Texas football making enormous moves with 5-Star Jaleel Skinner

The news keeps rolling in on the trail for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class heading into a key game weekend to open up the 2021 regular season slate. New head coach Steve Sarkisian and his No. 21 ranked Texas squad opens up the regular season at home on Sep. 4 against the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and head coach Billy Napier.

There’s still focus on the recruiting trail for the Longhorns 2022 class, though, heading into the first game weekend of the 2021 regular season. Texas will have some key prospects on campus this weekend for this big meeting in the season opener with the Ragin’ Cajuns, namely including former commit and four-star Memorial cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau.

And Texas has an emphasis on some of the top remaining targets for the 2022 class with the high school football season recently opening up around the country. A key target that Texas got an update on this week is the nation’s top 2022 tight end prospect and IMG Academy product Jaleel Skinner.

This South Carolina native has some of the top programs in the country after him heading into the fall. With Skinner set to announce his commitment on Oct. 9, things are really heating up with his recruitment of late too.

Texas football making sizable moves of late with No. 1 2022 TE Jaleel Skinner

And according to a piece from 247Sports on Sep. 3 (paid content), all five of his finalist schools remain in play for his decision next month. One good thing we heard about the Longhorns, though, was the fact that Texas is making the biggest move of any of his five finalist schools of late.

The other four finalist schools besides Texas in the race to land a commitment from Skinner are the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida State Seminoles, Miami Hurricanes, and Clemson Tigers. It’s hard to exactly pinpoint a favorite for Skinner at the moment. But it’s good to hear that Texas is making some real headway with him heading into the fall.

It is important to note that Skinner is set to visit Florida State this weekend ahead of that critical battle in the Noles season opener against the No. 9 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and head coach Brian Kelly. If Florida State was somehow able to pull off the upset in that game, it could give them the edge in the end with Skinner.

Yet, Texas needs to make it a priority to get Skinner to campus sometime this fall for a big visit during a game weekend. The performance on the field for Sark and the Longhorns this fall will have a huge impact on the immediate success on the recruiting trail.

Texas caught fire on the recruiting trail to round out the month of August in the 2022 class. In a span of roughly 72 hours last week, Texas landed a trio of blue-chip commits along the defensive line in the 2022 class. That trio of blue-chip commits last week was highlighted by four-star Ascension Catholic (LA) edge rusher J’mond Tapp and four-star Marlin (TX) defensive lineman Jaray Bledsoe.