Texas Football: Evaluating 3 new priority blue-chip recruits this spring

Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian are taking a patient approach to the 2024 recruiting cycle in terms of actually taking commits in this class from the high school ranks. As of the writing of this article late in the morning of April 6, Texas holds commitments from two recruits in the 2024 class.

That is the fourth fewest commits of any of the Big 12 schools in the 2024 class at the moment. It also puts Texas around the 40th percentile in terms of the number of commits from the high school ranks in the 2024 class among all the Power Five schools.

Every move that Sark and the Longhorns are making on the recruiting trail this spring indicates they are building up for some big-time moves during the summer and the fall. Texas is clearly playing the long game with a lot of its top-priority recruits in the 2024 class.

Texas is also still going through the spring evaluation period, with some fast risers in recent months rising up the figurative big board for the Longhorns.

Caden Durham and the new priority recruits on Texas football’s radar this spring

With that in mind, here’s a look at an evaluation of three of the newest priority blue-chip recruits for Texas in the 2024 class this spring.

Gatlin Bair, WR

One of the wide receiver recruitments for the Longhorns that heated up the most in the last couple of weeks is that of the insanely fast and highly touted four-star Burley Senior (ID) product Gatlin Bair. The 6-foot-2 and 180-pound Idaho native wideout ran a blazing-fast 10.18-second 100-meter dash time at the Texas relays last weekend.

That type of speed is obviously something that caught the eye of Sark and new wide receivers coach Chris Jackson last weekend.

Texas had already offered Bair in late January 2023. But the fact that he ran a sub-10.2-second 100-meter dash time at the Texas relays in Austin got him the exposure needed to pick up even more Power Five attention in the last few days, especially from the Longhorns staff.

Bair made his first visit to the Forty Acres since Texas offered him on Jan. 31 on March 29. Texas will now look to get an official visit on the books with the Idaho wideout while also making a push to get in his top five.

A report from Joe Cook of Inside Texas on April 3 (paid content) gave a bit of insight as to where Texas stands among the top schools in the race to land a commitment from Bair coming out of the weekend.

Bair noted that Texas is at least in contention to make his list of five finalist schools this spring. But it doesn’t sound like Bair has quite yet decided what five schools he will officially visit during the summer and fall.

What is clear at the moment is that Texas is starting to prioritize the recruitment of Bair more this spring. Sark and Jackson want that insane track speed that Bair could bring to this offense as someone that could take the top off of opposing defenses.

Bair is also a major weapon in the return game and even has some upside as a defensive prospect at the collegiate level. Although, it sounds like Texas offered him as a wide receiver.