During the halcyon days of Mack Brown’s tenure at Texas, the Longhorns were frequent visitors to the incredibly talented pipeline at DeSoto high school. The south Dallas area high school is a true Texas powerhouse that produces scores of college athletes every year. While the Longhorns have been absent in DeSoto the last few years, they made their mark again when they landed offensive lineman Xavier Newman. Texas won out over offers from Arizona State, Colorado, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech.
Newman plays on a team stacked with talent, but he stood out at the Opening regional in Dallas winning MVP honors after dominating defensive linemen at the camp. Newman is a tackle for DeSoto, but he projects to be an inside player at the next level. Texas loaded up on offensive line talent last year, but this is the first opportunity to see Matt Mattox as a recruiter and evaluator. While some knock Newman in regards to his height, he profiles as an interesting player. A lineman with guard size and tackle feet can be a weapon of versatility in a spread offense that makes their hay with power. As the Longhorns zero in on their other offensive line targets, Newman is a very nice piece to build upon.
Film Analysis: (By Daniel Seahorn)
DeSoto is loaded upfront on the offensive line with three legit FBS lineman. When I had the opportunity to see all three up close in Dallas for The Opening regional I came away thinking Newman was the best of the bunch. He looked great in 1-on-1s on the way to earning himself an invite to Oregon and the offers have been piling up ever since. On tape he can be seen playing center, guard and tackle, so versatility is certainly a plus, and he is obviously capable of handling a lot mentally if an offensive line coach is able to deploy him in that manner. Coaches love having a guy who is like a Swiss army knife because it gives teams flexibility when trying to get their best five on the field. On top of that he has a bit of a nasty streak in him, and as I’ve said many times before, I absolutely love that and need that when evaluating an offensive lineman.
Final Verdict:
Newman isn’t a prospect that will blow up the recruiting rankings, but we find him incredibly underrated at this point. His positional versatility and athletic ability are wonderful tools to have for an emerging offensive line. In viewing Newman up close, we see a guy with a ceiling of a multi year starter and all conference performer, with a chance to cash NFL paychecks for years to come.
