LSU TE commit Jamal Pettigrew picks up Texas offer

Tight ends are hot commodities around the country, so the Texas Longhorns entered the recruitment of New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine tight end Jamal Pettigrew on Thursday night, according to Demetric Warren.

Rivals now reports the offer as well, as does Scout.

A standout at the Houston NFTC last spring, the 6'6, 235-pounder committed to the home-state LSU Tigers on January 11. He also holds offers from Arizona State, Florida, Louisville, Miami, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ole Miss, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Tulane.

Considered a consensus four-star prospect, Pettrigrew is the No. 176 prospect overall, the No. 6 tight end, and the No. 13 player in Louisiana.

The rankings make him something of a no-brainer offer unless there are other reasons not to pursue the rangy pass catcher, so it's a bit hard to understand why the Longhorns waited until now to enter his recruitment -- it was clear that Pettigrew had the talent to warrant an offer as far back as last spring.

Would an early offer have made any difference? Probably not given the LSU chokehold on Louisiana, but as things stand now, it would be a major surprise to even get Pettigrew on campus at any point in the process.

The bottom line is that as well as this staff has done on the recruiting trail in terms of making up ground on in-state rivals, waiting to offer until after so many major prospects have already committed to other schools just isn't acceptable. Sometimes relentlessness isn't enough if the timing is terrible, so offers need to start going out to top prospects in a more timely manner.