Texas Football: 4-Star Justice Finkley adds so much more to 2022 class

It’s hard to believe all of the success that the 2022 Texas football recruiting class had on the trail of late with one particular position group. Texas and new defensive line coach Bo Davis continued this insane bout of success on the recruiting trail of late in the trenches by landing a really nice commitment on the late afternoon of Sep. 9.

The latest commitment along the defensive line in the Longhorns 2022 class came in the form of the highly-touted four-star Hewitt-Trussville (AL) defensive lineman Justice Finkley. This is a truly momentous commitment for Davis and the Longhorns 2022 class. New head coach Steve Sarkisian has to be more than thrilled about all of the success along the defensive line of late in the 2022 class.

After landing this commitment from Finkley on Sep. 9, Texas is now up to seven blue-chip commits in the 2022 class along the defensive line. And four of those blue-chip commits along the defensive line in the 2022 class came in the past two weeks alone.

It’s hard to stress how rare this much momentum on the recruiting trail will be at any point for Sark and the Longhorns in pursuing one position group in one cycle. Texas is doing something truly unprecedented in the Big 12 right now.

Not to mention that Finkley is the highest-rated of all of the defensive line commits in the 2022 class now. It’s clear that Texas is just trying to build out as much depth as possible a few months ahead of the Early Signing Period in the trenches.

But Texas is adding this depth with top-tier talent along the defensive line.

https://twitter.com/JusticeFinkley/status/1436085363236352001?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Texas football continues to make leaps and bounds along the defensive line in the 2022 class with Justice Finkley

Texas surely didn’t take long to get rolling on the recruiting trail following the big season-opening win over the No. 23 ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns last weekend. The first blue-chip commit arrived for the 2022 class less than six days after that win over the Cajuns.

Texas landed this commitment from Finkley namely over the Alabama Crimson Tide and Colorado Buffaloes. Throughout much of the past three months, the in-state goliath Alabama and head coach Nick Saban figured to be the favorite to get the commitment of Finkley.

Much like Texas did with four-star Louisiana edge rusher commit J’mond Tapp, Davis made a late run to win Finkley over a huge SEC foe.

What Texas is getting out of the 6-foot-2 and 255-pound defensive lineman Finkley is someone how is likely to slide into a role similar to that of Moro Ojomo this fall. Ojomo stocked up and is now playing defensive tackle full-time for new co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate.

Finkley could put on a little bit more size to his frame to become a college-ready defensive tackle in Kwiatkowski’s defensive scheme. The shorter height, compared to the usual blue-chip defensive tackle, is actually something that Finkley can use to his advantage.

He’s extremely quick-moving underneath and on the inside of opposing offensive linemen. His insane motor off the line of scrimmage is something that makes Finkley ultra-powerful in the pass rush and in plugging up the lanes in run defense.

Finkley is a good athlete with great footwork and lateral agility. He’s already got the strength and speed in his game to compete at the next level. If he’s going to move permanently to the inside, though, he does need to stock up at least a bit.

Moreover, Finkley’s frame also makes him a good fit for the 3-4 defensive front that Kwiatkowski likes to play. With how physical Texas looked under the direction of the new coaching staff in the regular season opener against a good Louisiana team, Finkley’s physical presence should be a great fit in the trenches.

This is a huge win on the recruiting trail for Kwiatkowski and new safeties coach Blake Gideon (the top recruiters after Finkley). Texas is proving to have a very formidable staff to prepare this team both on the field and compete for blue-chip talent on the recruiting trail.

Finkley now becomes one of the top three highest-rated commits in the Longhorns 2022 class. He ranks as the nation’s No. 112 2022 high school prospect, No. 19 defensive lineman, and No. 6 prospect out of Alabama (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 117 high school prospect, No. 18 defensive lineman, and No. 7 prospect out of Alabama.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 3 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners. Finkley brings the number of commits in the Longhorns 2022 class now up to 21.