Texas recruiting 2015: Horns recruiting well at offensive tackle

Previously: QB | RB | WR | TE

Needs: Three or four

Commitments:

• Huntsville's Ronnie Major
• Houston Westfield's Toby Weathersby

Offers:

• Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett's Mitch Hyatt (committed to Clemson)
• Keller's Maea Teuhema (committed to LSU)
• Woodbridge (Virg.) Hylton's Matthew Burrell
• Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral's Keenan Walker (committed to Arizona)
• Shreveport (Calif.) Evangel Christian's Jerry Tillery (committed to Notre Dame)
• Rockwall-Heath's Trevor Elbert (committed to Texas A&M)
• Buda Hays' Connor Lanfear (committed to Texas A&M)
• Flower Mound Marcus' Keaton Sutherland (committed to Texas A&M)
• Arlington Bowie's Madison Akamnonu
• Baldwin City (Kansas) Baldwin's Christian Gaylord

Commitment overview: The Horns once had two other offensive tackles committed in Connor Lanfear and Maea Teuhema, with the latter representing the most significant decommitment of the 2015 class, as he is the only five-star prospect who have been committed to Texas in this cycle. Lessening the blow in terms of this particular assessment is the fact that Teuhema may not end up playing tackle in college at more than 340 pounds, which would reduce his value.

However, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Joe Wickline has done an excellent job of landing two of the state's top prospects outside in Major and Weathersby. The former was no small coup given the recent success that Baylor has had recruiting against Texas and the developmental record of offensive line coach Randy Clements in Waco, while the latter was impressive because Weathersby

There's not much film available on Major, which makes an evaluation of his skills difficult, but it is apparent that he's tremendously talented from a physical standpoint. Like most high school offensive tackles Major has some technique issues that he'll need to clean up in pass protection before he can play. Meanwhile, Weathersby is much the same way in terms of his talent level and has less work to do in refining his kick step.

It's even possible that Wickline prefers the two prospects committed over the three tackles currently committed to Texas A&M. If that's not the case, Major and Weathersby are still ranked above Lanfear and Sutherland in the 247Sports rankings.

Moving forward: The lack of pure offensive tackles on campus, which could become a serious problem this fall, is something that Wickline wants to continue to address before this class signs in February.

Landing any of the out-of-state tackles will be difficult since only Matthew Burrell remains uncommitted. He hasn't visited yet and is considered a virtual lock to Ohio State by the industry. There may be a better chance with Jerry Tillery, who likely isn't completely solid with his decision, but he hasn't made any concrete visit plans for a trip to Austin and may well keep his commitment to Notre Dame.

The best candidate to join the class at the position is Madison Akamnonu, a high-upside prospect currently carrying no bad weight at all, making him essentially a blank slate for a future offensive line coach to write upon. He's thought to be down to Texas and Oklahoma as the Horns lead in his 247Sports Crystal Ball projections.

While missing out another offensive tackle wouldn't be a complete disaster, the need is significant enough that taking three or four offensive tackles would make sense.