Editor's Note: This is the 17th piece of a 24-part series looking at Texas' 2016 signees. In these stories we will analyze the prospects or write interesting features about the newest Longhorns.

Jordan Elliott, Westside



Position: Defensive Tackle

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 306

National Ranking: 115

State Ranking: 18

Position Ranking: 14

To call Jordan Elliott’s recruitment a roller coaster would be an understatement.

In fact, by the end of it, Elliott’s mom, Tamara Dean, labeled the process a “nightmare” and called it “one big saga.” Elliott, an elite defensive tackle from Houston Westside, had 40 offers for football, and by National Signing Day he’d committed to nearly half the schools. OK, not quite, but Elliott did pledge to four different programs on five different occasions.

First he committed to Baylor, then Houston, silently to Texas, next to Michigan and then ultimately again to Texas.

It’s a process that lit up message boards and resulted in fans wishing injury on Elliott and saying he'd never be successful because of commitment issues on social media.

Even Charlie Strong had jokes about Elliott’s recruitment saying on National Signing Day: “He was committed to about four of five different places, but we were able to get him.”

After one of the most adventurous recruitments in recent memory, a process that included cakes, sleepovers and blocked phone numbers, Elliott wants people to know he’s not exactly what others perceived him to be.

“A lot of people will tell you stuff that people like me don’t really last,” Elliott said. “But I’ll tell you the difference between me and other people that have made the mistake of recommitting and recommitting. …”

***

Elliott’s first big offer came Jan. 20, 2015 from Baylor, and 11 days later Elliott attended junior day in Waco. He toured the facilities, talked with the coaches and met some players. Elliott, on the first big visit of his life, was charmed.

He told his mom he wanted to commit.

“You’ll get more offers, just chill,” Dean told Elliott.

But Elliott, enthralled with everything he’d seen and heard in Waco, committed anyway.

“He just gets so caught up in the moment,” Dean said.

That would become a theme.

Shortly after the commitment to the Bears, big offers began to roll in. Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon and even USC, his “dream school” at the time, all wanted Elliott to play for them. April 6, five days after the offer from the Trojans, Elliott decommitted for the first time.

“When I was with Baylor, I was all in,” Elliott said. “But I didn’t want certain people coaching me because of their inexperience.”

Just over a month later on May 22, Elliott made an impulsive decision and committed to Houston. It’s a verbal pledge that shocked many, including Dean.

“I was blindsided,” Dean said. “I let him have it, I really did.”

At that point, Dean had what would turn out to be a few conversations with her son about maturity and commitment.

“I told him, your word is your bond,” Dean said. “You can’t keep committing and keep decommiting. Just wait it out.”

Elliott’s commitment to Houston lasted until September 7. Looking back, Elliott admits jumping on board with the hometown Cougars so quickly was an error in judgement because“some of the coaches didn’t even know my name.”

But Elliott also admitted that pledge didn’t even last until September. At Texas’ Under the Lights camp in July, the four-star defensive tackle gave a silent commitment to Charlie Strong and the Longhorns. Elliott had spent nearly two weeks that summer in Austin, and he felt quite comfortable with the team.

“It made me want to be a part of that,” Elliott said.

Around that time Elliott, in his mom’s words, “began to calm down.” Some of Dean’s talks had sunk in.

But Elliott’s infatuation with the Wolverines, despite his silent pledge to Texas, never waned. Elliott had a great relationship with Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and his position coach Greg Mattison; he wanted to see Ann Arbor.

Elliott originally planned to go with his mom, but they changed the plans so Elliott could fly up one week earlier – Dean would go the next week – and see Michigan play Ohio State on Nov. 28 during his offical.

Dean fielded a call from her son that Saturday.

“Mom, I want to commit,” Elliott said.

“I was like, ‘Please no. Jordan, don’t do it.’ But he went ahead and did it,” Dean said.

Despite the warnings, Elliott felt sure. He loved the visit and his mom liked the school, so he pulled the trigger. At that point, he cut off communication with other schools. The amusement park ride of a process was done.

