Commitment focus: Demarco Boyd

When Kris Boyd and Holton Hill both announced commitments to the Texas Longhorns on Friday afternoon, the stage was set for a third announcement to follow. 2016 linebacker prospect Demarco Boyd, Kris’ younger brother, put Texas firmly at the top of his list early in his recruitment, and on Friday Boyd ended speculation and pledged to the Longhorns.

Even though he made it clear that Texas was his leader, the younger Boyd also held offers from Florida State and Texas A&M. Demarco and Kris made public statements that they would prefer to play together in college – FSU jumped on the chance and offered Demarco in October 2014. Texas A&M was late to the party, making their offer earlier in January which fueled speculation that it was merely an effort to entice Kris to commit.

Boyd joins wide receivers Collin Johnson and Reggie Hemphill as the third 2016 prospect to pledge to Charlie Strong and the Horns. Johnson and Hemphill are both highly rated talents on offense, so Boyd balances the early commitment list out by injecting a defensive presence. Notably, both Johnson and Boyd have family ties to Texas

Film Analysis

The younger Boyd is a thickly built kid at 6’ 223 lbs. with potential to really fill out. There isn’t a lot of film out on him but Demarco looks like a prototype middle ‘backer. His size and speed allow him to shoot through gaps in a plug and scrape scheme, but his versatile athleticism (he also plays running back) makes him an asset in coverage.

Boyd is a good tackler and physical hitter that can play sideline to sideline. Most of the film out on him is from his sophomore season so it’s very difficult to project much from that. We will update a report on him when more film becomes available.

Final Verdict

While some say this offer was made just to get the older brother, it’s clear that Demarco has a valuable skillset of his own. He’s the rare type of big bodied inside linebacker that is also athletic enough to stay on the field in passing situations. At this time in the evaluation I don’t have enough on him to project a ceiling, but this is a nice pickup for the 2016 class that already has two big time prospects.