Predicting Texas’ next 2022 commit after 4-Star Larry Turner-Gooden

TJ Dudley, LB

There was a point in time where the Longhorns were looking like they were trending to land a commitment from the touted four-star Montgomery Catholic Prep (AL) linebacker TJ Dudley. The former Oregon Ducks commit was finding some real traction with the Longhorns during the fall, which wasn’t all that long ago.

In fact, I personally felt like Texas was a great candidate to land a commitment from Dudley after he de-committed from the Ducks back on Dec. 6. That came just ahead of the Early Signing Period last month.

At this moment in time, though, it looks like Texas is laying off the pursuit of Dudley for the most part. It doesn’t sound like the Longhorns are completely letting off the gas in terms of maintaining contact with Dudley ahead of National Signing Day.

But we would be missing the point to avoid the fact that there are other Power Five schools that are putting a higher priority on maintaining Dudley on the recruiting trail in the last couple of weeks.

What really powered Texas to lay off the gas with Dudley in the last couple of weeks is the fact that senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown will be returning to Austin in 2022. That pushed the need to add help at the linebacker position immediately likely to next offseason. And that all hinges on how Texas is able to recruit at linebacker in the 2023 class (specifically looking at the recruitment of five-star LB Anthony Hill).

As is the case with the recruitment of Mathews, I do believe that Texas is still alive in the race to land a commitment from Dudley. If the Longhorns staff decides that they want to add one more body at linebacker in the 2022 signing class, Dudley is going to be the first name up.