His parents seemingly wouldn't have had it any other way. Texas fans can thank Mommy and Daddy Estelle for helping deliver their massively talented, 6-7, 300-pound son to Mack Brown and the Longhorns. With both of his parents standing firmly in the Texas corner and wanting to keep their son close to home, Pearland Dawson's Estelle committed on Sunday following a workout at the afternoon camp. Expected to take an out-of-state visit before deciding on his future, Estelle opted instead to end his recruitment in a somewhat under-the-radar fashion.
In fact, Estelle didn't even receive a mention in my camp preview, even regarding his attendance at the camp. That despite talk of how spending time around the 2012 commitments could make a difference for attendees from outside the state. It's unclear at this time whether being there with fellow offensive linchpins Connor Brewer, Johnathan Gray, and Thomas Johnson played a role in Estelle's commitment, but regardless, the likelihood of Estelle choosing the Longhorns has been high for some time.
Certainly, the appeal of early playing time dangled by Stacy Searels helped Estelle choose Texas and the established offensive class he joined surely made the decision easier. With the addition of Estelle to Brewer, Gray, Johnson, and Austin's own Cayleb Jones, Texas now has the cornerstones of an elite offensive class in place. With a fierce run-blocker for the interior in Curtis Riser and another tackle prospect in Camrhon Hughes, the offensive line is starting to come together in 2012.
Of course, offensive tackle is such a position of need that the coaches are far from finished recruiting at the position, but Estelle's commitment does give the Texas staff the luxury of continuing to evaluate in-state talent, while pursuing elite national prospects like Andrus Peat and John Theus with a much higher comfort level.
Without Estelle, the huge question marks on the outside haunted all future predictions of success for recruits like Brewer and Gray. With Estelle, the question marks diminish significantly -- he might not be as highly-rated as Gray, but he's more important to the class overall at this point and that says a lot about just how desperate the situation at Estelle's position. Even Texas fans displaying little in the way of Chicken Little tendencies can breathe a massive sigh of relief Sunday.