3 top 2023 prospects Johntay Cook is recruiting to Texas football

It’s getting to be the time when the activity on the recruiting trail for head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff starts wrapping up this summer for the Texas football program in favor of the start of fall camp. But Texas is on a roll right now on the recruiting trail, and likely wants to juice the last bit of this momentum before fall camp begins in a few weeks.

Sark and the Longhorns staff really started to heat up on the recruiting trail last month. What launched Texas was landing a commitment from the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning, which came specifically back on June 23. Texas’ 2023 class roughly doubled in size following the commitment of Arch.

And the roll for the Longhorns on the recruiting trail was just beginning after landing Arch. Currently, Texas has landed commitments from 18 recruits in the 2023 class. Three of those 18 commits are five-star recruits, also including DeSoto wide receiver Johntay Cook and Westgate (LA) safety Derek Williams.

Key recruits for the 2023 Texas football recruiting class that Johntay Cook is engaging with

It appears that both Cook and Arch are doing work of their own to try and recruit for the Longhorns 2023 class down the stretch this summer. Since we’ve already talked about the prospects that Arch is helping to recruit this summer, let’s look at three that Cook is helping to recruit for the Longhorns.

Jalen Hale, WR

The final piece to the puzzle in the Longhorns 2023 class at the wide receiver position could be the highly touted four-star Longview product Jalen Hale. Texas currently holds commitments from three wide receivers in the 2023 class including Cook, four-star Dekaney product Jonah Wilson, and four-star Aldine Eisenhower (TX) product Ryan Niblett.

Set for a Sep. 22 decision, Hale could be the finishing touch to the Longhorns 2023 class in the receiving corps. That could really boil down to whether Hale or four-star Temple wide receiver/athlete Mikal Harrison-Pilot is a take first for new wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Brennan Marion and Sark.

At multiple points of the weekend at the Future 50, Cook was seen trying to get Hale throwing up the “Hook’em” or involved with Texas in one way or another. In fact, Cook was seen during the Future 50 this weekend getting Hale to throw up the Hook’Em hand sign after he caught a touchdown.

This was a big weekend in general for Hale, who likely saw his stock rise following a solid performance at the Future 50. That could also be a sign that he is a take over Harrison-Pilot in the Longhorns 2023 class, depending on which particular spot in the receiving corps this staff is trying to fill at this point of the offseason.