Texas Officially Hires Jay Boulware

– CJ Vogel

Add another coach to the staff!

Texas has made the hiring of Jay Boulware official.

Boulware had served as the Oklahoma RB coach since 2013 and will now be in charge of tight ends and special teams with the Longhorns.

New coaches to Tom Herman’s coaching staff:

David Ash – Defensive Coordinator

Mike Yurcich – Offensive Coordinator

Jay Valai – Corners Coach

Coleman Hutzler – Linebackers Coach

Plus Stan Drayton will return.

Texas Commits & Targets React to Elite Day

– CJ Vogel

Texas hosted a number of 2021 commits Saturday for this year’s Elite weekend.

We caught up with them to see what their weekend entailed following a visit to the Texas-Kansas basketball game, campus and facility tours and most importantly, spend time with the new staff.

2021 OL Commit Hayden Conner

“It felt normal. It was really good to meet (Offensive Coordinator) Coach Yurcich and all the new coaches that got on board. It feels normal, feels like they were meant to be here.”

2021 LB Commit Derrick Harris Jr.

“It went very good. Got to meet the new coaches. Coach Ash had a whole presentation for all the linebackers and defensive backs so it went very good.”

2021 TE Commit Juan Davis

“It was great and really fun. I love it when I come down to Texas.”

2021 ATH Commit Ja’Tavion Sanders

“It was amazing. I’m glad my mom got to see the facilities and meet Coach Herman to know the he’s a good guy and that he’s definitely going to get me right for my future.”

2021 QB Commit Jalen Milroe

“Today, put the stamp on ‘This is Home.’ That’s what the key thing is – this is home. The coaching staff is stable and the relationships that I have built coming into today with the coaches is really good.”

2021 DE Target Landon Jackson

“It was really cool getting to finally meet all the new coaches since I basically knew a whole different staff besides Coach Giles and couple other guys. But I really liked a lot of them, and they impressed me and I liked what they were doing with the new fronts and everything.”

2021 RB Target LJ Johnson

“I got to talk to the coaches, it was a good experience. I liked it.”

2021 LB Target Terrence Cooks

“Texas has such a family and environment here. Coach H ( ) I love him, Coach Herman, I love the recruiting part – Coach Carrington, they do a lot for me.”

Filling the Cornerback Spot | Update

– Super K

***Yesterday, 2020 CB, Isaiah Dunson (Tucker, GA) committed to Miami. As you know, Texas offered Dunson back in December. It doesn’t sound like Ash and company made a push here though.

***The focus on the 2020 CB spot appears to be on Ennis Rakestraw and…

***Edric Whitley. Whitley is an Austin area cornerback. He’s about the same size as Rakestraw. However, Whitley does have a verified 100m time (10.72). He’s actually been one of my personal favorite corner prospects in the state.

***Whitley tells me that he has been in contact with the staff and they are expected to see him this week.

***I don’t know whether an offer will happen but it would not surprise me.

Elite Day Notebook | LJ Johnson, Landon Jackson & More

– CJ Vogel

Below, I’ll include the biggest takeaways I had from the recruits I was able to talk at Texas’ Elite Day weekend this past weekend.

Will has a group of guys he talked to as well and will have that in a part two, so no need to worry if you don’t see someone that was present in Austin.

2021 DE Target Landon Jackson – (Pleasant Grove HS)

This weekend was very important for Texas in terms of making a new first impression. Jackson noted he basically met a brand new staff this weekend with the exception of Oscar Giles and Tom Herman, but by the sound of things, he truly enjoyed his time. New Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash made a big impression by showing Jackson the plans for the new four-man front and how Jackson would fit in the scheme, it’s worth noting that Jackson said the old three-man front was “one of those things that wasn’t keeping Texas up there” in terms of his top schools ranking. Ash and Giles pitched Jackson out wide as a 9-tech in their presentation to him.

Coach Giles is the man in this recruitment and Jackson mentioned several times how important his relationship is with the defensive line coach. As long as Giles is around, there will be a chance in this recruitment, which is noteworthy with Jackson hoping to commit before the beginning of his senior season. He has all five OV’s left, which will for sure go to Texas, Texas A&M and LSU with Washington and Ohio State in high consideration for the remaining two.

