Texas Football: First DL blue chip commit arrives with 4-Star Zac Swanson

Big news arrived for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class late in the night of April 26. Texas got their first commitment in more than one month’s time early this week, by landing a pledge from the touted four-star 6-foot-4 and 225 pound Brophy College Preparatory strong-side defensive end Zac Swanson.

This is the first commitment for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns 2022 class since they landed the three-star North Shore defensive tackle Kristopher Ross back on March 23. And it comes at the right time as the Longhorns found a solid spark on the recruiting trail since the weekend.

It does feel like the spring game last weekend provided another spark on the recruiting trail for Sark and the Longhorns. In the past 72 hours, Texas landed a commitment out of the NCAA Transfer Portal from former New Mexico State Aggies standout redshirt sophomore linebacker Devin Richardson, former Michigan Wolverines four-star wide receiver commit Xavier Worthy, and confirmed a commitment from the former Alabama Crimson Tide senior linebacker Ben Davis.

This just adds more excitement to the mix for the Longhorns as they look to continue building by way of the recruiting trail and the transfer portal.

What the commitment of Zac Swanson means for Texas football

For a good while now, the Phoenix, AZ, native Swanson was trending to give his commitment to the Longhorns over the rest of the competition. Sark and new defensive line coach Bo Davis did well in the recruitment of Swanson of late, but the writing was on the wall that he would eventually land on the Forty Acres.

And what makes this even better is that Swanson looks sure to keep his commitment here, stating in his post on Twitter on April 26 that his “recruiting is 100% shut down”.

The two defensive line commits at this point in the Longhorns 2022 class are the Houston-area native Ross and the new blue chip defensive end addition Swanson. Both of these defensive line commits are players that could make an impact by their second or third year on campus.

Texas has made a name for themselves in the past in taking more underrated blue chip and three-star defensive line talents and turning them into top 250-type of producers in the front seven. That’s exactly what it looks like Davis could do with Swanson and Ross.

Swanson already has a solid frame for a defensive end. And while he could work on some of his technique setting the edge and plugging the gaps in run defense, most areas of his game are already pretty polished.

Texas landed the commitment from Swanson over offers from 15 other schools. Some of the other notable schools on his offer sheet are the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, Auburn Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, Iowa State Cyclones, Kentucky Wildcats, Oregon Ducks, Michigan State Spartans, Oklahoma Sooners, and USC Trojans.

Moreover, Swanson ranks as the nation’s No. 360 2022 high school prospect, No. 24 strong-side defensive end, and No. 6 prospect out of Arizona (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the No. 21 strong-side defensive end and No. 5 prospect out of Arizona.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 6 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Sooners. Texas now has commitments from eight prospects in their 2022 class, with the highest-rated being four-star Klein Cain running back Jaydon Blue.