Commitment Spotlight: Demariyon Houston

With the addition of Oklahoma City native Demariyon Houston, Texas now has its third wide receiver of the 2019 class. Houston is an intriguing prospect that Texas was not very interested in until recently. Over the past week or so, the Texas staff really started pressing Houston on the advantages of moving from Oklahoma to Austin. Before that, Houston was set to stay close to home and play for Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State.

As a prospect, Houston is certainly intriguing. At 6’0, 165 pounds, he will need to work rigorously with Yancy McKnight in order to be physically ready to hit the field. On the field, Houston is a good take as an inside receiver. He has lateral quickness and a good ability to get inside the numbers when the defense is in man coverage. With that being said, it will take some time for him to be ready to contribute on this roster. Once he is ready, he can make a solid impact at a position that will need depth after this year and 2019.

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Pros:

Has good lateral quickness. Displays it will on inside slant routes and comebacks.

Possesses soft hands and solid catching ability. Extends his hands to the ball rather than letting the ball come to him and using his body to perform all the work.

Displays good separation that allows the potential for yards after catch. Uses his feet and hands well in order to separate from the defender.

Potential contributor on special teams. Showed good vision and ability to make cuts down the field on punt returns.

Has good ability to high point the ball when needed. Will probably not be able to do this much at the next level due to his height. [/one-half-first]

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Cons:

Consistently open in games and constantly matched up in man coverage. Did not have to catch many passes in traffic. He might need to work on that at the next level.

Not much tape as a blocker. At his size, he likely did not have to in high school. Will need to learn how to block if he wants to see the field.

Will likely not be ready to be a day 1 contributor. Will need to pack on some serious size to his frame, which he should be able to do during a redshirt year.

As with a lot of WR’s coming out of high school, Houston does not mix up his routes much. In college, he will need to be taught how to not show his first move before the snap. If he can become more deceptive, it will go a long way.

Might be injury prone. Only played half of his junior season due to injury. [/one-half]

Summary

Houston is a project that the Texas staff will need to polish before he is ready to see the field. His film is intriguing, but it’s also a small sample size. Houston only played half of his junior season due to injury, so Texas will not know entirely what it is getting in Houston until he is able to play an entire season.

At 165 pounds, Houston is certainly shifty, but his film does not seem to show the type of burst generally desired in a slot take. With that being said, Houston will have to add weight to his frame so that he retains an ability to gain yards after catch. If he remained at his current weight, he almost certainly would not contribute much to the roster and be prone to injury.

Although a take at the position, Houston is more so of a project than a sure fire contributor. He has immense potential with his lateral quickness and his soft hands, but he must gain weight and add elements to his game before he will be ready to become a role player on the Texas offense.

Final Verdict

With three wide receivers in the boat for the 2019 class now, Texas can focus its attention on one or two more bi-time receivers in this class. Regardless of how it happened, Tom Herman once again proved that Texas is never fully out of any recruitment while the recruit is still willing to listen.

Until this week, Texas was not very interested in Houston. Most recruits would view this as an insult and not be willing to hear what the staff had to say, but Houston did not feel this way. Overall, Tom Herman and his staff have reeled in a solid prospect and can now focus landing one or two of the remaining wide receiver targets on their board, such as Elijah Higgins or Bru McCoy.