Texas Football: Flood ‘building a good relationship’ with key 4-Star OT target

With official visits set to return around the college football recruiting landscape this summer, the battles on the trail for various key high school prospects will continue to heat up in the coming weeks. And for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class, getting some of their top targets on successful in-person visits to the Forty Acres will be pivotal.

Newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns are trying to build a good foundation with the 2022 class. But they will be facing a tall task with competing programs on the recruiting trail like the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, and LSU Tigers, among others, carrying more tenured coaching staffs at the moment.

Since Sark was hired to replace the now former fourth-year Texas head coach Tom Herman just back on Jan. 2, he and his new-look coaching staff have a lot of work to do to keep pace with their top rivals on the recruiting trail. Sark did get an immediate spark on the recruiting trail by landing multiple blue chip commits in his first couple of months at the helm on the Forty Acres for his 2022 and 2023 classes.

Sark still needs to keep a prominent long-term outlook focused on finding consistency and stability on the recruiting trail from here on out for his 2022 and 2023 classes (and hopefully further into the future as well). What largely doomed Herman to end his tenure as Texas head coach was the lack of stability he was finding on the recruiting trail and on the field in his last months at the helm.

Key 4-Star OT Kam Dewberry rising as a Texas football target

One of the more important targets in the trenches for the Longhorns 2022 class is a product that is in-state. Talented 6-foot-4 and 315 pound Atascocita offensive tackle Kam Dewberry is a crucial target that could be a good start for the Longhorns along the offensive line in their 2022 class.

But the competition that Texas looks to face on the recruiting trail to get a commitment from Dewberry is fierce from the likes of Texas A&M and Oklahoma, among others. The 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions currently has just one expert pick in for Dewberry, predicting his commitment to land with head coach Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies.

But there is good news for Sark and the Longhorns in pursuit of landing Dewberry’s commitment soon entering the summer months. According to a report from Horns247 on March 28, new Texas offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood is “building a good relationship” with Dewberry of late.

That same report also mentions that Dewberry thinks highly of Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. This could really turn into a true battle between the likes of Flood, Bedenbaugh, and Texas A&M offensive line coach Josh Henson to win over the interests of Dewberry.

As of the early afternoon of March 28, it looks like the recruitment of Dewberry is still pretty open. Texas A&M might have a slight edge at the moment, but competing programs like Texas and Oklahoma might not be too far behind them.

Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma are three of more than 30 schools to have sent a scholarship offer Dewberry’s way. Some of the other notable schools that have offered him thus far include the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU, Ohio State Buckeyes, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, Miami Hurricanes, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Oregon Ducks, TCU Horned Frogs, Tennessee Volunteers, and USC Trojans.

Moreover, Dewberry ranks as the nation’s No. 119 2022 high school prospect, No. 12 offensive tackle, and No. 22 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 216 high school prospect, No. 20 offensive tackle, and No. 31 prospect out of Texas.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 8 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma. Texas is now up to seven commits in their 2022 class, with the latest coming from three-star North Shore defensive tackle Kristopher Ross.