Texas football has ‘attention’ of No. 2 2025 LB Riley Pettijohn

Texas football is approaching the final big visit week/weekend of the summer before the start of the 2023 regular season for the late July pool party/BBQ. Texas will primarily focus on key targets from the 2025 recruiting class among the big-time visitors on the list for the July pool party/BBQ this week.

The Longhorns are starting to build out the big board for the 2025 class late this summer, with many recent visitors on campus being prioritized.

A recent visitor among the early-cycle offers for the Longhorns from the 2025 class that has Texas among his top schools early in his recruitment is the highly touted four-star McKinney (TX) linebacker, Riley Pettijohn. The high-four-star rising junior linebacker out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex liked what he saw at Texas during a mid-June unofficial visit to Austin.

Texas football a top school early on for high 4-Star 2025 LB Riley Pettijohn

Texas co-DC/LB coach Jeff Choate made a positive impression on Pettijohn during his unofficial visit to the 40 last month. Pettijohn told Jason Suchomel of Orangebloods (subscriber content) that he likes Texas one month after his first visit to the 40.

"“Coach (Jeff) Choate is a really cool guy. We got to sit down and talk some football. I liked their facilities too.”"

https://twitter.com/r_pettijohn/status/1670821972157124611

It sounds like Texas likes Pettijohn as an athletic will linebacker, similar to what Choate and Pete Kwiatkowski had in DeMarvion Overshown. Choate pitched the 6-foot-3 and 200-pound in that type of athletic weakside linebacker role that can rush the passer and cover the flats in pass coverage.

"“(Choate) sees me fitting in as a middle linebacker, but being able to blitz and cover too.”"

Texas among the top group of schools for Pettijohn early on

Texas is in a good spot among the top schools early in Pettijohn’s recruitment after he was offered late in the spring and had a good visit during the summer. He specifically mentioned to Suchomel that the USC Trojans, Florida Gators, and Texas. are the three schools that have his “attention” early in his recruitment.

The Oklahoma Sooners and LSU Tigers are also some of the bigger programs that offered Pettijohn that he wants to visit soon.

Choate and the Longhorns are making Pettijohn one of their top in-state priorities at linebacker in the 2025 class heading into the fall. Linebacker recruiting will come into focus in the 2025 cycle for the Longhorns after Choate and PK aren’t prioritizing any top linebackers in the 2024 class.