While Texas has been struggling for over a decade, the most recent issues could very well be attributed to the 2019 recruiting class.
Success is not determined by one recruiting cycle. However, former head coach Tom Herman and his staff seemed like they couldn’t keep a cactus alive, let alone develop and maximize a class full of heralded recruits at the time, but having a class of 26 players turn into practically nothing is definitely a contributor to the program’s lack of success recently.
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger was only able to do so much during his time as a Longhorn, and it probably wasn’t until after he left that Texas fans realized how much his heroics were masking a team that was running thin at every position.
The 2019 class, which at the time was expected to be Herman’s best class as it was ranked No. 3 in the nation, quickly evaporated. It has now left Steve Sarkisian in a situation where he needs to really hit on his first class in order to make up for the mistakes of the prior regime.
Of the 26 enrollees, 12 of them have left or plan on transferring, three had medical issues that prevented them from ever seeing the field, and four of them do not contribute. This means that of the 26, 18 players from the class are not contributing in what should be their junior season.
Here is the status of all of the players from Texas’ 2019 recruiting class.