Texas football cracks top 5 for 4-Star DL target Ethan Utley

Texas football is on a roll right now on the trail with high school and transfer portal recruiting. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and staff signed a top-five-ranked class nationally for the 2024 cycle in the 247Sports Composite rankings. And the 2025 class is off to a strong start, especially after landing two blue-chip commitments in as many weeks as December.

Texas has continued to get good news on the recruiting trail with priority recruits in the 2025 class this week.

Texas football continues to be a top school for priority 4-Star 2025 DL Ethan Utley

Another top target on defense for the Longhorns in the 2025 class, the highly touted four-star Nashville (TN) Ensworth defensive lineman Ethan Utley, has Texas in the mix among his five finalist schools.

Utley included Texas along with the Michigan Wolverines, Syracuse Orange, Oklahoma Sooners, and Tennessee Volunteers in a post on his Twitter/X on Dec. 25 for his latest round of finalist school cuts.

In an interview with 247Sports, Utley spoke on his relationships with the Texas coaches and why the Longhorns made the cut among his five finalist schools.

"Texas ever since my first time being there I knew was going to be in my recruitment for a while. Ever since I met Coach Gideon for the first time at school in the spring of my sophomore year he has been so real and just someone that was easy to connect with."

Texas has Utley bought into the trajectory of the program upon the move to the SEC in 2024

Utley is among the top out-of-state priorities along the defensive line for DL coach Bo Davis, safeties coach Blake Gideon, and the Longhorns in the 2025 class. He's got good relationships with Davis, Sark, and Gideon, and has visited Texas multiple times this year.

His latest visit to Texas was for the early November contest at DKR that resulted in an overtime win over the No. 23 Kansas State Wildcats. Utley also visited Texas for the Elite Camp in early June.

Utley has bought into the direction of the program under Sark. And he's taken notice of the development Texas had along the defensive line in the last two years.

"Meeting Coach Bo and Coach Sarkisian on my visit this summer just helped their case even more being able to be coached by Coach Bo will be something I never forget and know that is definitely someone I could trust with my future just looking at his development in the past and what he is doing right now at Texas."

Tennessee is the school in Utley's top five that he's visited the most. He's also visited Texas, Michigan, and Syracuse multiple times in the last 15 months. Utley has visited Oklahoma once.