4 must-win recruitments for Steve Sarkisian this summer
Visit season began for Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian last weekend for the Elite Camp on June 1. Texas hosted multiple dozen visiting recruits from the 2026 and 2027 classes for the Elite Camp over the weekend.
Top priority recruitments to watch for Texas football entering summer official visits
This coming weekend marks the first big official visit weekend of the summer for the Longhorns. Starting June 7, Texas is scheduled to host many key priority blue-chip recruits for official visits.
Three straight weekends of big-time official visitors highlights the month of June on the recruiting trail for Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff. This will be an extremely busy month on the recruiting trail for Sarkisian for the 2025 and 2026 classes.
While Sarkisian and staff tend to play a very patient game with their recruiting strategy each cycle, the month of June always proves to be a critical time on the trail to build momentum before most prospects make their decisions late in the summer. Here are three must-win recruitments for Sarkisian and the Longhorns in the 2025 and 2026 classes this summer.
Dia Bell, QB
One of the headlining visitors in the 2026 class for the Texas Elite Camp last weekend was the elite five-star Fort Lauderdale (FL) American Heritage quarterback Dia Bell. The No. 2 quarterback recruit in the nation in the 2026 class in the 247Sports Composite impressed the coaches with a strong showing during his workout at the Elite Camp on June 1.
It continues to be the case that Texas is trending well in this recruitment entering the rest of Bell's summer visits. Sarkisian and quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee have really prioritized Bell's recruitment since the start of the offseason.
A big storyline during the Elite Camp last weekend was the battle for that quarterback spot for the Longhorns 2026 class between Bell and four-star San Marcos (CA) Mission Hills product Troy Huhn. Bell seemed to have the slight edge regarding the priority order for the top two quarterback offers for the Longhorns for the 2026 cycle entering last weekend.
Horns247 reported on June 3 (paid content) that they "lean toward" Bell as the top target at quarterback for Texas's 2026 class early in the summer visit circuit.
Bell has upcoming visits to see the LSU Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, and Ohio State Buckeyes for the rest of the month. There's a good chance that Bell could be ready to announce within a month or two after he visits these last three schools in June.