3 key Texas football commits taking other official visits this fall

Derek Williams, S

In my opinion, the most important defensive commitment in the Longhorns 2023 class at the moment is the elite five-star Westgate (LA) safety Derek Williams. Texas landed a commitment from Williams during the summer, which continued that insane wave of momentum for Sark and the Longhorns staff on the recruiting trail after landing the pledge from the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning.

Williams could be an immediate difference-maker for the Texas secondary, as he excels in multiple phases of the game on the back end of the defense. He’s a hard hitter that has excellent ranginess. Williams is also very physical in pass coverage, as he matches up against opposing wideouts very well for a safety.

Yet, Texas has faced some struggles on the recruiting trail in the last couple of months in terms of the results with some of the top defensive back targets. It looks like Texas is set to miss out on the five-star Arlington-Martin cornerback Javien Toviano this fall, as he’s starting to trend to LSU in the last few weeks.

There is some level of concern regarding the status of Williams this fall. While he still remains committed to the Longhorns 2023 class, the word on the street tends to be that his recruitment is pretty open.

That became more evident when Williams scheduled an official visit to Tuscaloosa for Oct. 7 to see Alabama.

Williams’ official visit to Tuscaloosa will come on the same weekend when the Crimson Tide host the SEC division foe Texas A&M Aggies at home. The atmosphere should be buzzing in Tuscaloosa for that Texas A&M game weekend.

At this point of his recruitment, I would clearly consider LSU and Alabama the two biggest threats to Texas in the race to sign Williams in a few months.