JUCO K Josh Rowland signs with Texas

The first day of the junior college signing period was not entirely unsuccessful for the Texas Longhorns, as Mississippi Gulf Coast CC kicker Josh Rowland signed with the ‘Horns and new head coach Tom Herman just days after committing.

Rowland will enroll in Austin in January as a junior, just weeks after he visited Texas and committed.

The Madison, Mississippi product was a two-time all-conference selection in Perkinston, connecting on 16-of-19 field goals and 44-of-44 extra points as a freshman and 9-of-12 field goals and 32-of-33 extra points as a sophomore.

The biggest concern with Rowland is probably his leg strength — his longest field goal in junior college was only 44 yards. However, if he can show accuracy up to that distance, he will have a chance to win the starting job over Mitchell Becker.

A 5’10, 175-pounder, Rowland is the No. 1 junior college kicker in the 247Sports rankings and also held an offer from UTSA. He’s the first official member of the 2017 Longhorns recruiting class, as well as Herman’s first pledge at Texas.