Texas Football: 5-Star CB Kobe Black says he ‘feels at home’ in Austin

The early returns for the 2024 Texas football recruiting class are looking pretty good thus far. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff have reeled in three blue-chip commitments in the 2024 class, which has given Texas a top 10 class in the nation for that cycle.

The picture of what priority targets are in place for the Longhorns 2024 class heading into next offseason has cleared up in the last few months. And one of the top targets for the Longhorns 2024 class early on in the cycle is the elite five-star Waco Connally cornerback Kobe Black.

But Texas is going to have a real battle on its hands on the recruiting trail to eventually win the race to land a commitment from Black.

There are quite a few schools involved in the recruitment of Black early on. He’s already seen the likes of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Texas A&M Aggies, Texas, and LSU Tigers, multiple times.

Oklahoma State and LSU have the makings of the early frontrunners.

Black’s brother, Oklahoma State cornerback Korie Black, is currently playing for the Pokes. That is a large reason why Black has taken nearly a half-dozen unofficial visits to Stillwater to see Oklahoma State, including on multiple game weekends this fall.

LSU is also making a strong early run at Black on the recruiting trail.

Yet, it does appear that cornerbacks coach Terry Joseph and the Longhorns are finding some real traction with Black and his camp of late. It sounds like the communication is pretty consistent between Joseph and the Longhorns staff with Black.

According to a report from CJ Vogel of TFB Texas on Oct. 26 (donor content), Black is “hearing often from Texas” and the CB coach Joseph. Black reportedly mentioned that Joseph “is great” and that he is essentially giving him a straightforward pitch to come to Texas that seems to be connecting with the five-star DB.

Texas football leaving a strong early impression on 5-Star CB Kobe Black

It’s also worth noting that Black seems to really like the atmosphere he’s witnessed in Austin over the course of his three unofficial visits in the last 12 months or so. He noted that the “atmosphere and everybody there has a family vibe” and that Texas “makes you feel at home”.

The last time that Black visited Austin was an unofficial trip back on the weekend of Sep. 10 to see the Longhorns take on the Alabama Crimson Tide at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. That was an insane atmosphere for Black to be in the midst of, and it looks like it left a lasting impression on him, among many other recruits.

Black was also in attendance to see Oklahoma State host Texas in Stillwater last weekend.

Moreover, the early read here is that Texas will continue to push for Black to get to Austin as much as possible in the next 12 months to try and continue to get positioned among the top schools in this recruitment. Joseph and the Longhorns have seemingly made a positive impression on Black early on, but this has the makings of one of the fiercest and most competitive recruitments of any of the priority targets of Texas’ 2024 defensive class.

As of this moment, there is nothing on the books for Black to make another trip to Austin this fall. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he made it back to Austin either for another game in November or at some point in January. He visited Texas in January 2022 for his second unofficial visit to Austin.

Texas currently has three commitments in the 2024 class. That includes two cornerback commits in the mix in the Longhorns 2024 class in the highly touted four-star Daingerfield (TX) product Aeryn Hampton and four-star Aledo product Jaden Allen.