Texas offers Auston Anderson and DaMarkus Lodge

Coaches for the Texas Longhorns are out on the recruiting trail with the spring evaluation period having started early this week and school visits have already produced two offers so far.

There were reports on Wednesday afternoon that the Longhorns had offered Newton athlete Kevin Shorter, but those reports were shot down, though offers were officially extended to Plano West running back Auston Anderson and 2015 Cedar Hill wide receiver DaMarkus Lodge.

Anderson shares the backfield at West with 2015 offer Soso Jamabo, a prospect who is high on the Longhorns early in the process. The 5-9, 180-pound Anderson is more than an all-purpose back because he is solidly built, while also possessing four-star level acceleration, toughness, and balance -- he finishes runs much better than current Texas commit Donald Catalon. Overall, Anderson compares favorably to the more highly-regarded Shaun Nixon, the Lake Travis product and A&M pledge.

Offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Stanford, TCU, Texas, UCLA, Washington, and a handful of others are all currently on the table for Anderson.

What does the offer to Anderson say about the situation at running back in the 2014 class? Well, the Longhorns have been pursuing five-star Louisiana back Leonard Fournette and even got him on campus recently, so the willingness to take three backs in the class has been there for some time. The offer to Anderson indicates that adding another player to the class at that position is a significant priority moving forward.

As for Lodge, the 6-1, 175-pounder didn't get to play a large role for Cedar Hill last season because of the presence of Ole Miss-bound Quincy Adeboyejo and A&M signee Laquvionte Gonzalez, catching only six passes all season. But there is precedent for monster breakout years for receivers at Cedar Hill, as Adeboyejo picked up his A&M offer and committed after only catching five passes during his junior season.

Expect Lodge to be a focal point of the Longhorns next season in head coach Joey McGuire's offense.

And expect the college version of the Longhorns to be heavily in the running for Lodge's commitment, too. Arizona is the only other school to have currently extended an offer and the Cedar Hill product sounds high on Texas when asked about the 'Horns.

The offer is the first made to a pure wide receiver prospect in the 2015 class, though Sulphur Springs product Larry Pryor has an offer that could be on offense. Outside of Pryor and Lodge, there are currently no other wide receivers listed in the top 50 of the first LSR.

Stay tuned for more developments on the recruiting trail as the spring evaluation period continues.