Last week Texas picked up a surprise commitment from four star Winter Park (FL) cornerback Ethan Pouncey. Pouncey is the younger brother of current Texas wide receiver Jordan Pouncey.
Pouncey’s commitment caught just about everyone by surprise, as he wasn’t expecting to be making any kind of announcement before taking some visits in the fall. Texas landing Pouncey takes the sting out a bit of losing out on Jahari Rogers and gives them their second cornerback commitment to go along with Kitan Crawford.
Summary
Ethan Pouncey is a two way player (wide receiver, cornerback) out of Winter Park (FL) high school. Pouncey will be entering his second year as a full time starter this fall after logging snaps sparingly on varsity as a sophomore. At 6’1, 160 pounds Pouncey possesses good height and length, but has a thin frame that will need time to fill out and add more mass. Pouncey is quick twitch, instinctive athlete, who read and reacts very well and closes on his targets in a hurry. Pouncey is smooth in his backpedal and displays quick, fluid hips that allows him to turn and run with receivers. Pouncey also possesses good long speed and shows the ability to chew up ground in a hurry with long strides. Pouncey’s best trait is his incredible amount of ball production he has produced in a small amount of time as a full time starter. Pouncey makes makes the most of his opportunities around the football and was able to tally 21 PBUs and 8 interceptions with three of them being returned for touchdowns. That is an elite level of ball production from a player that is still scratching the surface of his playing ability and when you watch the tape it the numbers align with his level of ball skills. Pouncey’s ability to break on the ball and attack it at the high point will translate to the next level and make him a dangerous defender to target in the passing game. Despite being a bit undersized, Pouncey shows a willingness and good competitive toughness when it comes to throwing his body around as a tackler. He’s aggressive in this aspect of his game and will likely suffer some misses due to play strength and the fact that he doesn’t consistently wrap up, but both of things can be fixed in time with coaching and development in the weight room. Pouncey has a very good cover corner start kit and possesses some very good tools that can’t be coached and that makes him very intriguing as a prospect going forward.
Final Verdict
The Texas staff suffered a setback when Jahari Rogers opted for Gainesville over Austin last month, but they bounced back nicely by dipping into the state of Florida and landing Pouncey. Recruiting defensive backs hasn’t been the easiest of paths to navigate for the Texas staff this cycle, but they have responded nicely and have been able to cobble together a solid class to go along with what is already on campus.
With Pouncey now in the fold, the Longhorns have three defensive backs committed for the 2020 class and will likely take 1-2 more before closing up shop. The staff has seemingly turned things up a bit on Joshua Eaton and Xavion Alford, but they will also continue to recruit guys like Lathan Ransom, Bryson Washington, and Kelee Ringo for better or for worse as they try to maximize their numbers.
