Texas Football: West Coast reach grows with pledge of LB Eoghan Kerry

In the midst of a good stretch on the trail for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class, the commitments keep pouring in to help out the front seven. Texas really hit the ground running since the start of visit season two months ago (although we’ve have one dead period come and go since then).

The main benefactor of the good work that new head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff did on the recruiting trail in the past couple of months is no showing results in the Longhorns 2022 class. And although the 2023 class has yet to land a commit that is still sticking, that should only be a matter of time before more movement comes for that cycle.

Moreover, the latest commitment to arrive for the Longhorns 2022 class came on the morning of Aug. 4. That came in the form of a pledge from the underrated three-star Mater Dei linebacker Eoghan Kerry. Texas is now up over 15 commits in the 2022 class after getting Kerry in the mix this week.

The California native and 6-foot-3 and 225-pound linebacker Kerry is one of a few recent victories on the recruiting trail for new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jeff Choate. As the primary recruiter pursuing Kerry, Choate was able to make a late run at this prospect and win him over in the end.

Texas managed to land the commitment of Kerry over offers that he had from nine other schools. The main competition that the Longhorns faced in getting this commitment from Kerry came from the former Big 12 foe Colorado Buffaloes and outside linebackers coach Brian Michalowski.

Kerry was on campus last weekend during the pool party/BBQ that seemed to be a hit with a lot of the other visiting prospects. Texas officially sent out the offer to Kerry on July 30, just to get his commitment roughly five days later.

Also taking visits with Colorado and the Florida State Seminoles back in June, Texas saw the door opening to try and make some headway with this rising linebacker. And it didn’t take long for the coaching staff to capitalize on that opportunity with Kerry.

Texas is getting a continuously improving player that fits nicely in the front seven with Choate and fellow new co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski in Kerry. He is a natural fit as an outside linebacker, but has enough size, strength, and instincts, to switch inside if need be.

3-Star LB Eoghan Kerry a nice fit with Texas football for Jeff Choate

Kerry isn’t the fastest linebacker, but he is smart in pursuit and reading plays right after the snap. He might not be the type of linebacker that can make an instant impact with Texas. But the ability for Kerry to quickly rise up the Longhorns depth chart in his first two or three years on campus should definitely be there.

This is the second true linebacker commit in the Longhorns 2022 class. The other was one of the initial 2022 commits for the Longhorns, with three-star Arlington-Martin linebacker Trevell Johnson.

Texas also has two other key commitments for this area of the defense in the 2022 class in three-star athlete Anthony Jones and four-star edge rusher Derrick Brown.

The defense is really starting to come together for Kwiatkowski and Choate in the 2022 class. The two commitments that Texas has now landed in the past week, including the Texas High product and edge rusher Brown, will line up in the front seven for years to come on the Forty Acres.

Kerry is one of the lower-rated commits in the Longhorns 2022 class, but his potential is still impressive. He ranks as the nation’s No. 584 2022 high school prospect, No. 61 linebacker, and No. 45 prospect out of California (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the No. 41 linebacker and No. 36 prospect out of California.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 11 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind the Oklahoma Sooners. Kerry is the 16th commit in the 2022 class.