When news broke on Thursday evening that DeSoto cornerback Bryson Echols was coming down a day before the official second Texas Junior Day, there was little question that Echols would receive an offer. After touring the campus and spending some one-on-one time with the coaches, Echols received his scholarship offer from head coach Mack Brown.
However, contrary to speculation that had him as a commit upon being offered, Echols decided to head back to DeSoto with his family to talk over the future. Echols did let it be known that he planned on making a decision in the near future and that Texas was his leader, though he was a bit more coy in an interview on 104.9 The Horn with Geoff Ketchum, declining to call the Longhorns his favorite. On Friday evening, after apparently talking the offer over with his family as much as he needed to make a decision, Echols called the Texas coaching staff to give his verbal pledge.
One of the top cover corners in the state, the 5-10, 175-pound Echols had offers from Kansas, Arizona, and North Texas. During his junior season, Echols showed off his playmaking ability by intercepting five passes, returning two for touchdowns, breaking up 21 passes, and blocking two kicks.
Though Echols isn't currently ranked among the top players in the state, he is one of the few pure cornerbacks in the class with experience at position, as many of the other top candidates for offers as defensive backs play mainly on offense in high school.
Echols is also the second defensive back commit in the class, joining Copperas Cove's Orlando "Duke" Thomas, and the second DeSoto commit in the class, following offensive lineman Curtis Riser's commitment at the first Texas Junior Day. There are also several Eagles currently on the Texas roster: 2010 commits Darius Terrell and Adrian White, and 2011 commit Marcus Hutchins. With the verbal pledge from Echols, the Longhorns now have eight commitments heading into the second Junior Day on Saturday.