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Quarterback
Needs: One or two
Offers:
- Josh Rosen, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco (pro style)
- Ricky Town, Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure (pro style) (USC commit)
- Jarrett Stidham, Stephenville (dual threat)
- Chason Virgil, West Mesquite (dual threat)
- JW Ketchum, Fort Bend Marshall (dual threat)
- Kyler Murray, Allen (dual threat)
The ability to add USC transfer Max Wittek could change the numbers here and with David Ash also likely to have two years of eligibility remaining, if Wittek lands at Texas and Ash gets his medical redshirt as expected, the Horns may only take one quarterback in this class to avoid having the type of numbers on campus at the position in 2015 that would severely limit available reps in practice.
Taking a higher-risk athlete at the position becomes much less ideal in a situation where there's only one quarterback in the class, made more complicated by the fact that the most likely player for Texas to land on the above list is probably Ketchum, the least refined of all the quarterbacks there.
It's hard to see the Longhorns taking Ketchum as the only quarterback and could consider him an athlete while giving him a shot to stay at the position once he gets on campus. Of course, that's all hypothetical, as Ketchum has offers from the likes of Alabama, Baylor, LSU,
The second most likely is probably Virgil, who was at least high on the Longhorns before the coaching changes. Stidham just released a top 10 recently that didn't include Texas, so the new staff is going to have work to do there, while Murray's father played at A&M -- it's hard to imagine that he ends up anywhere else other than College Station.
Out-of-state prospects are all long shots until they get on campus unless there is a strong connection, which doesn't appear to exist with either of the California quarterbacks, both of whom are elite prospects.
Texas is also in evaluation mode around the state and is expected to have a handful of other quarterbacks in for the Junior Days.
Ideally, Texas could land Stidham and Ketchum, but Stidham feels like one of those prospects who are never particularly high on the Horns throughout the process and end up elsewhere. Virgil would be a solid consolation prize and Ketchum is one of the best athletes in the state during the cycle, regardless of position.
