Texas Football: What landing elite 5-Star WR Evan Stewart means

It’s hard to believe all of the success that newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian found for this building 2022 Texas football recruiting class over the course of the last few weeks. Especially after Texas was having so much trouble on the recruiting trail prior to the departure of now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman back on Jan. 2, Sark finding all this success for the 2022 class is a really nice sight to see.

Sark and the Longhorns picked up two solid commitments last weekend in the elite five-star Junipero Serra pro-style quarterback Maalik Murphy and underrated three-star Arlington-Martin inside linebacker Trevell Johnson. That already launched the Longhorns to new heights in the national recruiting landscape for their 2022 class.

But Sark and his new look coaching staff weren’t finished heading into this weekend. On the night of Feb. 18, it was made known to the college football recruiting landscape that Texas landed a commitment from four-star Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart.

https://twitter.com/0fficial_evan/status/1362640051608420352

Prior to officially landing the commitment of the uber-talented 6-foot and 175 pound wideout hailing out of Frisco, TX, there were rumors trickling out in bits and pieces that Stewart could land with Texas. And the untold boost that the Longhorns 2022 class will get by landing Stewart could continue to build in the way of landing additional skill position commits in the near future.

Texas football’s pursuit of Evan Stewart

Texas was one of nearly three dozen schools that Stewart held on his lengthy offer sheet prior to announcing his commitment to play on the Forty Acres.

The other highlighting schools on his offer sheet included the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and USC Trojans.

Moreover, 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 36 high school prospect, No. 6 wide receiver, and No. 9 prospect out of Texas.

Stewart is truly one of the most versatile and explosive wide receivers in this entire class at this position. He is always a threat to make something happen after the catch, and can make multiple defenders miss in the open field. Yards after the catch are going to be a strength of his.

Fitting the role of the Longhorns true deep threat wide receiver in this offense could be what really appealed to Stewart, along with playing with the highly coveted Murphy.

Texas is now really stacked at the wide receiver position in their 2022 class, with both Stewart and the talented four-star Lewisville wide receiver Armani Winfield now in the mix. Sark also did a really nice job hitting the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex hard to find wide receiver talent and depth in the 2022 class.

In the last two seasons with Frisco-Liberty High School, Stewart registered 89 catches for 1,670 receiving yards and 16 receiving touchdowns. He also ran a sub-11 second 100 meter dash and 21-second 200 meter dash last year.

Since Texas had a bit of a down stint on the recruiting trail in their 2020 and 2021 classes at the wide receiver position, getting both Winfield and Stewart in the mix is huge. Texas didn’t really have a true blue chip commit/signee at wideout in the 2021 class until Jaden Alexis earned his fourth star late in the cycle.

Texas is now up to six commits in their building 2022 recruiting class. The highest rated in the mix is still Murphy, but Stewart, running back Jaydon Blue, and Winfield are close to assuming that spot. 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 Oklahoma.