4-star DL Justice Finkley names Texas in final 3

On Sunday morning, the Texas Longhorns took a significant step towards potentially landing one of their top defensive targets, as four-star Trussville (Ala.) Hewiss-Trussville product Justice Finkley included the Horns in his final group, along with Alabama and Colorado.

Michigan was a notable exclusion from Finkley’s final group, as the Wolverines were a major player in his recruitment and arguably the favorite, holding each of his two Crystal Ball picks to date.

As far as Texas is concerned, Finkley was among the masses in Austin for the June 25 visit weekend, spending time on the Forty Acres as an official visitor.

The trip to Austin marked Finkely’s third official visit of the month after June 11 and June 18 trips to Colorado and Michigan, respectively. He unofficially visited Alabama to begin the month, and now that the home-state Crimson Tide are finalists, it’s likely he’ll return on an official basis, which now seems to be the biggest hurdle for Texas to overcome.

That said, Texas clearly made itself a very real factor in Finkley’s recruitment coming off of his official visit, and they’ll only continue to prioritize him going forward.

As a junior, Finkley tallied 82 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.

The 6’2, 255-pound Finkley is currently ranked as the nation’s No. 128 player and as the No. 21 defensive lineman, per the 247Sports Composite.