent at their size. Duvernay was a bit bigger coming out of high school in terms of weight (20 pounds heavier than Stewart). But both Duvernay and Stewart are ones to rub a sub-11 second 100 mater dash coming out of high school.

As we know that the speed and overall elusiveness of Stewart and Duvernay are similar, let’s focus on what the recent four-star Longhorns commit could do once he arrives on the Forty Acres.

Stewart is one that could make an immediate impact for the Longhorns. He’s showed a lot of maturity in his game in the last year or so as he’s proven himself with Frisco-Liberty as a reliable blocker, solid route runner, and with consistent hands catching passes.

If Stewart could be any sort of wide receiver that produces like Duvernay did for Texas in his junior and senior campaigns, then it could be a special commit that Sark and the Longhorns just got.

During his breakthrough senior campaign, Duvernay registered a whopping 106 catches for 1,386 receiving yards, 10 total touchdowns, while averaging just over 13 yards per catch. Duvernay was also known to have some of the most reliable hands of any wideout in recent memory for the Longhorns.

Texas might have a really special wideout on their hands after landing the commitment of Stewart. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 5 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the rival Oklahoma Sooners.

There are now six commits in the Longhorns already talented 2022 class. Murphy and Stewart are the two highest rated. Texas is looking to have a special group at the wide receiver position too, with Stewart and four-star Lewisville product Armani Winfield now committed.