The Longhorns have recently been invading the state of Florida and finding a ton of success on the recruiting trail.
The latest example came when they landed the 6-foot-4, 315-pound defensive lineman out of Orlando, D’antre Robinson. The four-star recently chatted with On3 to discuss what ultimately drew him to Texas and how his relationships with current Longhorns from the Sunshine state helped him make that decision.
“The Texas Longhorns made me feel like I was at home at my unofficial visit and my official visit,” Robinson said. “It was a win-win situation for me, and I have a few guys from the Orlando area that go there.”
Both of the players he’s referring to are freshmen that committed as part of the elite 2023 class Texas brought in, Payton Kirkland and Cedric Baxter. While the move to the SEC may play a factor in some recruitments, for Robinson that was just an added bonus as he was more so focused on what else Texas could offer that other programs couldn’t.
“The SEC has to play a role in people’s commitment to Texas from Florida, but the biggest thing for me is they always don’t talk about football,” Robinson said. “They want to talk about your life outside of football, and Austin is definitely a big city. Austin has a lot of opportunity outside of football even if you don’t make it in football. That’s a big thing that really catches a lot of people’s eye.”
Being that the Longhorns pipeline with Florida is still freshly developing, it certainly helps that they have gone in there over the last couple classes and found success. Of their 15 commitments thus far, four of them hail from the state of Florida with two of their highest rated commits being from IMG Academy.
Look for Texas to continue to work their way into Florida in the future and come out victorious.