Texas Football: Longhorns stun LSU to land 4-Star EDGE J’mond Tapp

In a gargantuan day for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class and specifically the defensive coaching staff, Aug. 30 can go down as a launchpad for this program to truly build up an elite and deep group on this side of the ball. Texas landed two blue-chip defensive linemen for the 2022 class in a span of just hours on Aug. 30.

First up for new head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff on Aug. 30 was landing a commitment from the highly-touted four-star Marlin (TX) defensive lineman Jaray Bledsoe. That was the fifth addition among blue-chip recruits to the Longhorns 2022 class along the defensive line. And the Longhorns added a sixth that can play in the trenches on the night of Aug. 30 in the form of four-star Ascension Catholic (LA) edge rusher J’mond Tapp.

It also wasn’t all that long ago that the Longhorns added the commitment from the touted four-star Southaven (MS) defensive lineman Aaron Bryant. Landing this level of a trio of commits to play in the front seven for the 2022 class in just three days goes to show how much potential this could have for a key trio of Texas assistants.

New co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate, along with defensive line coach Bo Davis, have to be foaming at the mouth about the potential for this new group of commitments in the 2022 class.

Moreover, the Longhorns landed the commitment from Tapp as he announced it on his Twitter timeline on the night of Aug. 30. This came to an insane reaction since the Longhorns had such a massive day on the recruiting trail for the 2022 class, specifically upgrading in the front seven.

Texas football has a gigantic day for the 2022 class landing J’mond Tapp in addition to Jaray Bledsoe

It was also a big day on the recruiting trail for the Longhorns due to the teams that this staff beat out to land Tapp and Bledsoe. Texas beat out the Texas A&M Aggies to land Bledsoe, and the LSU Tigers to nab the commitment of Tapp.

The real shock, though, was Texas beating out LSU and defensive line coach Andre Carter to win over Tapp. This is a huge win for Kwiatkowski and new cornerbacks coach Terry Joseph as the top recruiters pursuing the Louisiana native edge rusher.

This was also a really nice late run that Texas made to win over Tapp. Texas was the most recent school to offer Tapp. And Texas was one of two schools that Tapp visited since June. LSU was the other. He took an official visit with Texas on June 25, and an unofficial with LSU on June. 2.

It looked like Texas had built the relationship necessary following that June official visit in Austin to seal the deal with Tapp.

The latest of the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions all had Tapp’s commitment landing with LSU. And all of the analysts and publishers picking in the Rivals FutureCast also predicted his commitment to go to LSU.

In terms of the impact that Tapp will actually bring to the table for the Longhorns, it’s hard to overstate how good his fit could be coming off the edge. He’s a nice true fit as an edge rusher in this 3-4 defensive scheme under Kwiatkowski and Choate.

The 6-foot-3 and 245-pound Tapp has similar size to key Washington Huskies edge rushers in the past five years that were standouts that Kwiatkowski coached up such as Joe Mathis and Joe Tryon. But Tapp also has a higher athletic ceiling than most anyone that Kwiatkowski coached among edge rushers in the past half-decade with Washington.

The ceiling for Tapp as an edge rusher is very high. During the 2020 season with Ascension Catholic, he registered 64 combined tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and one safety forced.

Tapp is an excellent athlete with gifted physical tools that competes in football, basketball, and track and field for Ascension Catholic. That’s why he is such a nice fit in a role similar to what even Joseph Ossai did last season for former defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chris Ash.

He could put his hand down and come off the edge on the line of scrimmage. Or he could be more of a traditional standup linebacker that is versatile enough to rush the passer, set the edge in defending the run, and drop back into pass coverage.

The speed that Tapp has in pursuit of the quarterback or a skill position ball carrier is what could really separate him. That closing speed is also something that translates into speed off the edge. His solid combination of strength and speed could make him an awesome pass rusher at the college level.

Think of a guy that could have a floor of getting four or five sacks per season, and a double-digit number of tackles for loss in a season with at least 300 game reps.

After landing the duo of blue-chip commitments of Tapp and Bledsoe on Aug. 30, Texas is now up to a whopping 20 commits in the 2022 class. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 6 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners.