Exploring how many five-star WR Texas will land in 2025 recruiting class

We look realistically at Texas’ five star receiving targets.

Texas is trending for three five-star wide receiver targets. Some indicate the Longhorns are in the lead for two if not all three.

The players under consideration are Dakorien Moore, Kaliq Lockett and Jaime Ffrench. All are among the top five receivers and Top 20 overall players in the country according to On3 Sports.

Moore, the nation’s top receiver and No. 3 overall player according to On3 Sports, has long been considered a natural fit at Texas. Playing alongside former Duncanville teammates in edge Colin Simmons and defensive tackle Alex January and another former Duncanville player in offensive tackle Cam Williams would seem to make the decision easier.

There’s a good chance Texas will sign a five-star receiver. It’s what they have done since Steve Sarkisian took over as head coach regardless of who is the wide receivers coach. The Longhorns have signed a receiver with a five-star rating from at least one recruiting site in three of Sarkisian’s four classes. That number includes Xavier Worthy (On3), Johntay Cook (247Sports composite) and Ryan Wingo (247Sports).

Receivers are drawn to Sarkisian’s scheme, which is perhaps the best in college football right now. It makes sense that at least one of the players should choose the Longhorns, and my guess would be Dakorien Moore who has seemed fond of Texas for awhile.

The flip side is that NIL changes the nature of recruiting. For example, Jaime Ffrench is set to visit Tennessee who has done well at recruiting top players since the beginning of the NIL era. Texas will push to get all three and would certainly become a stronger title contender if they made it happen. Even so, other teams could potentially offer more NIL deals, playing time and targets to one player than the Longhorns will be able to offer to all three.

The reality is, teams like Tennessee, Texas A&M and Ohio State can go all in on one player, like the Volunteers did to get starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava while nearly everyone else recruited Texas quarterback Arch Manning. Texas’ title pitch will still be strong.

If all three were to choose the Longhorns, the wide receiver depth chart would feature five players with a five-star rating in Johntay Cook, Ryan Wingo, Dakorien Moore, Kaliq Lockett and Jaime Ffrench. Add in players like DeAndre Moore, Ryan Niblett and Matthew Golden, who I expect to return for 2025, and it would be tempting to run a whole lot of empty formation with five receivers.

It’s likely some teams are going to zero in on Lockett and Ffrench and pitch building their team around either receiver. That said, should multiple five-star receivers choose the Longhorns, NFL scouts’ eyes should be glued to Austin.

Texas should sign one five-star pass catcher. We’ll see if it adds more.