Texas Football: 3 priority recruits trending to the Horns this spring

Following the conclusion of spring ball, head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas football have a heavy focus on the recruiting trail for the 2024 and 2025 classes. Texas is getting the official visit schedule set for the summer while going through the spring evaluation period to get more offers sent out to emerging targets in the next few recruiting classes.

Sark and the Longhorns seemingly had a positive run on the recruiting trail during spring camp, highlighted by a couple of big visit weekends. Texas hosted more than a dozen key targets on the recruiting trail in the 2024 and 2025 classes for the second Junior Day of the offseason on the weekend of March 25.

And then, Texas had even more priority recruits on the 40 for the Orange-White Game a couple of weekends ago (specifically on April 15). The spring game and both Junior Days left positive impressions on the bulk of the visitors that were on campus in those weekends over the course of the last few months.

Jerrick Gibson and the blue-chip recruits Texas football is trending for this spring

Now it’s time for Texas to start building a wave of momentum in the 2024 class as we head into the summer. With that in mind, here’s a look at three priority 2024 recruits that the Longhorns are trending for following the conclusion of spring ball.

Jordon Johnson-Rubell, S

A top defensive back priority in the 2024 class for Sark, safeties coach Blake Gideon, and the Longhorns is the touted four-star IMG Academy safety Jordon Johnson-Rubell. The Texas native and former Fort Worth Brewer defensive back is someone that is feeling the love from Texas over the course of the last few months.

The communication with Johnson-Rubell has remained constant for the Texas coaches (namely Gideon and Sark) since last summer. Johnson-Rubell has also had multiple successful unofficial trips to the Forty Acres since last fall. The most recent visit came on March 10, 2023, along with a coach visit to IMG Academy in the last few weeks.

One of the more significant reports and/or developments in this recruitment of late is the note from Gerry Hamilton of Inside Texas in a piece published on April 26 that mentioned Johnson-Rubell is likely going to return to Texas to play college football. That would obviously favor some of the top schools in Texas that are making big pushes for Johnson-Rubell this offseason such as the Longhorns and TCU Horned Frogs.

Texas can continue to make big moves in this recruitment when Johnson-Rubell makes a return trip to the 40 on the weekend of June 24 for one of his five official visits.

It sounds like Texas already leads in this recruitment if a top school had to be named at the moment. A successful official visit could be Texas firmly in pole position this summer in the race to land a commitment from Johnson-Rubell. That is if Texas isn’t already the established frontrunner in this recruitment.

Considering the fact that there are roughly a half-dozen national recruiting analysts/reporters that have forecasted Johnson-Rubell’s commitment to Texas in the last couple of months, I feel pretty confident in saying that the Longhorns hold pole position here.