Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Steve Wiltfong entered a crystal ball prediction in favor of TCU this week.
Texas has been targeting four-star athlete Mikal Harrison-Pilot for quite some time now. Continue reading “Four-star ATH Mikal Harrison-Pilot trending towards TCU”
Arch Manning has the ability to bring several highly rated prospects to Austin along with him.
Five-star quarterback Arch Manning has been the most important recruit for Texas football in 2023. Continue reading “Three 2023 prospects to watch for Texas after Arch Manning’s commitment”
Numerous recruits enjoyed their weekend in Austin.
It’s no secret that June is a massive month for Steve Sarkisian and his staff when it comes to the 2023 recruiting class. Continue reading “LOOK: Photos of several Texas targets during their visit over the weekend”
Cal, Houston, TCU, Oklahoma and Texas made the cut for the speedy defensive back.
Four-star safety Mikal Harrison-Pilot is one of the more sought-after players in the country. He has picked up nearly 50 college offers in the recruiting process already.
Harrison-Pilot released a memorial day surprise as he announced his top five schools in his recruitment. Cal, Houston, TCU, Oklahoma and Texas made the cut for the speedy defensive back.
The Temple product is rated the No. 8 athlete in the country for the 2023 cycle and the No. 18 overall prospect in the state of Texas in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Harrison-Pilot is the definition of a do-it-all athlete. was named first-team all-district playing quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back in high school. He also excelled on the baseball diamond and the track.
He is set to make an official visit to Texas on June 17, followed by a trip to Cal the next week.
top 5 🙂 #MemorialDay pic.twitter.com/MjXd9TYlF5
— Mikal Harrison-Pilot (@MikalPilot) May 30, 2022
Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.
2023 four-star WR Ashton Cozart flips commitment from the Oklahoma Sooners to the Oregon Ducks.
It wouldn’t be summer recruiting without any surprises. Recently, it was a bit of a surprise to hear that 2023 WR commit Ashton Cozart was visiting the Oregon Ducks. So, it doesn’t come as much of a shock that Cozart has decided to flip his commitment from the Sooners to the Ducks.
The commitment is less of a surprise than some may think because Cozart had been vocal in recent interviews about recruiting and visiting other schools. We chronicled the news that Cozart would be visiting Eugene, Oregon this weekend earlier in the week. That visit coupled with the likely communication that has been taking place over the last few weeks was enough to seal the deal for Cozart who now becomes a Duck.
Cozart told On3 Recruiting, “The biggest factors with my decision are development, culture, and the relationships I have with the University. I’ve grown up in the Pacific Northwest most of my life and have dreamed of playing there since I was a kid.”
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Ashton Cozart has flipped to Oregon, he tells @On3Recruits
The Top 100 Player in the ‘23 Class had been committed to Oklahoma since February 4th.
More Here (FREE): https://t.co/ywYFqZQ73v pic.twitter.com/wA9W5ve0G2
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 23, 2022
Cozart represented the Sooners’ only skill-position commit for the 2023 class when he picked Oklahoma just over three months ago. A promising visit helped solidify his thoughts on OU in the wake of Lincoln Riley’s departure and the hiring of Brent Venables as head coach and Jeff Lebby as offensive coordinator.
Considering how it all went down, this seems like a final split between Oklahoma and Cozart with the Sooners now resetting their board at wide receiver to focus even heavier on names like Mikal Harrison-Pilot, Jaquaize Pettaway, and Anthony Evans. The Sooners recently landed two receivers in the transfer portal with multiple years of eligibility, Javian Hester and LV Bunkley-Shelton, and it’s hard not to imagine that those commitments also likely played a factor in Cozart’s decision to look around elsewhere too.
In the end, this entire mini-saga is just another day in the college football recruiting world. The Sooners have multiple wide receiver targets in their sights and will spend the rest of the summer and fall trying to land two if not all three of them.
[listicle id=35808]
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
With the summer on the horizon, we took a look at the names to know as the Sooners look to make a push on the recruiting front for 2023.
Brent Venables and Co. are weeks removed from their first spring as a staff together. It was a successful one with no notable injuries and some standout performances across the board. All told, things went as well as they could’ve hoped considering the positive reviews from the media and recruits in attendance.
The spring game served as an eye-opener for recruits and gave the Oklahoma Sooners some significant momentum to ride as they head into the most crucial time of the year for recruiting. With spring ball done and the team going home to recharge before fall camp, the staff will be all in on recruiting. With that in mind, it’s time to map out the targets to watch as the 2023 class begins to materialize this summer.
Mikal Harrison-Pilot released the top schools left in his recruitment on Thursday.
The defensive back room has quickly become one that the Longhorns are needing to add to, and the more the better.
Texas lost both of their starting safeties and a cornerback from last season, causing them to move players like Kitan Crawford around to help shore up the secondary. They were able to add some depth from the high school ranks in B.J. Allen and Larry Turner-Gooden, but after the 2022 season they will likely lose more.
The Longhorns are also making progress with several defensive backs from the 2023 recruiting class. Four-star safety Mikal Harrison-Pilot released the top 12 schools left in his recruitment on Thursday, and Texas made the cut.
