5-star Texas DT target Marvin Wilson will have Alabama, LSU on final list

One of the most important Texas Longhorns targets in the 2017 class is currently looking hard at the SEC, as Houston Episcopal defensive tackle Marvin Wilson recently told Campus Insiders that the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers will be among his finalists when he officially narrows his list.

"Those are going to be the two schools that will be there until the end," Wilson said. "I already know that. I don't have a set Top 5 or a Top 10, but if I did I know those two schools would be in there."

In an interview with Bleacher Report last summer, Wilson said that every school still has a chance and that he's "not closing anything off," but listed LSU, Michigan, Texas A&M, UCLA, and USC are the programs currently at the top of his list. However, in an interview with 247Sports that posted shortly thereafter, Wilson did name the Longhorns when asked the same question and declined to name the Wolverines and Trojans.

Early in Wilson's recruitment, Texas was considered the leader after the 6'4, 316-pounder attended two summer camps in Austin in 2014. By August of that year, there were six predictions to Texas in Wilson's 247Sports Crystal Ball. Then, Wilson visited again in April of 2015 and officially picked up the offer that was long in the works.

Despite the slowdown in recent momentum, if there's one takeaway from the 2015 and 2016 classes, it's that the Longhorns aren't out of Wilson's recruitment until he signs his National Letter of Intent, so it goes without saying that this is not a time to panic about where Texas stands -- Strong and his staff certainly are not.

Still, the Horns have some work to do on the field to convince Wilson that the program is finally headed in the right direction. With all the young talent on campus and headed to Austin in June, there's a good chance that happens, which would allow Texas to make a late surge.

Expected to make a decision on National Signing Day 2017, Wilson is a consensus five-star prospect ranked as the No. 5 prospect overall, the No. 1 defensive tackle nationally, and the No. 1 player in the state of Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Here's the current state of his 247Sports Crystal Ball:

However, note that most of the recent momentum has favored LSU.