Texas misses the cut for 5-star RB Camar Wheaton

After teasing a release of his top two schools on Monday, Garland Lakeview Centennial running back Camar Wheaton changed course slightly, releasing a top three list after midnight that did not include the Texas Longhorns.

The remaining finalists are Alabama, LSU, and Oklahoma with the Sooners as the heavy perceived favorite, currently holding all five 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions following Wheaton’s visit to Norman over the weekend for what recruits called the “Sooner Summit.”

Other top prospects on the visit included Oklahoma quarterback commit Caleb Williams, the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Tristan Leigh, the No. 3 offensive tackle, and Savion Byrd, the No. 6 offensive tackle.

Notably, Wheaton was photographed making the horns down hand sign with the Oklahoma commits and targets. While that’s hardly uncommon for uncommitted prospects on visits to Norman, it wasn’t exactly a positive sign.

So Wheaton eliminating Texas was also a disappointment after the Horns seemingly gained some momentum recently with the commitment of Southlake Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers, the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. That same evening, running backs coach Stan Drayton and quality control coach Brandon Harris held a call with Wheaton that also featured Leonard Fournette, who played with Harris at LSU.

Wheaton’s tweet about the call grabbed some extra attention since he’s not particularly active on social media.

However, with Jalen Milroe flipping from Texas to Alabama last week and Byrd trending heavily to Oklahoma, as well, it’s clear that the Longhorns simply don’t have much momentum in a 2021 recruiting class that currently ranks No. 15 nationally in the 247Sports Composite team rankings.

That could eventually put more pressure on the evaluations of lower-ranked prospects in the class to out-perform their rankings and on Ewers to emerge as an elite recruiter in his class.

If there’s good news here, it’s that Texas remains in strong shape for Cy-Fair running back LJ Johnson, a top-50 national prospect who started trending to the Longhorns two weeks ago — that’s the recruit that Drayton needs to land to join Hallettsville’s Jonathon Brooks in the class.