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Coming off of an official visit with the Oklahoma Sooners over the weekend, Cibolo Steele defensive end Mark Jackson will decide around 5 p.m. CT Monday whether he will stick with his pledge to the Texas A&M Aggies, flip to the Texas Longhorns, or head back north of the Red River to Oklahoma to play his college football.
As usually happens after an official visit, there was some buzz about the Sooners upon Jackson's return:
Hearing #Oklahoma helped their chances greatly with #ESPN300 DE & #Gigem commit Mark Jackson this weekend. Nice A&M, OU & UT battle here
— Gerry Hamilton (@HamiltonESPN) February 1, 2016
Like a few others, I'm hearing good things for the #Sooners on where things stand with 2016 TX OLB, Mark Jackson.
— Super K (@SuperK_TFB) February 1, 2016
The impressions coming out of previous official visits to Texas A&M and Texas produced similar results.
After finishing third behind the Sooners and Aggies last summer when the 2016 US Army All-American originally made his decision, the Longhorns may have made the most progress with Jackson, but that may not end up being enough.
From the Texas perspective, it's concerning that Jackson has a strong bond with Daeshon Hall and Myles Garrett, the current stars at the position, and A&M defensive end commit Justin Madubuike, as Jackson isn't known to be close with any Longhorns pledges. And despite an impressive history of producing a number of top-flight defensive ends in the last decade, there aren't currently any standouts on campus who could help convince Jackson that he is the heir to their legacy.
So, among the contenders, head coach Charlie Strong and his program would seem to have the least momentum and may be back in third place, as there were three predictions for Jackson to Oklahoma in the 247Sports Crystal Ball on Monday morning:
Since the decision from Jackson is likely to result in an affirmation of his Texas A&M pledge or a flip to Oklahoma,the situation presents an interesting conundrum for Texas fans -- is it better for him to become a conference rival the team will face off against every year in the Cotton Bowl or end up at the school's true recruiting rival that the Horns aren't likely to actually play at any point in the near future?
The 6'3, 221-pounder is a consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 200 player overall, the No. 14 weakside defensive end, and the No. 32 player in the state of Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.