Texas football tied with Alabama for most top 50 rated 2023 commits

The insane wave of momentum for head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff in the 2023 Texas football recruiting class got even more seismic this week. On the evening of Aug. 10, Texas continued the scorching hot streak on the recruiting trail for the 2023 class this summer by landing a commitment from the highly touted and potent four-star Edgewater (FL) running back Cedric Baxter Jr.

Sark and the Longhorns landing this commitment from Baxter moved this 2023 recruiting class to 22 commits in the mix. Of those 22 commits, 16 are rated as blue-chip prospects. There’s also a plethora of borderline five-star recruits in this 2023 class at the moment.

And according to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2023 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 3 in the nation and in the top spot in the Big 12 ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners. The only programs ahead of Texas in the National Class Rankings at this point of the 2023 cycle are the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide.

There is one notable metric, though, that actually places the Longhorns 2023 class among the best in the nation. Texas is tied with Alabama for the most top-50 rated 2023 commits in one class. Both Texas and Alabama hold commitments from five top-50 rated recruits in their 2023 classes, respectively.

The top of Texas’ 2023 class is headed up by the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback commit Arch Manning. He’s followed by the likes of five-star Westgate (LA) safety Derek Williams, five-star DeSoto wide receiver Johntay Cook, four-star South Oak Cliff cornerback Malik Muhammad, and now Baxter.

5-Star QB commit Arch Manning now leads a 2023 Texas football class tied for the lead with the most top-50 rated recruits

Arch is one of the driving forces as to why Texas was able to reel in all of these top-50 rated commits in the 2023 class. As the nation’s top-rated recruit, Arch clearly has a lot of pull with this group. And he’s likely to help Texas continue to experience success on the recruiting trail in the 2023 class heading into the fall.

Meanwhile, the top of Alabama’s 2023 class (at least among the top 50 rated recruits) are five-star Mill Creek safety Caleb Downs, five-star Florence cornerback Jahlil Hurley, five-star Thompson safety Tony Mitchell, five-star Lehigh Senior running back Richard Young, and five-star Buford running back Justice Haynes.

Alabama nearly has six top-50 rated commits in their 2023 class, though, with the touted four-star quarterback and former Texas A&M Aggies pledge Eli Holstein in the mix.

For the time being, though, this is a big accomplishment for the Longhorns to be tied for the most top-50 rated commits in one recruiting class in the nation heading into the fall. That puts Texas within striking distance of challenging for the nation’s No. 1 rated 2023 class.

If nothing else, Texas is likely to at least haul in a top five ranked recruiting class for the second cycle in a row under Sark. The sky really is the limit, though, for the Longhorns 2023 class with Arch spearheading the charge to round out this cycle with a bang.

Texas is still seeking out more blue-chip commitments in the 2023 class in the near future. Two key targets of the Longhorns 2023 class with scheduled decision dates in the near future are four-star Woodlawn cornerback Jordan Matthews (Aug. 15) and four-star Longview wide receiver Jalen Hale (Sep. 21).