3 recent Texas decommits who became stars
Texas football has always recruited at an elite level on the trail. Given the well-established tradition, resources, and brand name Texas brings, this has always been a program that sold itself on the recruiting trail in many ways.
Who was the most consequential Texas football decommit from the last few years?
With head coach Steve Sarkisian now putting it all together with the combination of the Longhorns finding success on the field and the recruiting trail recently, the sky is the limit for Texas entering the SEC in 2024.
Sarkisian has the Longhorns on the up and up at the right time. He's not only recruiting well, especially at the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, but his staff is also developing their players at a high level.
Player development and misguided scouting evaluations on the recruiting trail were two factors that plagued Texas in years' past. In the final years of Mack Brown's tenure, along with the years under Charlie Strong and Tom Herman, Texas suffered from occasional poor recruiting evaluations and lacked player development on a consistent basis.
Part of Texas's missteps on the field and the recruiting trail during the 2010s and the first year of the 2020s decade cost this program key prospects in past classes. That said, you're also not going to win every single recruitment from key targets on the trail each cycle.
Here's a look at three recent Texas decommits on the recruiting trail who became stars in college.
Billy Bowman, S
Safety Billy Bowman was a one-time Texas pledge in the 2021 class before he committed to the Oklahoma Sooners. Bowman essentially flipping his commitment from Texas to Oklahoma was one of a few key missteps by Herman and staff during the 2021 cycle that diminished their talent in the class.
Bowman was one of three elite recruits who decommitted from the Longhorns in the 2021 class and went on to be an all-conference performer for a Power Five team. The asterisk with that number is that one of those three decommitments was former No. 1 overall quarterback recruit in the nation in the 2021 class, Southlake Carroll's Quinn Ewers.
The former high-four-star recruit from Denton (TX) Ryan High School emerged as one of the top defensive backs in the Big 12 in 2022 and 2023. Bowman led the Big 12 in interceptions (six), interception return yards (238), and interception return touchdowns (three) en route to being named a 247Sports First-Team All-American in 2023.
Bowman is returning for an Oklahoma defense for head coach Brent Venables, who could be one of the best in the SEC in the Sooners' inaugural season in the conference in 2024. Oklahoma ranks third in the FBS in defensive returning production for the 2024 season (per Sharp College Football).
Bowman is a critical playmaker who will be a huge part of a talented and experienced Sooner secondary this upcoming season in the SEC. He was named a Third-Team Preseason All-American by Athlon Sports ahead of the 2024 campaign.