Texas Football: 3 2023 recruits the Longhorns can flip in December

The stretch run of this cycle has a lot of potential for the 2023 Texas football recruiting class. Texas has reeled in a solid 2023 class thus far. And closing out strong ahead of the Early Signing Period (which begins on Dec. 21) is a must if head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff want to lock in a top three or five-ranked class in the nation.

This recruiting class currently holds commitments from 21 prospects in the 2023 class a couple of weeks ahead of early signing day. And it looks like Sark and the Longhorns are looking to get the number of high school commits in the 2023 class up by a count of at least two or three more.

I will say, though, that the Longhorns are going to be rather selective with how they utilize the remaining scholarships in the 2023 class. Texas is going to be mindful of the remaining scholarship spots given the options that this staff will also have to explore in the portal.

At the moment, one of the most common areas that the Longhorns are looking to fill the remaining spots in the 2023 class comes by way of high school recruits that are currently committed to other schools.

4-Star WR DeAndre Moore Jr. and the priority 2023 recruits Texas football can flip in December

With that in mind, here’s a look at three 2023 recruits the Longhorns can flip in December ahead of early signing day.

Justin Benton, DL

One of the first notable official visits up on the docket for the Longhorns this month is the underrated three-star Covington Newtown (GA) defensive lineman and West Virginia Mountaineers commit Justin Benton.

With defensive line coach Bo Davis and the Longhorns looking to fill one more spot in the 2023 class for this position group, Benton is one of the top targets to watch in the next couple of weeks.

In fact, Benton is scheduled for an official visit to Austin this coming weekend to see Texas. This will be the first time that Benton makes the trip to Austin since Texas offered him on Nov. 20. The official visit for Benton to Texas is set to take place specifically on Dec. 10.

Yet, Davis already made the trip out to Georgia to see Benton, making it known how much he would like to have the West Virginia commit in the mix in the Longhorns 2023 class. Davis is doing a fantastic job in this recruitment, which is why Texas is a legitimate threat to flip Benton’s commitment from the Mountaineers.

Texas and the Arkansas Razorbacks are the two likely destinations for Benton ahead of early signing day in a couple of weeks. Arkansas made a good impression on Benton and his camp during his official visit to Fayetteville on Nov. 4.

This will be a tight one, and it could come down to how much Davis and the Longhorns push to actually flip the commitment of Benton ahead of signing day. Texas has some other DL targets on the radar in the 2023 class at the moment including three-star Chicago Brother Rice product Roderick Pierce and four-star Stanford commit Cameron Brandt.