Texas Football: Evaluating 3 new 2024 offers to know this spring

Marquise Lightfoot, EDGE

Another recent edge rusher that the Longhorns offered this spring in the 2024 class is the highly touted four-star Chicago (IL) Kenwood Academy product, Marquise Lightfoot. The 6-foot-4 and 220-pound Lightfoot is widely regarded as one of the top edge rushers out of the Midwest in the 2024 class.

He’s also someone that caught the eye of the Texas coaches in the last few months thanks to his natural chops as a pass rusher. Texas is getting in on this recruitment pretty late, though, after offering Lightfoot on March 28, 2023.

Nearly 40 schools had already offered the fast-rising Chicago native edge rusher. And we’ve already seen the likes of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Miami Hurricanes, USC, and the Alabama Crimson Tide, among a few other schools make big moves with Lightfoot in the last six months or so.

Moreover, Lightfoot is the type of edge rusher prospect that could become an impact player in his first or second year on campus if he’s able to add some weight to his frame in the next six or eight months. If Lightfoot could get around 250 or 260 pounds by the winter, he would be one of the most physically-impressive edge rushers across the entire country in the 2024 class.

He could be the type of naturally-proficient pass-rusher that Texas needs along the defensive front. Lightfoot also fits the mold physically of what PK and the Longhorns usually want out of their ideal buck edge rusher.

I like what Lightfoot brings to the table, but Texas would need to really prioritize getting him on campus in the next couple of months to start making up a lot of ground to really have a shot in this recruitment heading into the fall.