Texas Football: 3 elite recruits trending to UT in March

Riley Pettijohn, LB

The No. 2 linebacker recruit in Texas in the 2025 class in the 247Sports Composite and On3 Industry Ranking, McKinney (TX) five-star Riley Pettijohn, is another top priority for Nansen and the Longhorns entering the spring.

It's easily arguable that Pettijohn and Barnes are Texas's top two linebacker priorities in the 2025 class. Texas is looking to fend off some of the top college football programs in the nation in the race to land a commitment from Pettijohn this offseason.

Pettijohn is considering Texas, Ohio State, USC, and Florida State among his top schools entering the spring visit season.

Nansen has done a nice job in this recruitment for the elite DFW-area linebacker in the last few months. Pettijohn had a tight relationship with Choate, but Nansen has taken the baton and continued to build momentum for Texas in this recruitment early this offseason.

He told Mike Roach of 247Sports that he likes Nansen and that they "talk a lot and have a really good relationship".

Pettijohn had a successful unofficial visit to Texas for the first big Junior Day of the offseason on Jan. 20. He's also set to take an official visit to Texas in mid-June. The two official visits he currently has scheduled are to USC on June 21 and Texas on June 14.

Texas was one of the first schools to prioritize Pettijohn's recruitment. He has a longstanding relationship with many of the coaches on Texas's staff.

For many of the reasons listed above, including relationships, proximity to home, and frequency of visits, Texas could easily be considered the favorite for Pettijohn if one had to be named early this spring.

Hank South of Horns247 and Justin Wells of Inside Texas have both recently forecasted Pettijohn's commitment to Texas.

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