3 Texas football commits on flip watch heading into signing day

As is the case for many cycles that we’ve covered, it looks like the 2023 Texas football recruiting class will be fighting to retain some key commits in the mix from flipping to other schools ahead of the Early Signing Period (which begins on Dec. 21). A couple of weeks ahead of early signing day, Texas saw a handful of commits in the 2023 recruiting class make unannounced unofficial visits to other schools.

This obviously is never a great sign when key blue-chip commits are taking abrupt and unannounced trips to other competing schools on the recruiting trail so close to signing day.

And it’s not only the unannounced visits that head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff have to worry about in terms of their commitments in the 2023 class getting put on flip watch this month. Texas still has some other highly sought-after recruits committed to the 2023 class that were known to be on flip watch heading into early signing day.

With the closing stretch ahead for the next couple of weeks leading up to early signing day, it looks like the recruits on flip watch will dominate the headlines on the trail for the Longhorns. And that goes both ways with Sark and the Longhorns trying to flip some other touted commits to other schools ahead of signing day.

5-Star S Derek Williams and the Texas football commits on flip watch this month

Here’s a look at three Longhorns commits on flip watch 10 days ahead of the start of the Early Signing Period.

Dylan Spencer, DL

We already talked about the surprise visit that the touted four-star Houston C.E. King defensive lineman Dylan Spencer took to see the Houston Cougars this weekend. It probably won’t sit well with the Texas coaches that Spencer took the unannounced trip to Houston given the longstanding commitment to the Longhorns. He originally committed to Texas back in mid-March and is currently the longest-standing pledge in the 2023 class.

Spencer’s unofficial trip to Houston this weekend was the second time that he’s taken a visit that could cause some concern for the Texas coaching staff in the last couple of months. He also took an unofficial visit to see the TCU Horned Frogs recently.

But it looked like defensive line coach Bo Davis was able to keep Spencer’s commitment to Texas firm after the unofficial trip to see TCU generated some buzz surrounding the potential flip.

I don’t know how much more the coaches are going to push to retain the commitment of Spencer to the 2023 class at this point. Davis and the Longhorns are clearly prioritizing some other DL recruits for the 2023 class ahead of early signing day, namely three stars Roderick Pierce and Justin Benton.

And if Texas feels like it can get a commitment from either Pierce or Benton in the next couple of weeks, then retaining Spencer might be less of a priority for the staff.