Texas Football: 4-Star LB target locked in to Notre Dame pre-decision date

The decision dates are starting to come down for targets of the 2022 Texas football recruiting in the back half of visit season this month. And one of the key targets of the 2022 class that has an upcoming decision date is four-star Bishop Alemaney linebacker Niuafe Tuihalamaka. On June 19, the California native linebacker will announce his decision.

And it looks like it will come down to a few finalist schools for Tuihalamaka’s decision, including the Longhorns. But the program that really seems to be firmly in the lead to land his commitment later this week is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Head coach Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish hosted Tuihalamaka for an official visit in South Bend last weekend. That is timing that would also indicate which direction he is trending to.

Texas was the only other school that hosted Tuihalamaka for an official visit this month prior to his decision date. While that could mean that Texas is still largely in play to get his commitment on June 19, the writing is pretty clear on the wall that Notre Dame is the front runner at the moment.

The primary recruiter that Texas has on Tuihalamaka is new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jeff Choate. And Notre Dame has defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and special teams coordinator Brian Polian after Tuihalamaka as his top recruiters.

4-Star LB Niuafe Tuihalamaka slipping away from Texas football

Texas hosted Tuihalamaka on campus for an official visit back on June 4. That was the first visit weekend for Texas this offseason on the Forty Acres. And it seemed like Texas made a good impression on the California linebacker at the time, but Notre Dame might’ve got the last word in his recruitment.

There are seven expert 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions in for Tuihalamaka, with all going in favor of Notre Dame. And pretty much all of those Crystal Ball Predictions are projecting Notre Dame to get his commitment with a high level of confidence.

Texas likely will turn their attention at the linebacker position in the 2022 class solely to pursuing key blue-chip targets like five-star Cy Park product Harold Perkins and four-star Evanston Township product Sebastian Cheeks.

Notre Dame and Texas are two of 20 schools on Tuihalamaka’s offer sheet. Some of the other notable schools that offered him include the Stanford Cardinal, Oregon Ducks, Arizona State Sun Devils, USC Trojans, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Tennessee Volunteers.

Texas now holds commitments from 11 prospects in their 2022 class, with the latest coming from hometown kicker Will Stone. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 7 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners.