Texas football on the rise with 5-Star EDGE Damon Wilson

Heading into the stretch run of this cycle for the 2023 Texas football recruiting class, head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are looking to continue this wave of momentum on the trail into the fall. Texas is on fire on the recruiting trail of late, which was sparked by the June 23 commitment of the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning.

Landing that commitment from Manning really opened up the flood gates for Sark and the Longhorns staff to pile in the numbers in the 2023 class in the last month or so. And Texas will look to continue building out this potentially elite 2023 class this fall.

A key target to watch that the Longhorns would love to have in the 2023 class that this staff will try to make a big move with this fall is the elite five-star Venice (FL) edge rusher Damon Wilson. Texas surprisingly made it through Wilson’s recent release of his five finalist schools, which dropped back on July 13.

The other four schools included in his top five are the Miami Hurricanes, Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, and Ohio State Buckeyes.

Texas football gaining on the rest of the field in pursuit of 5-Star EDGE Damon Wilson

Texas is definitely the newest top school in the mix among the frontrunners in the race to land a commitment from Wilson. Alabama, Ohio State, Miami, and Georgia were considered the four top schools for Wilson before he trimmed his list to five a couple of weeks ago. In fact, Alabama and Miami were two of the initial schools to send a scholarship offer Wilson’s way.

And while Texas did offer Wilson prior to both Ohio State and Georgia, the Longhorns didn’t look to have an inside track to realistically make a run at his commitment until the last month or so.

This is clearly good news for the Longhorns, though. Texas making it through this round of cuts for Wilson’s top schools means that co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Pete Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns will very likely get a shot to host Wilson for an official visit to Austin this fall.

That would at least be the next logical step for Texas in their pursuit of Wilson on the recruiting trail. And at this point of his recruitment, it would make sense for Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns to get Wilson on the books for an official visit for one of the bigger game weekends in Austin during the regular season.

Moreover, there is a magnifying glass that is starting to get placed on Texas’ edge rusher recruiting heading into the fall. Heightened traction with top blue-chips at the position such as Wilson combined with potential looming decisions from top targets such as four-stars Braylan Shelby and Derion Gullette has brought this group front and center in the recruiting spotlight.

It will be interesting to see what Texas does in pursuit of Wilson on the recruiting trail if they do land at least two of the top three edge rusher priorities in the next couple of months. Texas’ top priorities at the position at the moment include four-star Austin-Westlake product Colton Vasek along with Marlin’s Gullette and Friendswood’s Shelby.

Yet, Wilson profiles as the type of talent that you don’t ignore at the position, even if Texas is able to land commitments from some of the other top priorities in the near future. It’s hard for me to believe that Texas wouldn’t have a spot open for Wilson this fall if they land Vasek, Shelby, and/or Gullette.

Texas currently holds commitments from 20 recruits in the 2023 class following the addition of four-star Dr. Phillips (FL) offensive tackle Payton Kirkland last weekend. The lone edge rusher commit at the moment in the Longhorns 2023 class is the former Oklahoma State Cowboys pledge and three-star South Oak Cliff product Billy Walton.