Texas Football: Could decommit Evan Stewart flip to Alabama?

A big blow was dealt to the 2022 Texas football recruiting class on March 11 after a big run of momentum on the trail for a good while. Not all momentum was going to last forever for Texas and newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian. But momentum did slow in a big way for Texas on March 11, when the elite four-star Frisco-Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart announced his decommitment from their 2022 class.

Prior to announcing his decommitment from the Longhorns 2022 class, Stewart was the second highest rated prospects in the mix. He only ranked behind the elite five-star Junipero Serra pro-style quarterback Maalik Murphy.

However, this does hurt for Sark and the Longhorns as there was a big effort put in by second-year wide receivers coach Andre Coleman to assemble a special class that included both Stewart and another blue chip wideout. The other blue chip wide receiver commit in the Longhorns 2022 class is the talented four-star Lewisville product Armani Winfield.

This now makes it two blue chip wide receivers that have decommitted from Texas since the end of last offseason. Texas also lost a commitment back in the fall from another wide receiver hailing out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in four-star Lancaster product Phaizon Wilson.

The decommitment from Wilson arrived when Texas also had the nightmare scenario of losing the elite five-star Southlake Carroll pro-style quarterback Quinn Ewers back in late October 2020.

What the decommitment of Evan Stewart means for Texas football

This decommitment from Stewart does really wind up stalling the incredible progress that Sark and the Longhorns were making on the recruiting trail of late. But there are emerging indicators as to why Stewart decommitted from Texas in the first place. A report from 247Sports on March 11 indicates that it could be legendary head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide that are trying to get Stewart to commit.

It could be the Frisco, TX, skill position product Stewart that is following in the steps of the Alabama blue chip quarterback commit Ty Simpson that is reportedly recruiting him to Tuscaloosa. The timing would line up at this point if that is the case.

What Texas is losing with Stewart decommitting from their 2022 class is 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. 37 high school prospect, No. 5 wide receiver, and No. 11 prospect out of Texas.

Stewart currently holds offers from nearly three dozen schools as of the night of March 11. Some of the other notable schools on his offer sheet includes the Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and USC Trojans.

We’ll just have to wait and see how long it is before Stewart decides where he will take his talents to next. He could still give his commitment back to the Longhorns. But it will take time for that to happen for him to find where his ultimate landing spot will be.

For the time being, Texas can hopefully just look at this as a blip in the road in their quest to haul in the best recruiting class in the Big 12 for the 2022 cycle. After the decommitment of Stewart, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 8 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma (per 247Sports Team Composite Rankings).