Steve Sarkisian and this Texas staff were rolling. Finishing with a top-six class in 2024, top-three class in 2023, and top-five class in 2022. It seems as though Sarkisian has been able to align his recruiting priorities with the Texas NIL collectives perfectly. However, this 2025 recruiting class has been uninspiring to Texas Longhorns fans, to say the least. Can the Longhorns bounce back and end with a top-5 class in the country? Could they possibly miss being in the top-10 altogether?
Texas currently ranks as the 15th overall recruiting class in 2025, per 247sports. This is not up-to the standard Steve Sarkisian has set for himself in prior years. Texas Football is an elite program. Elite programs should be in the top-five, or at the very least top-seven, every single year. Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, these are the teams Texas has to be mentioned with when talking about recruiting if they want to truly be a powerhouse in college football once more.
To be fair to Steve Sarkisian, they are still mentioned as a top recruiting program in the country. However, the difference between those aforementioned schools and schools like Texas A&M, Oregon, LSU, Penn State, is that those elite programs are in (or near) the top-five every-single-year. Texas must put their foot on the pedal and finish this 2025 recruiting class extremely strong to climb back up the recruiting rankings.
Steve Sarkisian has done a good job balancing the blue-chip talent (top-250 players) brought in between offensive and defensive players. In fact, Steve Sarkisian has leaned into the defensive side of the ball slightly more than the offensive side when it comes to recruiting high school talent. Since 2022, Sarkisian has brought in twenty-one top-250 defensive players from the high school ranks. In that same time, Sark has brought in eighteen top-250 offensive players. Before we look to see who Texas should still target, let’s take a look at who they already have in the 2025 recruiting class.
Current Texas Football Commits
Although most Longhorn fans aren’t happy with how this recruiting cycle is going, the Longhorns still have a lot of talent in this class. Sixteen high school recruits are currently committed to Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns. Ten are currently consensus four-star players. Five of them are in the Top-125 nationally. Three of them are in the Top-85 in the cycle.
Offense
- K.J. Lacey, Quarterback – Saraland, AL
- James Simon, Running back – Shreveport, LA
- Rickey Stewart Jr., Running back – Tyler, TX
- Nick Townsend, Tight End – Spring, TX
- Emaree Winston, Tight End – Calhoun, GA
- John Mills, Offensive Line – San Francisco, CA
- Jackson Christian, Offensive Line – Port Neches, TX
- Jordan Coleman, Offensive Line – Cedar Hill, TX
- Devin Coleman, Offensive Line – Cedar Hill, TX
Texas Longhorns Recruiting Targets on Offense
So far Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns have nine offensive commitments in the 2025 recruiting class. However, the month of August should be a a fruitful one for the Longhorns, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Five-star wide receivers Kaliq Lockett and Jaime Ffrench are both set to make their commitments in the month of August. Lockett will announce his decision this afternoon (August 7th). *(Edit: Kaliq Lockett committed to Texas on 8/7)*. Ffrench will make his decision later in the month, August 30th. Another five-star offensive playmaker (in every sense of the word) set to make a decision is Michael Terry III. Terry has not set a date on his commitment yet, however the Longhorns are in a good spot to land the Swiss Army knife playmaker out of San Antonio.
Those offensive playmakers aren’t the only offensive five-star prospects Texas is in pursuit of. Elite offensive tackle Michael Fasusi, out of Lewisville, TX, is also set to make his decision in the month of August (August 21st).
Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns have a chance to land all four of those five-star offensive recruits ahead of the “early” national signing day. That would catapult Texas into the top-five in recruiting rankings (roughly… assuming no other significant signings or flips from other teams in the top 10).
Defense
- Lance Jackson, Edge – Texarkana, TX
- Smith Orogbo, Edge – Houston, TX
- Elijah Barnes, Linebacker – Dallas, TX
- Kade Phillips, Defensive back – Missouri City, TX
- Josiah Sharma, Defensive line – Sacramento, CA
- Jonathan Cunningham, Linebacker – Fort Worth, TX
- Caleb Chester, Defensive back – Missouri City, TX
Texas Longhorn Recruiting Targets on Defense
After a few defensive line de-commitments, the Longhorns have seven defensive commitments at the beginning of August. Similar to the offensive side of the ball, the Longhorns are in-play for a few blue chip defenders to round out this group.
Five-star duel athlete Jonah Williams out of Galveston, TX is a player Steve Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski’s staff needs to secure. Williams is a baseball player as well, so much of one in-fact that he could potentially go straight to the MLB and forego college athletics altogether. New Longhorns baseball coach, Jim Schlossnagle will also be a key figure in this recruitment. If Williams does play college football, it will be interesting to see what position he excels at. Safety or linebacker are the two spots he likely ends up in, Kwiatkowski’s track record with players like that (Shaq Thompson) should help paint a picture of his usage.
D.J. Sanders the defensive lineman out of Bellville, TX is another blue chip recruit the Longhorns staff should be going all-in on. With Texas losing two defensive line recruits this cycle and being thin at the position as-is, the Longhorns cannot afford to have a weak recruiting class along the defensive trenches. *(Edit: DJ Sanders commited to Texas A&M on 8/7)*
Aside from them, the Longhorn’s will have to get their spatulas out and flip any other blue-chip defenders they want to add to their class. Steve Sarkisian has done it before, so don’t doubt it will happen again. I’m specifically keeping an eye on Dorian Brew, CB (Oregon commit), Riley Pettijohn, LB (Ohio State commit), Antonio Coleman, DL (Auburn commit), and Landon Rink, DL (Texas A&M commit).
Conclusion
Are the Texas Longhorns in a recruiting slump? Yes and no. Steve Sarkisian has position Texas to end the 2025 recruiting cycle with a top three recruiting class. Is that likely? Probably not. However, a top five or even top seven class is very easy to envision.
Texas fans (myself included) have likely been feeling like the Longhorns have absolutely no momentum this cycle because the recruits have come far unlike prior years where it felt like Texas would get multiple five-stars days apart (Manning mania in 2023). Also, Texas fans (myself included) felt Dakorien Moore, Dorian Brew, Riley Pettijohn were all locks (or very close to locks) and Texas ended up with none of them. That stung.
Overall, I think Sarkisian has Texas in a great spot to end this 2025 recruiting cycle with a bang. However, the pressure is on. Sarkisian has to actually land these guys now, specifically the blue-chip players we discussed. If Sark is able to flip some of the other players that’s incredible, but not something anyone should rely on.
Check Out The Rest Of The Website:
Thank you all for reading our article on the Texas Longhorns Recruiting Slump! Feel free to give us your thoughts by tagging us on “X”: @TexasTalk_ & Follow Us On Instagram: @TexasTalk_
Be sure to check out our Depth Chart and Roster pages as well! We will be keeping them as up-to-date as possible in-season and in the off-season!
If you love Texas Longhorns football, be sure to subscribe to our e-mailing list found at the bottom of our home page! We will e-mail you whenever a new article comes out! Also be sure to check out our podcast! We have two shows that are both updated weekly on the same feed. One is on general Texas Football news and the other is a gambling-centric podcast for betting during the football season!
Podcast Links:
Leave a Reply