3 5-Star recruits Texas football could land with Arch Manning

David Hicks, DL

Another top-tier defensive target of the Longhorns 2023 class that recently narrowed down his list of top schools is one of the top-rated high school prospects in the entire country, five-star Katy-Paetow defensive lineman David Hicks. On July 1, Hicks announced his top seven finalist schools on social media.

And Texas made it through among his latest round of finalist cuts. The other schools included in the mix were the Oregon Ducks, Miami Hurricanes, Oklahoma Sooners, Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan State Spartans, and Texas A&M.

For a good while now, it felt like the Longhorns were fighting a major uphill battle in the race to land a commitment from Hicks. It continues to feel like Texas is chasing down other rivals on the recruiting trail such as Oklahoma and Texas A&M for Hicks.

But landing a commitment from Arch definitely moved the needle with Hicks and his camp. This is a factor that likely helped Texas at least make up a little bit of ground in this recruitment heading into the fall.

The final piece to the puzzle here, though, for Texas to really make a big move with Hicks is showing some pretty massive strides for the defense on the field this fall.

As is the case with Hill, the Longhorns probably need to prove that this defense is making permanent improvements under Pete Kwiatkowski starting this coming season to really get Hicks interested in joining this 2023 class.

Moreover, landing Arch is something that was critical in Texas’ quest to set the pace in the recruitment of Hicks. And while it still feels like Texas is far from the favorite to land Hicks when he’s ready to announce his decision, it does seem like this is more realistic than at any other point in 2022.

That’s the Arch effect in a nutshell for you.