Texas football a major contender for 5-Star EDGE Zina Umeozulu

The 2024 Texas football recruiting class sits in a good spot early in this cycle, with three-blue chip commits in the mix as of Sep. 27. Texas will be looking to follow up what appears to be a top-three-caliber 2023 recruiting class nationally with at least a top-five ranked 2024 class.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are charting a promising course early on the recruiting trail for the Longhorns 2024 class. And the momentum could continue to trend in their favor with a successful run on the field this fall.

Yet, the work is only just starting now as Texas tries to build out the foundation in the 2024 class this fall. Texas is still working to establish its position early on with a number of top targets in the 2024 class.

And one of the top targets to watch for the Longhorns 2024 class this fall is the highly touted Allen edge rusher Zina Umeozulu.

Texas is needing to pull in as much edge rusher depth as possible in the next two recruiting classes, making the DFW product Umeozulu so important for this staff. And it looks like Texas is sitting in a good position with Umeozulu early on.

Texas football has emerged as a notable contender early on with 2024 EDGE Zina Umeozulu

There are a few factors that fell into place this fall that worked out well for the Longhorns in the recruitment of Umeozulu. First off, Zina’s brother is a freshman offensive lineman at Texas, Neto Umeozulu. Neto signed with the Longhorns as part of the 2022 recruiting class.

While it doesn’t look like having his brother rostered with the team means that the Longhorns are guaranteed to get a commitment from Zina, it definitely won’t hurt their chances with the talented in-state edge rusher.

Texas also had a few successful visits during key game weekends early this season with Umeozulu that made a positive impression on him by most accounts. Zina was in attendance at DKR on Sep. 3 to see Texas beat the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in the season opener and on Sep. 10 in the close one-point loss to the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

It sounded like Umeozulu had nothing but positive reviews for Texas coming out of the unofficial visit weekend from the Alabama game.

And according to a report from Jason Suchomel of Orangebloods on Sep. 27 (paid content), Texas likely moved up in Umeozulu’s mind among his top schools this fall since the two unofficial visits he took to Austin in the last few weeks.

It is worth noting, though, that while Texas does look like one of the top schools in the race to land a commitment from Umeozulu early on in his recruitment, this thing is far from over. Texas does have a real shot to get him in the 2024 class, but there will be some strong challenges that come from the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, Miami Hurricanes, etc.

Last weekend, Umeozulu was in attendance in Arlington, TX, for Texas A&M’s one-point win over the Arkansas Razorbacks. It sounds like that was a good visit for him to see A&M get that much-needed win over Arkansas.

But it’s also easy to get the vibe that Umeozulu is far from done with the recruitment process. This could easily be a process that is drawn out at least until next summer.

Texas has to feel good about where they sit at the moment, though, among the assumed frontrunners for Umeozulu. A pair of good visits and the fact that his brother is already on campus on the Forty Acres has to give Texas an advantage in this recruitment to some degree. The other factor here must be that Texas continues to make notable strides on the field, especially along the defensive front for the rest of the season.

Texas’ 2024 class currently has three commits, highlighted by the highly touted four-star Daingerfield (TX) cornerback/athlete Aeryn Hampton. There aren’t any edge rushers and/or defensive ends currently committed to the Longhorns 2024 class.