Texas OT target Jack Leyrer commits to Stanford

In a recurring theme during the 2021 recruiting cycle, the Texas Longhorns received some bad news on Friday from an offensive line target, as Highland Park offensive tackle Jack Leyrer committed to the Stanford Cardinal.

The 6’6, 275-pounder also held offers from programs like Baylor, Iowa State, Northwestern, USC, Utah, and Vanderbilt.

Taken in a vacuum, losing out on a recruiting target to Stanford who places a high value on education isn’t particularly surprising or unusual — the Cardinal have beat out the Longhorns a handful of times in the last few years, including for star left tackle Walker Little and defensive tackle Mike Williams, among others.

However, in the context of this recruiting cycle, missing out on yet another offensive line target, not to mention one ranked as a consensus mid three-star prospect, is another concerning development for offensive line coach Herb Hand.

From the most high-profile misses like losing the Brockermeyer twins to Alabama to missing out on a similar recruitment when Dallas Jesuit offensive tackle Ryan Lengyel committed to Baylor, Hand’s unrequited efforts have spanned the spectrum of possible misses.

Texas even had some advantages with Leyrer after he took a recent visit to Austin and was able to spend time with former teammates like Prince Dorbah, a 2020 signee, and walk-on wide receiver Paxton Anderson.

Once again, though, whatever advantages the Longhorns possessed in Leyrer’s recruitment, they weren’t enough as the slow-motion disaster of offensive line recruiting in this cycle continues.

There is currently some optimism surrounding the recent offer that went out to former TCU commit Jacoby Jackson, an offensive tackle from Mansfield Summit, but Hand is quickly running out of options to find the necessary numbers at the position and has already squandered one of the most talented cycles for offensive linemen Texas during the modern recruiting era.