2021 3-star QB Cole Lourd commits to Texas

On Wednesday, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said he felt “pretty good” about a quarterback room that will include three scholarship players this spring, but the Longhorns weren’t done recruiting — a day later, Los Angeles (Calif.) Brentwood School’s Cole Lourd accepted a preferred walk-on offer from Sarkisian and his staff.

The 6’2, 220-pound Lourd is the poster boy for a lost season amid the coronavirus pandemic. A short list of Lourd’s Twitter followers include former Texas Longhorns offensive coordinators Tim Beck and Mike Yurcich, but after the pandemic shut down spring practice last year and cancelled Lourd’s senior season, the consensus three-star prospect is still looking for a landing spot.

On Monday, LSU extended an offer to Lourd after originally recruiting him as a preferred walk on. Given Lourd’s family ties to Cajun country, the pairing made sense for a quarterback with offers from Florida Atlantic, Idaho, Liberty, Louisiana, and Ole Miss. But Lourd decided to push back his decision.

Enter Texas. First reported by Mike Scarborough of Tiger Bait and then confirmed by Jason Suchomel of Orangebloods, the Longhorns added Lourd to the 2021 recruiting class as a preferred walk on who could eventually earn a scholarship.

Texas only has three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for spring practice this year and while new head coach Steve Sarkisian understands that the days of four or five scholarship quarterbacks is probably a thing of the past, he is still working to add depth. And since graduate transfers want to compete for actual playing time, landing a prospect like Lourd with scholarship upside looks like an excellent fit.

247Sports recruiting analyst Greg Biggins watched Lourd at the 2020 Elite 11 regional in Los Angeles and came away impressed:

“Lourd was consistent throughout the camp and threw the ball as well as we’ve seen him. You won’t find many players who work harder on their game and it’s really starting to pay off. He looked very comfortable throwing the entire route tree and his confidence is high right now. He showed touch on the deep ball, is very good throwing on the run, was accurate all camp long and made every throw look easy.

“He has filled out over the last year and looks bigger and stronger and his arm more live as well. He has a tight release and gets the ball out quick. He’s very solid mechanically and has made a nice jump as a player this off-season.”

A consensus three-star prospect, Lourd is ranked as the No. 1,471 player nationally and the No. 51 pro-style quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.