Other than the prospects who took in the big win for the Texas Longhorns over the West Virginia Mountaineers last weekend, there were some notable Texas commits on visits, as well as some good official visit news on Tuesday.
Omenihu takes visit. Of all the commits in the 2015 class, Rowlett defensive end Charles Omenihu would seem like one of the least likely prospects to take a visit after officially shutting down his recruitment in May and working hard to recruit other prospects to the class.
But that's exactly what happened this weekend as the 6'4, 218-pounder took an official visit to Arizona State. Now rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports, is there reason for concern with the longtime commit?
William Wilkerson of Horns Digest stopped by Rowlett to see him on Monday and doesn't seem to think so:
Stopped by to see #Longhorns commit @charless_94 ... He's all #UT. @HornsDigest pic.twitter.com/OywUngdmW0
— William Wilkerson (@WVWilkerson) November 11, 2014
It's a major position of need for Texas with only one defensive end commit in the last two classes and not many in-state options, so the Longhorns staff will likely spend some time in the next couple of weeks re-recruiting Omenihu and making sure that his pledge is solid.
Elliott also takes visit. One of the other committed prospects to take a visit last weekend was Rockwall-Heath safety DeShon Elliott, who made the trip up to Norman to watch the Sooners take a historic home beat down from the Bears. After going down 14-3 early, Baylor scored 45 straight points.
Suffice it to say that things didn't go as well as Oklahoma would have liked with Elliott on campus -- he certainly didn't see anything that would convince him that the defense under Bob Stoops and his brother is headed in the right direction.
And while on the visit, Elliott was still paying attention to the Texas-West Virginia game, sending out this tweet some time around the third quarter or so:
Hook'em✊
— 4⃣ (@DeShonElliott_4) November 8, 2014
He also sent this out on Monday:
Watching LHN and they talking about how @qdiggs6 was eating Saturday Stay Up Big Homie!!!
— 4⃣ (@DeShonElliott_4) November 11, 2014
Obviously it's never ideal to have a commit take visits, but the Longhorns are still the prohibitive favorite to land Elliott's signature come February.
And now for the really bad news. For the second time in just more than a month, Tallahassee (Fla.) Lincoln wide receiver John Burt made his way to Auburn for a game, watching as Texas A&M managed to pull out a late victory thanks to some major Tiger miscues.
But what happened during the game is probably immaterial compared to the fact that he was there. A visit to Austin for the Iowa State game didn't help solidify his decision as his longtime connections to the program seem to be making less and less of a difference in his final decision as time moves on.
Speaking of which, he's now talking about making a "tough decision" in the near future and the industry increasingly believes that pick will be the Tigers, with 10 predictions in the 247Sports Crystal Ball coming in for Auburn.
At this point, it just seems like a matter of time until the Longhorns lose their top-rated commit in the class.
Considering the fact that wide receiver recruiting in the state has tanked under Les Koenning, with the former Mississippi State offensive coordinator unable to land a prospect from his father's district in Kemah Siverand, the loss of Burt would be another blemish on his record.
Throw in the fact that firing Darrell Wyatt cost Emanuel Porter and a shot at Demarkus Lodge and no one is buying Koenning stock as a recruiter right now. But hey, at least Reggie Hemphill likes Texas so much that the staff couldn't blow that one by initially pulling his offer. And Collin Johnson is a legacy, making his recruitment a lay up.
If only every recruitment could be as easy as those two, Koenning might look like a decent recruiter.
Indiana prospect sets official. Days after decommitting from Michigan, Indianapolis (Ind.) Lawrence Central linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. has already set up an official visit to Texas, with plans set to come in for the big visit weekend on December 6.
He just visited Oxford for an Ole Miss game and the Rebels seem like the current prohibitive favorite, with 10 predictions coming in for the Rebels in his 247Sports Crystal Ball since his decommitment from Michigan last week.
Last weekend, he was in Norman for the debacle against Baylor, which likely helped the Sooners as much with Kirkland Jr. as it did with Elliott.
The Horns have a long way to go in this one, but the visit is a start.