Texas fans nervously awaited their fate on signing day following news that Kyler Murray kept his commitment to Texas A&M. The Horns got some unexpected quarterback salvation at the eleventh hour when they received news that Baltimore Gilman School athlete Kai Locksley picked the Texas Longhorns. The son of Maryland coach Mike Locksley was committed to Florida State after choosing them in the summer, but kept in contact with Shawn Watson and flipped his choice to Texas with only 36 hours left until Signing Day. Locksley chose Texas over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, and Oregon.
Locksley always had the Longhorns high on his list, and visited Texas for the “Under The Lights†camp in the summer. Things really picked up when Locksley visited Austin in late January and tweeted that he had a lot to think about.The dual threat quarterback tweeted that he made the decision to flip just 48 hours prior to national signing day.
Locksley played receiver at the Under Armour All-American Game in Orlando, but made it clear that he was only interested in playing quarterback. Credit goes to Shawn Watson for staying in the fight on this one and ultimately closing the deal. Locksley will join Matthew Merrick in this class as a candidate to lead the Longhorns on the field.
Film Analysis
At 6’4 185 lbs., Locksley is lanky with a projectable frame that could put on a lot more weight. Locksley really pops as a runner, and runs physically with great straight-line speed and elusiveness in the open field. Locksley operates mostly from a read option offense at the high school level and shows good vision off of the read. His short area burst is impressive, and his lateral agility gives him plenty of wiggle when breaking down tacklers.
As a passer Locksley is raw but has some great tools to develop. While his offense only shows single read routes, growing up the son of an offensive coordinator should help him with the mental game. Locksley shows impressive arm strength and throws a beautiful deep ball when he sets his feet and gets his hips around. When throwing on the run he does a great job of squaring his shoulders to the line and throws with nice velocity. Locksley shows ability to throw all of the routes but can get inconsistent with his feet, and sometimes throws back across his body. With a compact release that really improved from his junior to his senior season, Locksley proved to be very coachable.
Final Verdict
Locksley is a dynamic dual threat player that can score from anywhere on the field but has some work to do on his bulk and passing ability. Locksley has developed a good relationship with Shawn Watson and can be his first true protégé at Texas.
While he has a ways to go and will most likely redshirt, he has some raw arm talent and ability. At this point it’s hard to project a probable outcome but Locksley’s athletic ceiling suggests a boom or bust player with All-American and NFL ability.
