Melbourne (Fla.) Eau Gallie defensive tackle Brandon Brown was committed to the Texas Longhorns for 18 days before defensive line coach Bo Davis left the Forty Acres in early January to join the LSU Tigers, his alma mater.
Brown remained pledged to the Longhorns for another 177 days, taking his first visit to the Forty Acres in March and then taking an official visit to Austin on June 4, but on Friday, Brown flipped to Davis and the Tigers in an announcement scheduled on Thursday that always boded ill for Texas and new position coach Kenny Baker.
The relationship between Davis and Brown was so strong back in December that Brown committed to the Horns before he even visited Austin. As a result, after Davis left Brown’s pledge to Texas was as soft as a verbal commitment could be as Brown took an unofficial visit to Alabama in early March before going on official visits to LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and USC during the spring visit period.
The Trojans didn’t make the final cut for Brown when he narrowed his list earlier this week, but for the Longhorns, Sooners, and Volunteers, the timing ultimately doesn’t matter much with Brown now pledged to the Tigers.
In a vacuum, losing an early pledge who hadn’t even visited campus at the time of that decision isn’t especially noteworthy. For Texas, however, Brown’s decision comes in the midst of one of the worst stretches of recruiting for head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff with the Longhorns, even dating back to the 5-7 season that nonetheless resulted in Sarkisian signing the nation’s No. 5 class.
Baker’s first recruiting cycle at the Power Four level is going particularly poorly — of the six top targets for Texas at defensive tackle entering the spring visit period, five of those six are now pledged to other programs even though the Longhorns hosted five on official visits. In that group, only Bellville’s DJ Sanders remains uncommitted,
With Early Signing Day moved to Wednesday, Dec. 4, Baker now has three fewer weeks to get the 2024 cycle right at a position that requires numbers and quality, leaving him with 152 days to land Sanders and either flip players who are currently committed or offer other defensive tackles, evaluations that typically take place during the spring or at summer camps.
So while the overall recruiting trends for the Longhorns are less than ideal, defensive tackle recruiting under Baker is a mess right now even when considering the difficulties of building relationships well after most of the competition in this cycle.