Texas signees Erick Fowler and Marcell Southall expected to qualify

Consider the confidence of Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong justified for the moment, as news broke on Wednesday evening that defensive end/linebacker hybrid Erick Fowler received his needed SAT score and defensive tackle Marcell Southall is on track to enroll for the second summer session.

Fowler and his family have been relatively quiet of late, but Strong said on Friday at the Houston Touchdown Club that "at some point" both will make it to Austin. Both Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman and The Football Brainiacs were told the good news by Fowler himself:

He let me know that he did receive his test scores today. He said he spoke to Texas today and based on those conversations he believes he is "good to go". Fowler said that all that remains for him to do is to submit his final transcript to UT along with his test score. He noted that after hearing about his scores the Texas coaches were excited and expressed as much to him.

However, ESPN's Gerry Hamilton believes that Fowler still has to complete summer school in order to qualify academically. Even if that's true, receiving the test score that he needed is huge new for the 'Horns.

As for Southall, Hamilton reports that he's set to arrive in Austin soon.

A Manor product, Fowler is a consensus four-star product ranked as the No. 74 player nationally and No. 12 player in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, as well as a top-10 outside linebacker.

Aside from the rankings, one of the reasons why Fowler is so important to the class is because of his tenacious pass-rushing ability -- he's a natural off the edge and the only Fox end in the class after Strong was unable to fill the need at that position until the final moments.

As a defensive tackle -- a need position -- Southall is a candidate to contribute this fall if he does qualify academically.