Texas Football: Florida hitting it big with 5-Star WR Evan Stewart

With so much attention of late turning to which five-star prospects new head coach Steve Sarkisian can land to round out the 2022 Texas football recruiting class, there’s a large microscope placed on the pursuit of Frisco-Liberty wide receiver Evan Stewart. The former Texas commit and elite five-star product hailing out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is getting a lot of attention on the recruiting trail in recent months.

It was presumed that Sark and the Longhorns were doing a good job either holding the edge in the pursuit of Stewart’s commitment, or at least remaining in the thick of the top schools. And while it still looks like the Longhorns remain firmly in the midst of the frontrunners for Stewart at the moment, another competing school on the recruiting trail could be moving ahead.

The Florida Gators and head coach Dan Mullen just hosted a big recruiting weekend event, similar to that of the Longhorns, with the dead period lifting last week. Florida hosted “Friday Night Lights’ while Texas hosted their big BBQ and pool party.

And the Longhorns saw one of the top target of the 2022 class visiting in Gainesville with the Gators last weekend. Stewart was one of the highlighting visitors unofficially for Florida last weekend, which isn’t a great sign for Texas.

Florida moving ahead of Texas football for 5-Star WR Evan Stewart?

Stewart is seeming to gain a lot of traction both with the Florida coaching staff and the top quarterback commit in the Gators 2022 class, four-star Nick Evers. Apparently Stewart is starting to see Evers’ play a role in his recruitment and where he could eventually wind up.

Even the latest 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction following the weekend visit with Stewart and the Gators has his commitment going to Florida.

The Rivals FutureCast also now has two more analysts/publishers picking Stewart to commit to Florida over Texas.

Maybe this trend of Stewart having more interest sway to the Gators over the Longhorns is a temporary momentum swing in his recruitment. It is paramount that Texas makes the right impression if they do get to host another visit with Stewart (which should happen in the fall).

It now appears that the most that Texas can do to make more headway with Stewart is find success on the field. The 2022 class is a solid foundation built to it, and the connection with Stewart is there. But Texas has to show that it will be headed in the right direction in the win column before the program moves from the Big 12 to the SEC.

Stewart is one of the highest-ranked remaining targets for the Longhorns 2022 class. He ranks as the nation’s No. 23 2022 high school prospect, No. 3 wide receiver, and No. 5 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 8 high school prospect, and top overall wide receiver and prospect out of Texas.