Texas Football: 5 biggest recruiting targets Oregon ever stole away

Troy Franklin, WR

One of the frontrunners to land the commitment of the former four-star Menlo-Atherton talented wide receiver Troy Franklin during the 2021 recruiting cycle was the Longhorns. The 6-foot-2 and 175-pound Menlo Park, CA, native Franklin wound up committing and signing with the Ducks over the likes of the Longhorns and Washington Huskies this past cycle.

Franklin was one of the most high-profile wide receiver targets for the former head coach Herman and then first-year wide receivers coach Andre Coleman at the outset of the 2021 recruiting cycle. Texas, Oregon, and Washington were three of the two dozen schools on Franklin’s offer sheet.

Some of the other notable schools that offered Franklin included the Crimson Tide, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Iowa State Cyclones, Miami Hurricanes, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and USC.

Texas was actually one of the earlier schools to offer Franklin. But Herman and the Longhorns were never able to lock in an official and/or unofficial visit with Franklin prior to the end of in-person visits on campus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last visit that Franklin actually took ahead of the end of in-person visits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was with the Ducks back in March 2020.

What Texas missed out on with Oregon landing the commitment of Franklin was the nation’s No. 40 2021 high school prospect, No. 3 wide receiver, and No. 2 prospect out of California (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranked him as the nation’s No. 53 high school prospect, No. 3 wide receiver, and No. 2 prospect out of California.

The opportunity will definitely be there for Franklin to make an immediate impact for the Ducks. If Texas had found a way to land Franklin, then he would’ve been the highest-rated wide receiver signee in the 2021 class.