Rising Texas DE commit Charles Omenihu officially shuts down recruitment

With the Rowlett spring game happening on Wednesday evening, longtime Texas Longhorns defensive end commit Charles Omenihu drummed up some interest in recent days by deciding to reveal whether he would open up his recruitment and consider other schools.

The news was good for the Longhorns:

There wasnt much thought process into this decision.I am officially closing down my recruitment! Once a longhorn always a longhorn #HOOKEM

— Charles (@charless_94) May 29, 2014

It wasn't just Omenihu deciding to be dramatic either -- despite saying that he didn't have to put much thought into the decision, some of his recent offers could have given him quite a bit to think about.

At the time of the 6'5, 225-pounder's commitment at a Texas Junior Day back in February, he was a lightly-regarded mid-three-star prospect who featured only three offers, from Louisiana Tech, Northwestern, and Tulsa, while receiving interest from Baylor, Michigan, and Oklahoma.

Since that time, he's added offers from Arizona State, Florida, LSU, Miami, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon, and TCU.

So while the industry consensus still hasn't moved much to reflect the increase in Omenihu's stock in the eyes of college coaches, he has become a quite coveted prospect.

An extremely strong performance at the Dallas NFTC in one-on-ones surely helped show his ultimate upside as a pass rusher, especially some excellent reps against Texas A&M tackle commit Trevor Elbert, a player possessing that fourth star that Omenihu wants so badly.

Given his current ability as a run defender, adding that pass-rush ability on the field this fall would make him a clear four-star prospect.

Even if it doesn't happen, Omenihu will come to Texas with four-star upside and as a player whose recruitment has validated the evaluation ability of new head coach Charlie Strong, who saw the potential in the Rowlett product before many other college coaches who eventually joined the fray.