2021 RB Target LJ Johnson – (Cy Fair HS)

Make no doubt about it, LJ Johnson is for real. Texas likes him, and he likes Texas. Much like Landon Jackson and Oscar Giles, the ace in the hole here is Stan Drayton for the Cypress product. Johnson said Drayton being brought back on the staff is a “huge part of why I want to come to Texas.” Drayton’s ability to develop is high on the mind for Johnson who said he thinks he and Texas “would be” a fit together. Johnson was also keen on the life after football aspect that Texas can provide with its wide networking tree.

It’s no secret there are a number of Houston-area 2021 kids that have played football with each other growing up and Johnson falls into that group. He said he hears from Jalen Milroe and Hayden Conner are in his ear a lot but Johnson added a new name to the list commit-recruiters – Derrick Harris Jr.

As for a commitment timeline, Johnson said he hopes to take some official visits in the summer and said he will commit “anywhere after that” whenever he knows the feeling is right. Right now, Georgia and Ohio State are two other programs really standing out to him.

2021 OL Commit Hayden Conner – (Katy Taylor HS)

Hayden Conner returned to Austin this weekend for an important weekend which provided a great opportunity for him to meet the new members of the Texas staff and also put on his best recruiting cap and give his best pitches to some of the best talent in the state. When talking with the Katy native following the visit, the word “normal” popped up several times when describing the first impressions with the new coaches, he added “it feels like they were supposed to be here.” With Coach Hand staying on staff, Conner is completely solid to the Longhorns though it should be emphasized that Conner said he would not have decommitted from Texas had a change been made.

Being a known leader in the class, the weekend gave Conner an opportunity to get in some guys’ ears about what makes Texas special. The guy he said he spent the most time with was WR Latrell Neville and obviously his HS teammate Bryce Foster. Conner said he’s going to be turning up the pressure in Foster’s recruitment.

2021 LB Commit Derrick Harris Jr. – (New Caney HS)

The outside linebacker from New Caney missed out on the district swim meet to join his future Longhorn teammates in Austin this weekend and it was a decision he said he had no second guesses about. The first meeting with new Linebackers Coach Coleman Hutzler and Coach Ash went very well as the new staff went through a presentation with the linebackers present.

While overlooked by Jalen Milroe and Hayden Conner in terms of being big recruiters in the class, Harris Jr. is certainly talented in his own way at making an impact with uncommitted prospects. Whatever happened on the visit went well enough for Harris Jr. to put in a vote of confidence for RB LJ Johnson to be “the next commit” in the class. Latrell Neville was also a guy Harris Jr. was able to spark a relationship with and he made a big impression on Shadow Creek LB Terrence Cooks.

Harris looks real good stature wise. He’s now up to 6-foot, 3-inches, 221 pounds.

2021 TE Commit Juan Davis – (Everman HS)

What great timing it was for tight end commit Juan Davis to make it down to Austin. On the day of his new position coach being hired, Davis was able to meet him in person for the very first time. Davis said he had not been recruited by new TE Coach Jay Boulware during his time at Oklahoma, however Boulware said he was real excited and heard a lot of good things about the Everman prospect.

Unlike several members of the 2021 class, Davis isn’t a guy that will be very vocal in luring recruits to Austin. Regardless, Davis’ smile gleamed when describing his visit down to the 40 Acres this weekend, which was highlighted by the trip to the Texas-Kansas basketball game at the Frank Erwin Center.

Davis is real solid. A whole lot would have to go wrong for his commitment to waver.

2021 LB Target Terrence Cooks – (Shadow Creek HS)

Texas made a massive impression on Shadow Creek LB Terrence Cooks with this weekend’s event. Cooks even said right off the bat, he wasn’t very familiar with the Longhorns until this weekend, yet he went as far to say he “fell in love with Texas” following the visit. Obviously, it helps having Cooks’ former HS teammate and early enrollee Xavion Alford now on campus. The two are very close and have been playing together since middle school days. Cooks shared a trust in Alford that should definitely bode well for the Longhorns down the road in this recruitment.

I mentioned above that LB commit Derrick Harris Jr. was a guy that really took a step forward in terms of being an active recruiter and he made no bigger impact than that of Terrence Cooks. The two linebackers spent a good amount of time together with Coach Hutzler and Coach Ash leading their visit and created quite a bond. Cooks was adamant about taking his official visit the same weekend as Harris.

An interesting note, Cooks said the staff told him he was their No. 1 guy at inside LB on the board. Cooks said Texas is certainly up in his top schools, if not his top school.