JUCO TE Salvatore Cannella visiting Texas days before decision

On Wednesday, the first day of the junior college signing period for mid-year enrollees, Scottsdale CC tight end Salvatore Cannella will get the chance he never had in high school — to sign with a Power Five program.

From Thursday to Saturday, Cannella visited the Auburn Tigers, an official visit that was relatively unusual in its length. On the way back to Arizona, Cannella is also making a stop with the Texas Texas Longhorns on Saturday after receiving an offer from the Longhorns earlier in the week. The 6’6, 230-pounder also took a previous official visit to see the Maryland Terrapins.

Of all the official visitors on Saturday, Cannella may be the most important — he’s had an extra year to mature physically out of high school, he will be on campus in the spring, and he plays at an extreme position of need.

So new head coach Tom Herman needs to be able to sell him on fit on his offense and convince him of his vision for the future of Longhorns football. And he needs to do that in much less than the Tigers were afforded, increasing the challenge.

According to the experts, that’s going to be a difficult task:

However, Auburn’s tight end this season, a sophomore, only caught one pass.

A versatile prospect who can play anywhere on the field as a wide receiver, tight end, and H-back, Cannella is now ranked as the No. 21 junior college prospect and the No. 2 junior college tight end, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.