3 top 2023 recruits Texas football must land over Texas A&M
There are some battles on the recruiting trail that are really starting to heat up between Texas football and the in-state rival Texas A&M Aggies heading into the fall. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher are needing to round out their respective 2023 recruiting classes on a high note this fall.
And while it took a good while for these respective fan bases to see the real battles on the recruiting trail to come to the forefront this cycle, we saw the first major domino fall in this saga this weekend. That came when Fisher and the Aggies landed a commitment from the elite five-star Denton-Ryan linebacker Anthony Hill.
Right at noon on July 30, Hill took to social media to announce his commitment to Texas A&M over Texas. This was clearly a big hit to the Longhorns’ efforts on the recruiting trail for the 2023 class down the stretch this summer.
But this is also something that the Longhorns can recover from. Not only will the Longhorns staff continue recruiting Hill right through the whistle on signing day, but they will also do everything they can to continue reeling in the top talent to the Forty Acres.
That will include some of the other top priority targets of the 2023 class that the Longhorns must get over the Aggies in the next few months.
Key 2023 recruits Texas football must land over Texas A&M this fall
With that in mind, here’s a look at three key recruiting targets that the Longhorns must get over the Aggies heading into the fall.
Derion Gullette, LB/EDGE
The recruit that is coming to the forefront for the Longhorns 2023 class after Texas A&M landed Hill this weekend is the highly touted four-star Marlin (TX) edge rusher/linebacker Derion Gullette. It really looks like Texas is making Gullette a top priority, if they weren’t already after the Aggies landed Hill on July 30.
Texas has quite a few top edge rusher targets for the 2023 class that are needed in the mix for this cycle. That includes the likes of Gullette, four-star Friendswood product Braylan Shelby, four-star Austin-Westlake product Colton Vasek, and even five-star Venice (FL) product Damon Wilson.
But Gullette is the only one that looks to have a decision that could boil down to just Texas and Texas A&M among the top group of edge rusher targets for the Longhorns 2023 class.
Moreover, it doesn’t help the nerves for the Longhorns faithful that Gullette wasn’t able to make his unofficial visit to Austin for the July BBQ this week. Combine that with him being on campus for an unofficial visit to College Station right now to see Texas A&M, and the feeling isn’t great in terms of Texas’ standing as the frontrunner in the race to land a commitment from Gullette heading into the fall.
The goal for the Longhorns staff at this point has to be making it through this weekend’s visit for Gullette to College Station without the pendulum of momentum swinging too far in the direction of Texas A&M. If Texas can make it through to the middle of next week without Gullette having too much traction with the Aggies staff, that bodes well for the Longhorns.
All in all, I would expect a decision from Gullette in the next couple of weeks that will likely boil down to Texas and Texas A&M. This will wind up being a closer one than most anticipated for Texas to seal the deal with Gullette.