Texas football ‘swinging away’ at 4-Star UGA DT commit Bear Alexander

It is a critical time during the offseason on the trail for newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and his 2022 Texas football recruiting class as spring ball is about to begin on the Forty Acres. Texas is now trying to build a solid foundation for their 2022 class on the defensive side of the ball, and they’re still pushing hard to land prospects that are committed elsewhere such as the talented four-star 6-foot-3 and 325 pound Denton-Ryan defensive tackle Bear Alexander.

Sark and the Longhorns found a real spark on the recruiting trail the past couple of months for their 2022 and 2023 classes. Texas has established itself once again as a recruiting power after now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman had a rough run on the trail through the last few months of his tenure on the Forty Acres.

Moreover, most of the positive results on the recruiting trail of late for Sark and the Longhorns came by way of doing well at the skill positions. Texas built up most of its blue chip laden 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes by way of skill position talent, namely at wide receiver and running back.

But a persistent effort could keep them in the running for that aforementioned key defensive tackle target and Texas native Alexander. Head coach Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs won Alexander’s attention over the SEC country earlier this offseason. Alexander committed to Georgia’s 2022 class back on Feb. 3, 2021.

Where Texas football can go from here with Bear Alexander

According to a report from Horns247 over the weekend (paid content), Sark and his new coaching staff are keeping in the running in pursuit of Alexander as they’re still “swinging away” at flipping his commitment from Georgia. That report surfaced thanks to Horns247 being present at the Under Armour-Dallas recruiting camp during the weekend of March 13-14.

Staying on constant contact to test the waters surrounding the recruitment of Alexander is about all that the Texas coaching staff can do at this point in time. Alexander is a potent enough prospect that it is worth the Longhorns still prioritizing him despite his standing pledge to the Dawgs.

Texas does have a solid foundation built for their 2022 class on the defensive side of the ball in the secondary at the moment. But the 2022 class is also void of any prospect that plays in the front seven. For that reason, staying on contact with Alexander makes a lot of sense moving forward.

The Longhorns were after Alexander for a good while now. He received his Texas scholarship offer almost two years ago, back on March 30, 2019. And he received his offer from Texas just after an unofficial visit that happened back during spring ball two offseasons ago.

Texas is one of nearly 30 schools that have offered Alexander as of the morning of March 15. Most of his offers came during the past two offseasons, so the attention he’s had on the recruiting trail has lasted for a long time.

Some of the other notable schools on Alexander’s offer sheet includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and USC Trojans.

Alexander currently ranks as the nation’s No. 86 2022 high school prospect, No. 8 defensive tackle, and No. 17 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 100 high school prospect, No. 7 defensive tackle, and No. 19 prospect out of Texas.

Texas currently has commitments from six prospects in their 2022 class, with the highest rated being the elite five-star Junipero Serra pro-style quarterback Maalik Murphy. But the Longhorns are recently down one commit, after seeing four-star Frisco-Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart re-open his recruitment.