According to 247Sports composite, Harrison-Pilot is rated the No. 8 athlete in the country for the 2023 cycle and the No. 18 overall prospect in the state of Texas.
top 12 🙂 @adamgorney @On3Recruits @247recruiting pic.twitter.com/MtELUCohpp
— Mikal Harrison-Pilot (@MikalPilot) April 7, 2022
Harrison-Pilot is quite the versatile athlete, as he plays football, baseball, and runs track. He plays both ways for Temple High School and even earned all-district honors as a receiver the past two seasons.
Texas and Houston appear to be the two favorites to land him at this time.
After a highly successful Junior Day in January, the Sooners are set to host another one this weekend. Here’s who’s coming to Norman.
For the second time in the first full recruiting cycle of the Brent Venables era, the Oklahoma Sooners are set to host a massive recruiting event. The first Junior Day went well according to recruiting experts across the industry. It featured major names as the Sooners continue to establish their 2023 recruiting board under Brent Venables.
The first junior day took place in January and was pretty hefty in terms of the number of bodies on campus. This list may top the January one in size and sheer talent that will be in the building.
We’ve taken the liberty again of mapping out the confirmed visitors for this weekend.
Four-star WR Jaquaize Pettaway
Four-star ATH Mikal Harrison-Pilot
Three-star OL Joshua Bates (Oklahoma commit)
Three-star LB S’maje Burrell
Three-star ATH Samuel Omosigho
Four-star OL Cayden Green
Five-star RB Richard Young
On top of the juniors who dominate the list, the Sooners have a few 2024 sophomore visitors who will be in attendance. Of course for the Sooners, they would never turn down the chance to have a recruit on campus no matter their classification.
Four-star ATH KJ Bolden
Four-star DL Nigel Smith
For Oklahoma, this is another opportunity to re-establish this program’s identity under Venables. For all of the talk about what type of culture he wants, Venables and his staff get that opportunity to show what it means to have OUDNA and what Norman can offer the next generation of Sooners.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
[listicle id=35808]
This Texas four-star has been in contact with Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham, who is trying to get the elite Lone Star State athlete to visit for the Tigers’ Junior Day on March 5. Temple (TX.) High School’s Mikal Harrison-Pilot …
This Texas four-star has been in contact with Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham, who is trying to get the elite Lone Star State athlete to visit for the Tigers’ Junior Day on March 5.
Temple (TX.) High School’s Mikal Harrison-Pilot indicated to The Clemson Insider that while he would like to get on campus, he’s not sure just when that’ll happen.
“He said I’m good enough for the offer, but they rarely offer kids,” Harrison-Pilot told TCI. “He’s just trying to build a relationship with me and we’ll move on from there. I kind of like it. I like to build relationships first. I’m a big relationship guy. I like to build relationships before I go anywhere. That’s good that he said that, so we’re both on the same page and everything.”
Harrison-Pilot — a 6-1, 190-pound junior — is a two-way player, but Clemson is looking at the Temple product as a wideout. He feels like he’s good enough at both safety and wide receiver to play either position at the next level, but he’s willing to play wherever he’s needed.
Across his junior campaign, Harrison-Pilot recorded 905 all-purpose yards and 17 total touchdowns with an interception and 20 tackles. The utility player was also named 12-6A 1st All-District WR.
Additionally, Harrison-Pilot is a three-sport athlete, who plays both baseball and track, in addition to football. Needless to say, college coaches are impressed with his athletic background.
Harrison-Pilot described himself as a physical receiver with soft hands, who can be physical and fast off the ball. He also feels like he has a little bit of DeAndre Hopkins to his game. He tries to emulate and mirror both the former Clemson standout and Green Bay Packers superstar Davante Adams.
“It means a lot to me,” he said of hearing from a school like Clemson. “You look at D-Hop and he’s one of the greatest wide receivers to come out. I see what they do as a program. I see how they get their guys ready for the NFL. I just like how they prepare their guys for life, not just about football, but about life in general. I like Dabo Swinney a lot already. I just wanna see and I can’t wait to go up there and meet him in person.”
As far as his recruitment is concerned, Harrison-Pilot is just taking it a step at a time. He’s interested to see where this process will ultimately lead him to. After he takes his visits in the coming months, he’ll reconvene with his family and go from there.
What would it mean to Harrison-Pilot if Clemson eventually pulls the trigger on an offer?
“It would mean a lot to me, actually,” he said. “Hopefully, I get it. I just want to go up there and see them first.”
–Photo for this article courtesy of @MikalPilot on Twitter
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
Texas will host one of the state’s best defensive backs this Friday.
The 2023 recruiting cycle is heating up. Texas hosted a large group of recruits for their junior day event last weekend and will have more talented prospects visit again this week.
Four-star safety Mikal Harrison-Pilot announced via Twitter he will make the trip to Texas on Friday.
📍40 Acres tomorrow‼️ #HookEm🤘🏾 pic.twitter.com/V54v3MQ400
— Mikal Harrison-Pilot (@MikalPilot) January 27, 2022
247Sports composite ranks Harrison-Pilot as the No. 18 prospect in Texas and No. 102 overall. He has 46 total offers from the likes of Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Baylor and many others.
Harrison-Pilot is one of the most versatile athletes in the 2023 recruiting class. He was named first-team all-district in high school while playing quarterback, wide receiver and safety. He has the skillset to potentially play both sides of the ball at the next level.
The Temple product will check out a couple of other Big 12 schools this weekend. He will see Sonny Dykes at TCU Saturday, then he will stop in Waco to visit Baylor.
Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.
