Five-star DL Dominick McKinley set to decide on Friday

The Texas Longhorn remain in pursuit of a handful of consensus five-star prospects in the 2024 recruiting class with a big decision looming on Friday from Lafayette (La.) Acadiana defensive lineman Dominick McKinley.

In addition to Texas, the 6’5.5, 280-pounder is down to the LSU Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, and Texas A&M Aggies ahead of his commitment announcement at Acadiana High School at 3:30 p.m. Central on Friday.

McKinley’s recruitment started relatively slowly before gaining momentum early this year — the Longhorns became the ninth offer for McKinley late last November, weeks before other top national programs began officially pursuing the nation’s No. 38-ranked player, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

In June, Ohio State, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma all hosted McKinley on official visits before Texas was able to get him to the Forty Acres for a pivotal visit weekend. Entering the final hours before McKinley announces his decision, there’s not a clear consensus about which school he’ll pick, but the Longhorns did emerge as the new leader in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine in early August and hold five of the last six predictions across the three major recruiting services, although the Aggies remain solidly in the mix, and became to trend for McKinley on Friday morning.

As with the recent decision from Duncanville edge Colin Simmons that remained a mystery until the announcement, McKinley looks poised to maintain some drama around his commitment ceremony even though he told On3’s Sam Spiegelman that he made his decision more than a month ago.

If position coach Bo Davis can pull off the recruiting coup of landing McKinley over in-state LSU and other national recruiting powers, the Louisiana standout would become the second consensus four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class for the Longhorns and the second highest-rated recruit in the class behind Simmons.

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