***

Elliott stopped talking to other schools in December and told his mom to do the same. He didn’t even want to hear from other coaches, he was with Michigan 100 percent.

But on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 18, Dean’s mind kept flashing to Texas. The Longhorns were the school that had been on Elliott since the beginning. Former Texas defensive backs coach Chris Vaughn called every week, no matter Elliott’s commitment status, just to say hi.

Dean searched Texas on her phone, and she stumbled on the YouTube video “Let’s Ride Part II: A Letter to Longhorn Recruits.” The video had come out the day prior, and after viewing it she called downstairs to Elliott, “can we talk?”

Elliott agreed and listened as his mom pitched an official visit to Texas. Had this come a few weeks prior, Elliott likely would have said no. But a random run in between his high school coach and Texas tight ends coach Jeff Traylor at a Whataburger in Houston already had him thinking.

Traylor had told his coach: “We’re saving the last spot for Jordan.”

So when Dean pitched the visit, Elliott listened. Dean said she asked Elliott a question about Michigan and Texas at that moment, and Elliott answered, “Texas, of course mom.” After that Dean insisted they needed to go.

A few minutes later, as Elliott prepared to call the Texas coaches for the first time in a month, his phone rang. Vaughn was on the line – he wanted to talk to Jordan.

“That’s what made us take that official,” Elliott said. “It was just too many coincidences. It’s not just how they happened, but the way they happened. It was just a sign.”

Elliott visited the weekend of Jan. 22, and he said it felt like coming home.

He would flip his commitment one final time. Elliott wanted to be a Longhorn.

“It was just like coming back to your root,” Elliott said. “It was just coming back up there and seeing all that again and realizing that was the place I needed to be.”

***

Dean said she learned a lot about her son throughout the recruiting process. Elliott had always been a good kid. He received good grades, didn’t get in trouble and is quite coachable, which is a big reason he had so many offers.

Mom just didn’t realize that Elliott could be a little immature.

“It was frustrating,” Dean said. “I should have put my foot down more and said: ‘No, don’t do this.’”

Elliott, for his part, admitted he’d do things differently if he ever had to go through the process again. That’s why if any recruits ever ask him for advice, the first thing he recommends is patience.

“This time is real hectic with a lot of hype,” Elliott said. “The most important thing is patience. If you’re not, you’ll make a decision too quickly by being too emotional.”

Dean, for her part, is thrilled the process is over. She’s also happy Elliott landed in Austin where Charlie Strong and his staff can keep watch over her son.

She fully expects the maturation process to occur in Austin.

“I think Jordan is going to get a lot of nurturing, which is what he needs,” Dean said. “That’s what Coach Strong does.”

Though, after more than a year of commitments, decommitments and even the silent kind, Elliott feels he’s already started that process. He read many of the comments, including those that said he’s set up to fail in the future, but he’s not mad.

He thinks they’re wrong – he said he had good reasons for all of the changes – but he admits the process did change him.

“A part of becoming a man is you’ve got to learn to stick to your word,” Elliott said. “That was just poor decision making on my part, not wanting to see all the aspects of every school. A lot of it was just me being hard headed.

“It was a lesson, and they weren’t too hard on me. You need that. In life there are consequences for everything.”

Elliott is finally where he needs to be. It just took him a while to get there.

Check our previous Signee Spotlight pieces:

No. 1 — Collin Johnson

No. 2 — Zach Shackelford

No. 3 — Demarco Boyd

No. 4 — Shane Buechele

No. 5 — Peyton Aucoin

No. 6 — Tope Imade

No. 7 — Davion Curtis

No. 8 — Malcolm Roach

No. 9 — Lil’Jordan Humphrey

No. 10 — Marcel Southall

No. 11 — D'Andre Christmas-Giles

No. 12 — Reggie Hemphill-Mapps

No. 13 — Chris Daniels

No. 14 — Kyle Porter

No. 15 — Andrew Fitzgerald

No. 16 — Denzel Okafor