Texas once signed the top 3 safeties in a recruiting class. Can they sign three of the top 4 receivers?
Surely the Texas Longhorns can’t sign three of the top four wide receivers in the 2025 recruiting class, right? I wouldn’t rule it out.
As a disclaimer, I don’t believe Texas will sign all three five-star wide receivers from in the 2025 recruiting class. That doesn’t mean they cannot sign all three. One past recruiting class indicates it can.
The Texas Longhorns signed 247Sports’ three best safeties in the 2018 recruiting class: DeMarvion Overshown, Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster. To the credit of then head coach Tom Herman, Texas recruiting thrived until the last season of the Herman era.
How did Texas make it happen? Well, Herman and company placed great emphasis on the safety position aiming to bring back the Defensive Back University moniker to Austin. And it paid off with Overshown, Sterns and Foster.
Texas sold defensive back on being the focal point of the football program. It turned out defensive back wasn’t all that impactful on games in the Herman era, as talented players weren’t developed by the previous coaching staff. Sterns figured things out in the NFL but only after head coach Steve Sarksian took over did Overshown fully develop.
In regard to the position Texas is targeting, Sarkisian and company are not only prioritizing wide receiver but have the development and on-field product to prove the position’s importance.
Sarkisian’s first recruit at Texas just saw his name called in the first round of the NFL draft in wide receiver Xavier Worthy. 10 other Longhorns were selected in this year’s draft, the best showing in Texas’ NFL draft history.
The broad development is clear, but the wide receiver position in particular is strong. All three of Texas’ starting wide receivers in Worthy, Adonai Mitchell and Jordan Whittington were drafted. Receiving tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders also saw his name called in the fourth round.
Sarkisian can pitch the narrative, if you’re the third wide receiver option at Texas, there’s a solid chance you get drafted. It may be even more so the case with the talent Texas has added. That’s a compelling narrative.
More than the actual wide receiver coach, Sarkisian’s offense has facilitated the development for Texas. Whittington and Worthy produced on the field with Andre Coleman and Brennan Marion coaching wide receivers prior to Chris Jackson’s arrival. Jackson had arguably the best season with the receiving corps, but the offensive scheme brought stability amid receiver coach changes.
The development is there, but so is the prioritization of the position. Texas receivers are winning matchups consistently. They’re getting off the line of scrimmage with ease and getting open, which Herman’s receivers couldn’t consistently do. They’re given a scheme that allows them to succeed.
The product is resonating with recruits. Though the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver Dakorien Moore has long projected to be a fit at Texas, fellow five-stars Jaime Ffrench and Kaliq Lockett increasingly trend to the Longhorns.
The likelihood is that Texas isn’t going to monopolize the wide receiver position. The prevalence of NIL allows teams with strong funding to select a player and invest all their wide receiver NIL budget to one of the three receivers. But could all three players see the value of teaming up at Texas? It’s possible.
Some programs may ask players if they’d rather make money in college or over a long NFL career after being developed. At Texas, you can do both and make a College Football Playoff. And you can see your name drafted in the first round. You can catch passes from a five-star quarterback kept upright by one of the top offensive lines.
It would take a complete recruiting pitch to win over three five-star wide receivers in one cycle. Texas has a complete recruiting pitch. We’ll see if it adds up into more than one five-star addition at receiver.
