Why No. 4 WR Devin Duvernay has all but eliminated Texas

When consensus four-star Sachse wide receiver Devin Duvernay gives his verbal pledge to the school of his choice, the Texas Longhorns will likely not be his pick.

A leader early in the 5'11, 195-pounder's recruitment and still the leader in his 247Sports Crystal Ball, Texas is not in Duvernay's top three ($) of Baylor, Michigan, and TCU, according to Rivals. There's one common tie between those three programs and one simple reason why the Horns aren't among those schools despite the recruiting efforts of quarterback commit Shane Buechele -- head coach Charlie Strong hasn't offered Duvernay's twin brother Donovan.

The two look like a package deal at this point and the three programs that make up the more highly-rated Devin's top programs have all offered Donovan, who is a consensus low three-star prospect with other offers from schools like Boise State, Houston, Illinois, Kansas, North Texas, Oregon State, and SMU. At 5'9 and 177 pounds, Donovan is an athlete who could play wide receiver, cornerback, or work as a kick return specialist in college. The latter ability may be his best asset, as he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as a junior in 2014.

There's certainly a recent success story in taking twins as a package deal, as sophomores Armanti and D'Onta Foreman both look like breakout candidates for the Horns in 2015. D'Onta was the more lighly-recruited prospect of the two, but he's emerged as the team's No. 2 running back after out-competing a much more highly-rated recruit in Donald Catalon, who recently transferred to Houston.

However, taking Kenny Vaccaro's undersized brother, Kevin, hasn't worked out quite as well for Texas.

Strong is willing to take risks on players with low recruiting rankings -- witness the 2015 take of low three-star prospect Breckyn Hager and the offer to consensus two-star Florida outside linebacker Shemar Smithin the 2016 class. So if Strong doesn't think that Donovan Duvernay is good enough to play at Texas, it's difficult to doubt him, even though it will likely cost the Longhorns a shot at the type of gamechanger that the program desperately needs offensively.

Is using a scholarship on a potential non-contributor worth the risk of losing the explosive Devin Duvernay to a conference rival that already has an offensive edge on Texas and more recent success? Landing Ryan Newsome on National Signing Day 2015 reduces the risk some and the presence of prospects like Collin Johnson, Tren'Davian Dickson, and Reggie Hemphill-Mapps in the 2016 class means that the Longhorns will have options at wide receiver moving forward. Dickson in particular could be really special if he can take care of business in the classroom and translate his incredible, record-setting high school success to college.

So Texas can probably afford not to offer Donovan Duvernay and miss out on his brother, but it's hardly the ideal situation given the favorable position the Horns occupied so recently.