Texas Football: Analyzing 5 Junior Day visitors to watch this weekend

Nigel Smith II, DL

An interesting development on the recruiting trail in the last few weeks is the re-emergence of communication between the Texas coaches and the touted four-star 6-foot-4 and 260-pound Melissa (TX) defensive lineman Nigel Smith II. Despite being rated as one of the top defensive linemen in the state of Texas in the 2024 class, Smith hasn’t remained in regular contact with the Longhorns staff in the last six or eight months.

While Texas has prioritized other recruits in the 2024 class along the defensive front in the last few months, Smith has frequently visited competing schools on the recruiting trail such as Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

In fact, Oklahoma has looked like the leader in this recruitment for the last three or four months. Smith has really solid relationships with the Oklahoma staff. He’s also visited Norman nearly a half-dozen times since last summer.

Yet, Smith is still part of the visitor list for Texas’ Junior Day this weekend. This weekend will be the first time that Smith has visited Texas since he made the trip to Austin in June 2022.

I don’t know how much ground the Longhorns will be able to make up in this recruitment during this rather abrupt visit for Junior Day this weekend. But when one of the top-rated defensive line recruits in the state visits the Forty Acres abruptly in the spring, it’s always going to be something we’re paying attention to.