Trust with the staff won Texas 5-Star OL Devon Campbell

The most coveted commit maybe of this entire cycle for the 2022 Texas football recruiting class arrived on the afternoon of Feb. 2 in the form of the elite five-star Bowie interior offensive lineman Devon Campbell. Texas reeled in the commitment of Campbell on National Signing Day to cap their 2022 signing class with 28 high school prospects, a good number of which are already on campus this semester.

There might not be a more crucial immediate impact player in the Longhorns 2022 class than Campbell either. It was difficult to find a bigger positional need for second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian in the Longhorns 2022 class than along the offensive line. But Sark and offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood did a great job addressing this need in the 2022 class over the last few months.

It was a great finishing touch to the Longhorns 2022 class to be able to get a commitment from and sign Campbell. He will be able to contribute, likely in a starting guard role, right away for Flood, Sark, and the Longhorns in 2022.

But what was it about Texas that drew Campbell’s interest over competing schools on the recruiting trail such as the Oklahoma Sooners, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, etc.?

Texas football did a fantastic job with the relationship and connection with 5-Star IOL Devon Campbell

It looks like it was the consistent relationship and communication that Texas built up with Campbell and those close to him throughout his recruitment that sealed the deal with him in the end. A report from Inside Texas this week (part of the On3 Network, paid content) showed the props that Campbell gave to the likes of Flood and the rest of the Texas coaching staff throughout his recruitment.

From what he said, it sounds like the Texas staff did a great job with the consistency of the communication with him in the last couple of years. That even goes all the way back to the day for the Longhorns under former head coach Tom Herman and his staff.

Here’s more on what Campbell had to say on this matter.

"“Coach Flood did an awesome job building a relationship with him outside of football and that goes for a lot of other coaches on the Texas staff, too.”"

Campbell also mentioned in this piece that Texas “was one of the first big schools” that recruited him. Getting in early on potentially elite prospects with a ton of eventual suitors such as Campbell can be a huge factor. And that looked to the case here.

All in all, Texas did a fantastic job sticking with it throughout the process of recruiting Campbell. There were certainly some ups and downs, but you have to give a lot of credit to Flood for what he did in this 2022 class along the offensive line.

Landing commitments from the likes of Campbell, five-star Summer Creek offensive tackle Kelvin Banks, and four-star Allen OL Neto Umeozulu, among others, was huge for the Longhorns 2022 class.

Texas finished out this recruiting cycle with the No. 5 ranked 2022 class in the nation and the top group in the Big 12 ahead of the Sooners (per 247Sports Team Composite Rankings). Campbell is the highest-rated commit/signee in the Longhorns 2022 class.