Predicting Texas football’s next 2023 commit after Payton Kirkland
The 2023 Texas football recruiting class reached 20 commits in the mix this weekend by landing a pledge from the touted four-star Dr. Phillips (FL) offensive tackle Payton Kirkland. Landing this commitment from Kirkland now gives head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff 14 blue-chip recruits in the 2023 class, five of which come along the offensive line.
Texas fans have to be thrilled about some of the results on the recruiting trail of late in the 2023 class, especially in the trenches. Offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and the Longhorns staff have hauled in a half-dozen blue-chip OL commits in the last two recruiting classes. That wasn’t something that the Longhorns faithful got accustomed to from previous coaching regimes in the last decade or so.
Offensive line recruiting is getting taken to new heights with Flood leading the way for this position group. But the offensive line isn’t the only position group in the 2023 class that has gained a lot of notoriety of late.
Texas has recruited really well in the 2023 class in the secondary, along the defensive line, and at wide receiver. A lot of this has to do with Texas landing a commitment back on June 23 from the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning. Arch’s commitment has sparked a wave of momentum on the recruiting trail for the Longhorns 2023 class that hasn’t let up recently.
Who could be up next for Texas football in the 2023 class after 4-Star OT Payton Kirkland?
With that in mind, here’s a look at a prediction of who the next commitment could be in the Longhorns 2023 class after Kirkland.
https://twitter.com/On3Recruits/status/1548001314331717636
Jalen Hale, WR
There are two wide receiver targets remaining on the board for the Longhorns 2023 class that are currently uncommitted at this point in the offseason. Those two key wideout targets are the talented and versatile four-star Temple athlete/wide receiver Mikal Harrison-Pilot and the highly touted four-star Longview wide receiver Jalen Hale.
I would presume that if new wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Brennan Marion and Sark had to choose their priority wideout in the 2023 class today, I would imagine that Hale would get the edge over Harrison-Pilot. Halen is one of the highest-rated wide receiver targets for the 2023 recruiting cycle. He could be a game-changer on the outside for this Texas offense if he commits to the Longhorns in the near future.
And while we’re not trying to take anything away from what Harrison-Pilot brings to the table, the fact of the matter is that Hale is a difference-maker that could make an immediate impact on this offense.
Texas is sitting in a good spot at the moment among the top schools for Hale. That is evident in the fact that the lone expert 247Sports Crystal Ball Prediction projecting Hale’s commitment favors Texas over the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs.
There are also three forecasts in place from On3 analysts/reporters projecting Hale’s commitment to Texas.
Rivals is actually the only major recruiting service that doesn’t have their analysts/reporters unanimously projecting Hale’s commitment to Texas. Yet, Rivals even has 75 percent of their analysts and publishers holding Hale as a Texas lean.