Texas still waiting on JUCO DT Jamari Chisholm to enroll

The lone member of the 2017 Texas Longhorns defensive tackle class is not yet on campus, as Northeastern Oklahoma A&M product Jamari Chisholm is still taking summer school classes in Miami instead of Austin.

Not getting the 6’5, 280-pounder enrolled for either of the summer sessions at Texas wasn’t exactly a surprise — Chisholm previously told Horns247 that he needed to complete several more classes before he could enroll with the ‘Horns and Horn Sports confirmed at Big 12 Media Days that Chisholm is not yet listed on the official roster.

Summer classes at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M end with final examinations on August 1, the day after head coach Tom Herman begins preseason camp at Texas. So Chisholm is on track to miss some practice time.

How much time? Possibly several weeks, as it often takes the NCAA some time to process transcripts following submission. For instance, former linebacker Erick Fowler wasn’t cleared to participate until August 15 of last year.

By the time that Fowler had gone through the mandated practice time in shorts, he was already well behind his classmates. So the delay will reduce the odds of Chisholm becoming a contributor this season.

The bigger concern, however, is just getting Chisholm on campus at all — even though he’s considered a low three-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings, there aren’t any other players at his position in the class, making the National Signing Day addition more valuable to the class than his raw rankings would indicate.

If Herman and the ‘Horns can get the Georgia native enrolled, keeping him qualified and a member of the program could also be difficult, as players who struggle to get into school are at higher risk of washing out than players who are able to enroll for the summer sessions.

Just look at what happened to the two signees who barely made it to Texas last year — neither Fowler nor defensive tackle Marcel Southall lasted a year in the program.

Suffering that same fate with Chisholm would put even more pressure on recruiting at the position in 2018 and 2019. Not a particularly pleasant prospect, to be sure.