Assessing 3 must-get 5-Star recruits for Texas football in June
It’s clear that the activity on the recruiting trail for second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program is going to heat up during the month of June. To kick off the summer visit season, Texas is going to have a few-dozen key visitors in Austin to try and get a wave of momentum going on the recruiting trail for their 2023 and 2024 classes over the next few months.
Sark and the Longhorns staff got a busy month of June on the recruiting trail for hosting big-time visitors that are targets of the 2023 class started with an unofficial visit from the elite five-star Katy-Peatow defensive lineman David Hicks earlier this week. By most indications in the day following his unofficial to Texas, it sounds like Hicks left Austin with a good impression of the visit on June 2.
Yet, this is just the first of many important blue-chip recruits that Sark and the Longhorns staff must pitch well this month. And with a good number of the important visiting recruits this month planning out summer or early fall timelines to announce their decision, some of these officials will be absolutely crucial to how the 2023 class ultimately forms together.
Texas football getting ready for a pivotal few weeks on the recruiting trail with summer visits starting to take place
With that in mind, here’s a look at an assessment of three of the most important 2023 recruits that the Longhorns must get in this class.
Anthony Hill, LB
There might not be a single more important target of the Longhorns 2023 recruiting class on the defensive side of the ball entering the summer than the five-star Denton-Ryan linebacker Anthony Hill. Texas needs to haul in a solid linebacker class to bolster what will likely be a thin position room again next year.
As recently as last fall, it looked like Texas was the team to beat in the race to land a commitment from Hill early on. But that narrative has shifted as it now looks like the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners are also squarely in the mix for Hill.
Yet, assessing what the Longhorns need to do in the summer and fall to make some big moves with Hill is still rather simple at first thought but has some complexity to it.
First and foremost, the Longhorns must make the right pitch to Hill this summer in terms of what Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate feel is the best fit to maximize his skill set. Given Hill’s insanely versatile skill set and potential at 6-foot-3 and 225-pounds, it feels like the best fit for him right away would be at middle linebacker in a role similar to that of Demarvion Overshown. That would allow Hill to maximize his skill set early on as a rangy and athletic linebacker that will excel playing off-ball.
As time moves along, though, Texas could shift him to more of a pass-rushing role where he’s coming off the edge. Many believe that is where the long-term potential lies for Hill (myself included).
Secondly, Texas will need to prove their standing as a program that is trending up for the future by improving their success in the win column this fall. If Texas can prove this season that they are a program headed in the right direction, by winning at least eight games and improving the defensive results, Hill should be well within reach for this 2023 class.