No. 3 OLB De’Gabriel Floyd commits to Texas

A second visit to the Forty Acres was enough for the Texas Longhorns to secure an unexpected, big-time commitment from Westlake (Calif.) Westlake Village linebacker De’Gabriel Floyd on Saturday:

As Floyd notes, he’s 1,000-percent committed to the Longhorns now, so even though it’s still early in the recruiting process, he could be done taking other visits.

Texas offered the 6’3, 220-pounder at the end of January and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando quickly built a strong relationship with Floyd, who has connections to the Austin area. A Junior Day visit in February made a strong impression and Orlando closed when Floyd made his way back to Austin this week.

Previously a USC commit, Floyd was also considering Oregon and wanted an offer from UCLA, but the Bruins never officially entered his recruitment. Overall, Floyd held 25 offers, including Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.

The news is big for the 2019 recruiting class because the ‘Horns are thin at linebacker, making it arguably the primary position of emphasis in this cycle. And Floyd, one of the top outside linebackers in the country, quickly became the top target after his first visit.

After landing four-star quarterback Cameron Rising and junior college offensive tackle Mikey Grandy in the 2018 class, Texas has now secured a third California prospect. The talent-rich state is an area where previous Longhorns coaches haven’t exerted a lot of focus, but that could be changing. There’s certainly opportunity for success, as Oklahoma has been recruiting California successfully for years. Of course, the Longhorns can’t appeal to prospects because of recent on-field results like the Sooners, but there’s still plenty of national cachet for the brand if the coaches can sell it correctly.

Clearly, that’s starting to happen.

Floyd is a consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 40 player nationally, the No. 3 outside linebacker, and the No. 5 player in California, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

The 2019 class now has four members, including consensus five-star wide receiver Jordan Whittington and star quarterback Roschon Johnson. The group ranks No. 17 nationally and No. 4 in the Big 12, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.