Texas football adds gifted, versatile athlete in 4-Star Jelani McDonald

The latest addition to the 2023 Texas football recruiting class arrived on the afternoon of Jan. 7 after the conclusion of the Army All-American Bowl in the form of the highly touted four-star Waco Connally (TX) athlete Jelani McDonald. The former Oklahoma State Cowboys commit McDonald was Texas’ lone addition on the recruiting trail this weekend.

McDonald is the 24th high school recruit to commit to the Longhorns 2023 class. He could also be the final addition to the Longhorns 2023 class since the scholarship spots are getting pretty slim.

And it appears that the lone 2023 recruit that the Longhorns are still pursuing is the elite five-star Pinnacle (AZ) tight end Duce Robinson. Texas will continue to push to land a commitment from Robinson through the whistle on the late National Signing Day next month.

Texas wound up landing the commitment from McDonald over his other top schools in Oklahoma State and the TCU Horned Frogs. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and co-DC/LB coach Jeff Choate kept their foot on the gas in this recruitment late in the cycle ahead of the Early Signing Period.

McDonald had a successful official visit to Austin on pre-signing day weekend last month (Dec. 16). That was the late push that Texas needed to ultimately seal the deal with McDonald.

And since McDonald actually signed on the dotted line during the Early Signing Period last month, he is already locked in with the Longhorns 2023 class. That also means that all two dozen of the high school recruits committed to the Longhorns 2023 class are officially signed.

What 4-Star ATH Jelani McDonald brings to the table for Texas football?

What Texas is getting in the uber-athletic and gifted 6-foot-3 and 190-pound athlete McDonald is one of the most versatile and potent defensive players in the 2023 signing class. Choate, Pete Kwiatkowski, and the Longhorns are looking at McDonald as a long-term developmental player that could be a hybrid linebacker/safety with elite upside.

McDonald could wind up playing as a boundary safety if he improves his consistency in pass coverage and play recognition pre-snap out of the box. But the more natural long-term fit for McDonald looks to be as an ultra-athletic and versatile off-ball linebacker.

Think of some combination of senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown in terms of his near-term fit with this defense with freshman Penn State safety Mekhi Flowers in terms of the athletic upside as a boundary safety.

Trajectory and long-term fit for Jelani McDonald at Texas

McDonald has rapidly improved his ability in pass coverage in camp and combine settings in the last few years. If he continues to make the necessary strides as a cover DB, then the long-term fit as a boundary safety could be a lot more realistic.

But I would anticipate that off-ball linebacker with a similar usage to that of sophomore Morice Blackwell Jr. is the most likely fit for McDonald in this defense in the next couple of years if he shows at least average cover skills.

Moreover, there is even the possibility of McDonald putting on 30 or 40 pounds to get the necessary muscle mass to come off the edge. McDonald definitely has the quickness and measurables to play as a stand-up edge rusher a few years down the line.

From what we can see on film in the last year or so from McDonald, he has a pretty incredible amount of versatility in multiple ways on the defensive side of the ball. He was able to seamlessly hang with some of the better wide receivers in one-on-one drills during All-American Bowl practice this week.

He also put those coverage skills on display during his senior season at Connally High School in Waco. McDonald registered one interception and a couple of pass breakups during his senior campaign in 2022.

But where McDonald was the most productive for Connally’s defense was the ability to quickly close on plays in the opposing team’s backfields. McDonald registered 10 tackles for loss during his senior season, four sacks, and more than a dozen quarterback pressures.

He’s got the quickness and sideline-to-sideline ranginess to play downhill stopping the run at the linebacker position while also covering a lot of range in the flats in pass coverage. And given the rate at which McDonald has improved his coverage skills in the last 12-15 months, it looks like he could be able to effectively cover a wider variety of routes from the off-ball linebacker position.

That ties into what I was talking about earlier with the natural fit in the next couple of years for McDonald with this Texas defense being as a Blackwell-type will linebacker.

Areas of improvement for Jelani McDonald

I’ve mentioned it a lot in this piece already, but McDonald is going to be a long-term developmental player for the Longhorns. While he’s got some special traits, he’s got a long way to go to get really get the feel of playing at off-ball linebacker and/or boundary safety at the next level.

And McDonald is going to have to add more muscle mass wherever his long-term positional fit is along this Texas defense.

In terms of his cover skills, McDonald needs to work on his hips and fundamentals in one-on-one man coverage situations. McDonald still has to make some strides in terms of how he turns his hips in pass coverage and his timing once the ball is in the air.

Landing McDonald on Jan. 7 now puts the Longhorns 2023 class north of 16 blue-chip commitments. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2023 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 3 in the nation and in the top spot ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners.