Commitment Spotlight: Caden Sterns

Don’t look now folks, but Tom Herman and his Texas staff are getting busy on the recruiting trail. This spring Herman and his staff have reeled in some high profile recruits that reside outside of the Lone Star State, but everyone has been wondering when the first elite in-state talent domino would fall.

Everyone has had their sights locked on to the usual suspects as far potential Texas commitments, but as I’ve said before recruiting is a very fluid and fickle beast and you have to be ready for just about anything to happen.

Cibolo Steele safety Caden Sterns camped at Texas last year for Under The Lights under the old staff and came away with a very early offer from the Longhorns after impressing the coaches. Unfortunately for Texas, Sterns eventually committed to LSU in November after growing up a big fan of the Tigers and having dreams of playing his college football in Baton Rouge. Following his commitment Sterns was very pro-LSU and looked about as locked in to his pledge as you could be.

That was until yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon (after some detective work by Texas fans) word got out that Sterns was in Austin on campus visiting Texas and later we learned that not only has Texas DB coach Jason Washington been working Sterns hard, but the visit to Texas really left an impression on him. So much of an impression that Sterns made what couldn’t have been a very pleasant call to Ed Orgeron and de-committed from the Tigers.

After once looking like a rock solid LSU commit, Sterns opted to spurn the Tigers and to pledge his commitment to Herman and the Longhorns just up the road from where he plays his high school football.

Film Analysis

This kid is a certified bad ass on tape. Good range, ball skills, solid tackler, athleticism, he can cover, and good ball production. All of the boxes are checked off. A testament to Sterns’ athleticism shows up when he flips over to offense and plays receiver and you see him sawing off ankles of the defenders and high pointing passes for touchdowns. You want a guy like this on the back end of your defense because he is an absolute playmaker and is going to give you flexibility as a coordinator. Not only is he a stud in the secondary, but Sterns adds even more value as a quality return man and again it shows you the talent, athleticism, and versatility you are getting in him as a player. When you turn the film on you will quickly see why he is considered a Top 50 player in the entire country.

Final Verdict

After losing guys like K’Lavon Chaisson and Kary Vincent Jr. to the Tigers last cycle, this is a haymaker right on the chin of Ed Orgeron from Tom Herman and Texas as they continue to put schools in the region and around the country on notice on the recruiting trail. If you had asked me last week or yesterday (before the picture leaked) if Texas had a shot with Sterns I would have said absolutely not because he has been all LSU for months now. This is a huge head to head battle for Herman against Ed O and it sends the message that Texas is going to recruit at a very high level and it is already doing so before any results being seen on the field.

Landing Sterns is huge for several reasons and one of them being that this could get the ball rolling with the domino effect within the state’s borders. With Sterns in the boat, Leon O’Neal trending to Texas A&M becomes much less of an issue, and now the staff can wait BJ Foster and focus on other secondary spots. The way the staff is recruiting right now is inspiring a great amount of confidence and it makes you wonder what the class could look like if we see the results Herman expects this fall. Buckle up folks because Texas football recruiting is a lot of fun again.