Texas to visit elite 5-Star OL Devon Campbell in-home this week

Pursuing the elite five-star Bowie interior offensive lineman Devon Campbell was never disinteresting for new first-year offensive line coach/offensive Kyle Flood in the 2022 Texas football recruiting class. Flood and new head coach Steve Sarkisian suddenly have one of the most interesting and unpredictable recruitments of this entire recruiting cycle with Campbell after the move that Lincoln Riley just made.

With Riley bolting from Norman to shock the Oklahoma Sooners (and the college football landscape as a whole) by joining the USC Trojans in the PAC-12 over the weekend, Campbell’s recruitment got a jolt that definitely wasn’t ever expected. Riley’s departure from Oklahoma on Nov. 28 likely sets the Sooners back too far to realistically recover for Campbell at this point of his recruitment.

What really throws a wrench into the Longhorns’ hopes of immediately moving in as the top school for Campbell after the Riley news is the prior interest that he had in USC. The fact that Riley and the now-former Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh are headed for the Trojans in southern California means that there is a wildcard that completely changes the picture of Campbell’s recruitment moving forward.

Texas football now has a new battle on the trail with USC for 5-Star IOL Devon Campbell

With Riley replacing the former USC head coach Clay Helton, Campbell is also now allowed to take his final official visit with the Trojans. All eyes, in terms of the major storyline that is his looming decision around the Early Signing Period, should lie on whether he takes this final official visit early next month at USC.

We don’t really know if Texas gains any sort of advantage in the recruitment of Campbell by Riley leaving Oklahoma for USC. That should be determined in the days and weeks ahead. But one thing that could impact how Campbell’s recruitment plays out in the weeks ahead is a reported (per Horns247, paid content) in-home visit with Flood and the Texas staff this week.

This is probably the most important in-home visit that the Texas coaching staff has this week, which makes sense given that it’s easy to make that argument that Campbell is the top prospect on the Longhorns 2022 big board at this point. Making the right pitch to Campbell in the days and weeks ahead could make a world’s difference for Texas in the race to land his commitment.

But it feels like the real x-factor here will be what communication comes from Campbell’s camp in his looming connection with USC. If USC knocks it out of the park with their early pitch and communication with Campbell after both Riley and Bedenbaugh left Norman over the weekend.