The 2022 recruiting class is officially in the rearview mirror and for the Texas Longhorns, they couldn’t have done much better. They locked up the No. 5 overall class with their high school signees and incoming transfers.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian knew they needed to address the offense in a big way. They have one of, if not the best running back in the country. However, as we all know one man can do it alone. The team needed to give Bijan Robinson some help in the way of the offensive line and at quarterback. While Casey Thompson wasn’t bad, he wasn’t a world-beater. A lot can be attributed to his injured hand but Texas improved there with a former five-star quarterback and No. 1 recruit in Quinn Ewers.
The Horns beefed up the trenches as well as they landed two five-star offensive linemen in Kelvin Banks and Devon Campbell. The latter signed on Wednesday. According to the initial reaction from ESPN (subscription required), Sark and Texas were big winners on the day.
What ESPN Says…
The Longhorns had already put together an excellent offensive line class heading into Wednesday, with tackle Kelvin Banks (the No. 32 recruit overall), Neto Umeozulu (No. 53) and Cameron Williams (No. 283).
The staff added to that haul with five-star offensive lineman Devon Campbell. He chose Texas over Oklahoma and gives the coaches four ESPN 300 offensive line commits.
Campbell is the No. 9 prospect overall and could make an impact early on for the Longhorns.
It wasn’t just ESPN that praised the Longhorns after NSD, but USA TODAY Sports analyst Erick Smith was also signing their praises.
What Erick Smith Says…
You’re not supposed to pull off a top five class after going 5-7 in your first season. But that’s exactly what Steve Sarkisian did. More important than the ranking was the Longhorns addressing their biggest concern with seven offensive line additions, led by heralded prospects Kelvin Banks and Devon Campbell. DB Terrance Brooks leads a strong group of defenders. How quickly newcomers can make an impact could determine the team’s success in 2022 and 2023 as Sarkisian tries to rebuild the program with an SEC move on the horizon.
It’s one thing to win on the recruiting trail but now they need to put that plan to action in the spring and fall camps. We will find out just how good this team can be early on when they host Sark’s former team, the Alabama Crimson Tide in September.