Texas Football: 4-Star A&M LB commit officially visiting UT this weekend

A little over one week before signing day, Texas football coaches are busy on the road trying to make the final pushes on the recruiting trail in the 2024 class. Texas coaches have been visiting various high schools and making in-home visits to see top targets and commits in the 2024 class, with the first day of the Early Signing Period on Dec. 20.

Texas has a few outstanding flip targets that head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are chipping away at late in this cycle.

One of the flip targets that essentially re-emerged as a possibility for Texas in the 2024 class before signing day next week is the touted four-star Jasper (TX) linebacker and Texas A&M Aggies commit Tyanthony Smith.

Texas football still has a shot to flip 4-Star Texas A&M LB commit Tyanthony Smith late in the cycle

Smith was a top flip target for co-DCs/LB coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate on the recruiting trail in the 2024 class this fall. Texas had a couple of official visit dates set to get Smith to campus for a gameday or in early December. But none of those came to fruition as Smith essentially re-affirmed his commitment to the Aggies a couple of weeks ago.

But the tides seem to be shifting again in the Longhorns’ favor in this recruitment. Justin Wells of Inside Texas reported on Dec. 12 that Smith will take an official visit to Texas this weekend.

With Smith scheduled to officially visit the Longhorns this weekend, this event immediately moves him to the top of the board among Texas’s top late-cycle linebacker priorities in the 2024 class.

Texas remains alive in this recruitment, despite the departure of Jeff Choate

Texas’s odds in this recruitment seemed bleaker in the last couple of weeks when it was reported that the Nevada Wolfpack hired Choate to fill its head coaching vacancy. Choate was Smith’s primary recruiter, one of the big reasons Texas was still alive in its quest to flip his commitment from the Aggies this fall.

Yet, Sark, PK, and the Longhorns still have a fighting chance with one of their top in-state linebacker priorities in the 2024 class.

Smith would be the only LB take in Texas’s 2024 class if he flips from Texas A&M

With Smith being the highest-priority at linebacker for the Longhorns in the 2024 class heading into signing day next week, that likely means he would be the only take at the position at this point of the cycle.

Texas doesn’t currently have any linebackers committed to the 2024 class. PK and the Longhorns liked their haul at linebacker in the 2023 class, so they could afford not to take one this cycle.

The two expectations for the Longhorns in the 2024 class would be if they could flip Smith from Texas A&M or the nation’s top linebacker recruit in this cycle in the 247Sports Composite, Georgia five-star commit Justin Williams.

Texas has a loaded group of visiting recruits for this weekend

Smith joins multiple other blue-chip recruits in the 2024 class who are visiting Texas on the last weekend before signing day. Texas also has some massive flip targets visiting this weekend officially, namely the elite five-star McKinney (TX) safety and Florida Gators commit Xavier Filsaime.