Junior Day Recap

Mother Nature tried to interfere with Charlie Strong’s recruiting mojo, but the Longhorns still enjoyed a successful Junior Day. Even though ice and snow prevented some prospects from making it to Austin, Texas hosted a group of talented prospects on campus Saturday.

Notable weather casualties included Fort Worth All Saints defensive tackle Mike Williams, Sachse receiver Devin Duvernay, and North Mesquite offensive lineman Jean Delance. Delance did pick up an offer from Texas and seemed excited about it from his tweets on Saturday. The other notable no-shows were Westfield defensive tackle Ed Oliver, Maryland quarterback Dwayne Haskins, and Navasota receiver Tren’Davian Dickson.

An upside of the number of no shows is that headliners like Kendell Jones got to spend some one on one time with the coaches. Despite several of the prominent prospects missing the one-day event, there was plenty of talent on the 40 Acres.

One of the headliners was Killeen Shoemaker defensive tackle Kendell Jones. The number seven prospect on the HornSports Top 50 checked in at a monstrous 6’4, 364 lbs. Galena Park North Shore defensive back Eric Monroe was another of the big names in in attendance and was active in documenting the event on social media. Monroe later tweeted that his mother preferred LSU, Texas, and Texas A&M. Those schools along with Baylor figure to be the primary competition for the talented defensive back.

Texas wide receiver commit Reggie Hemphill wasn’t able to make it to campus, but his Manvel High School teammate Jordan Carmouche braved the weather and made it to Austin. HornSports caught up with Carmouche, and from the sound of things the Longhorns made a big impression today.

“It was a great experience. I got to spend time with Coach Strong, Coach Robinson, and Coach BJ,” raved Carmouche.

Carmouche says he hasn’t formulated much of a list but it sounds like Texas is an early favorite, “I’m trying to keep all my options open but they are up at the top”. The Manvel linebacker is planning to return to Austin for a spring practice.

Katy Tompkins athlete Christian Wallace was also in attendance on Saturday. Once a TCU commit, Wallace told HornSports he is now planning to take things slowly, but really enjoyed his time on the 40 Acres, saying, “I would say the visit went great, I was shown a lot of love while I was up there.”

Wallace said the highlight of the trip was trying on a Longhorn jersey and taking pictures with the other visitors. While he plays both ways in high school, Wallace told us Texas is recruiting him exclusively as a defensive back. The Longhorns are definitely a player in his recruitment but he’s still wide open as far as a decision is concerned, “To be honest I would show no favoritism at this point.”

Belton offensive lineman Zach Shackleford made the short trip to Austin and got a chance to connect with the coaching staff and other offensive linemen in attendance. When asked what the highlights of the trip were, Shackleford said, “Probably getting to see some guys that I knew and getting to talk with coach Wick.”

Shackleford doesn’t hold a Texas offer at this point in time, but he’s recently seen a rise in interest from some of the bigger programs including the Longhorns. Shackleford said the staff was still evaluating him but hinted that an offer could come sometime this spring. He told us he had a good time in Austin, “Things went pretty well, I enjoyed it”.

If an offer were to come, it’s clear that Texas would rank very high for the central Texas prospect. “It would definitely be one of my top schools,” said Shackleford.

With needs on the offensive line, Texas hosted several linemen this weekend in addition to Shackleford. J.P. Urquidez of Copperas Cove was the lone lineman on campus with a Texas offer and Urquidez has always held Texas in high regard. He tweeted that his dreams were coming true today, indicating strong possibilities for the Longhorns. Urquidez still has some evaluating to do, but Texas has been a constant leader, and the Longhorns appear to be a front-runner over Baylor and Oklahoma.

The Mineola duo of Austin and Riley Anderson met with the staff on Saturday, and the brothers said they were told that they were still being evaluated. The Anderson brothers have offers from programs all over the country, but a Texas offer would be one of the biggest at this point.

Texas commit Demarco Boyd (Gilmer) made it to Austin and as always, he relayed great thoughts about his time on campus via his twitter account. The newest Longhorn commit, Shane Buechele, also made it to campus following a long car trip from the DFW area.. Buechele told reporters on site that he is expecting to enroll early at Texas and hopes to contribute on the Longhorn baseball team.

A few new offers went out to some of the prospects on campus this weekend including one to Richmond George Ranch running back Darius Anderson. The Houston area product opted not to pull the trigger on a commitment, but Texas is the highest profile offer on Anderson’s list.

Waco cornerback Eric Cuffee also picked up an offer, and the 40th ranked prospect on the HornSports Top 50 is a good fit for what Charlie Strong prefers in a corner. The 6’ 190 pound defensive back is a very smooth athlete that plays physical in coverage and shows great ball skills. Cuffee holds offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Michigan, TCU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Stanford. It’s early in the process for Cuffee, but with Austin’s proximity to Waco and a history of excellence at the defensive back position the Longhorns figure to be a player for Cuffee’s services.

Kansas commit and Wylie East all purpose back Aubrey White also snagged an offer from Charlie Strong while in Austin. White told HornSports the offer from Texas “definitely” gives him a lot to think about, despite holding offers from schools like Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and TCU among others. White confirmed that he will be in Austin for the Spring Game on April 18th.

Houston C.E. King runner Trayveon Williams was in attendance and currently holds an offer from the Longhorns. Williams is still evaluating his options but made several comments on Saturday indicating Texas moved up on his list after the visit.

“The visit went real nice. I’ll give it a thumbs-up for the day,” said Williams, adding that the highlight of the day was when he toured the facilities. Williams says he likes what Texas has to offer, “Texas sits among my top schools but no definitive spot yet. The tradition definitely stands out for Texas and they have a good tradition with their running backs.”

The most star-studded group on campus today was represented at the linebacker position. Aside from Carmouche, Texas was able to get valuable face time with some of the top linebackers in the state. Alief Elsik’s Dontavious Jackson made it in and was very active on Twitter throughout his visit. Jackson brought his mother and noted that it was the first time she was able to make a visit with him. Jackson spent time with Eric Monroe, Jordan Carmouche, and Jeffrey McCulloch of Aldine Davis.

4-star defensive end Erick Fowler of Manor was also in attendance, however the edge rusher was fairly quiet about his visit. We weren’t able to reach Fowler following the event but in talking to a source familiar with his recruitment, it sounds like he has considerable interest in Texas.

While he was not scheduled to attend the Texas Junior Day, St. Augustine High School (New Orleans, LA) Tight End Jamal Pettigrew received an offer from the Longhorns. Pettigrew is a big, physical pass catcher and blocker that has yet to jump on the radar of Big 12 teams. Pettigrew, currently committed to LSU, told us he plans to attend the Nike Opening Regional in Atlanta, as opposed to the Dallas-area event. Pettigrew told HornSports he “likes Texas, it’s a great school,” and he would have to look into the offense more before considering playing in Austin.