No. 2 RB Jerrick Gibson commits to Texas

As the 2024 recruiting cycle begins to heat up, the Texas Longhorns landed one of the premier players in the cycle with the commitment of five-star running back Jerrick Gibson on Saturday.

The top back in the nation according to ESPN, Gibson made the decision to commit to the Longhorns ahead of a busy summer of visits. The consensus No. 2 back in the nation also took official visits to Miami and Georgia before the trip to the Forty Acres was enough to end his recruitment.

If Gibson follows through on his commitment, it will mark the second-consecutive season that running backs coach Tashard Choice has gone to the Sunshine State and poached a top player at the position after landing No. 1 2023 running back CJ Baxter.

The Longhorns are seemingly stockpiling the talent necessary to compete in the SEC ahead of the 2024 conference change. Gibson makes seven five-star commitments in the first three classes under Steve Sarkisian and his staff, giving them as many as the seven classes prior, dating back to Charlie Strong’s first cycle as the head coach.

Ranked No. 39 overall, Gibson instantly becomes the top player in the class and just the second member of the class ranked in the top 250, joining wide receiver Freddie Dubose, who committed six days prior.

Analysis (by Daniel Seahorn):

Possesses a good muscular build and measures in with good size at 5’11, 200 pounds. Gibson is an explosive athlete, who has reportedly ran a laser timed 4.5 40 and also recorded a vertical just shy of 41 inches (per 247Sports). As a runner, Gibson thrives in a zone run scheme as he likes to be one cut and go to get north and south as quickly as possible. Rarely goes down at first contact and consistently shows the power to run through arm tackles. Shows good vision when the picture is murky and shows to be pretty elusive once he is at the second and third levels in the open field. Possesses good balance and is stubborn to go down even when met with contact behind the LOS. Possesses enough long speed to finish off explosive plays when he breaks into the open field. I have questions about his abilities in pass protection since you don’t much of it on tape from his junior year, but he does show a willingness at times to mix it up with defenders when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Would also like see more of him as a pass catcher out of the backfield, though his athleticism leads me to believe he could be capable in this regard. Hasn’t been tasked with a full workload of carries thus far in his career and has often split carries. He will arrive on campus with plenty of tread left on the tire, but will also have to adjust to having a heavier workload at the next level.