Texas football working on visit date with 4-Star LSU commit Kyle Parker

A few weeks out from the start of the Early Signing Period, there are some finishing touches that head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are looking to put on the 2023 Texas football recruiting class. And one of the position groups that Texas is trying to figure out in the 2023 class ahead of the early signing day next month is wide receiver.

Sark, wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Brennan Marion, and the Longhorns have two blue-chip wideouts currently committed to the 2023 class. But it looks like Texas is seeking out one more wide receiver commit in the 2023 class before signing day if the right target is interested at least.

One of the wide receiver targets that Sark, Marion, and the Longhorns were after at different points in the last eight or 12 months is the touted four-star LSU Tigers commit/Lovejoy wideout Kyle Parker.

But the priority that was being afforded to Parker in the last few months didn’t seem to be at the same level as other key wideout targets in the 2023 class such as Jalen Hale, DeAndre Moore Jr., Jaden Greathouse, etc. Texas wasn’t pursuing Parker as much this fall as it was during the summer, right after his late-June commitment to LSU.

In fact, Parker hasn’t visited Austin since the spring, a couple of months prior to his commitment to LSU. He took unofficial visits to the Forty Acres in late January and early April 2022.

Texas football working to get 4-Star LSU WR commit Kyle Parker on the books for a visit in December

Despite Texas seemingly backing off Parker a little bit in recent months, it now looks as if the communication could be picking back up as we head into early signing day in the coming weeks. According to a report from Justin Wells of Inside Texas on Nov. 28 (paid content), the staff is “looking to get” Parker on campus in December for a visit.

Getting Parker on campus would obviously be a huge step in the right direction for Texas in this recruitment. Parker has maintained that he is firm on his commitment to LSU throughout the five months or so since he announced his pledge in June.

We’ve heard more about the pursuit from this staff of Parker in the last couple of weeks as other wideout targets have fallen off the board.

And with the potential for sophomore wide receiver Xavier Worthy to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal at the end of this season, the need to get some depth in the WR room is front and center once again.

At the moment, it’s looking like Texas could soon emerge as a potential threat to LSU in terms of flipping the commitment of Parker. But Texas will need to get Parker on campus before it would be considered a legitimate threat to flip the in-state wideout.

Moreover, I would consider Parker in a group of four priority wide receiver recruits on the Longhorns’ radar as early signing day approaches. The other three include the Louisville Cardinals commit Moore Jr., Notre Dame Fighting Irish commit Greathouse, and four-star USC Trojans commit Ja’Kobi Lane.

If I had to make an educated guess right now, I would say that Moore and then Parker would be the two most realistic flip targets for the Longhorns at the wide receiver position before signing day.

Texas currently has commitments from 21 recruits in the 2023 class as of the morning of Nov. 28. The two wide receivers committed to the Longhorns 2023 class are the elite five-star DeSoto product Johntay Cook and the speedy four-star Aldine Eisenhower product Ryan Niblett.