4-star LB S’Maje Burrell signs with Texas

The first linebacker commit in the 2023 class for the Texas Longhorns is now officially a Longhorn, as four-star Fort Worth North Crowley product S’Maje Burrell signed his National Letter of Intent on Early Signing Day.

A rising prospect, Burrell earned his fourth star since committing to Texas in April on the heels of his visit for one of the major recruiting events. At the time, the in-state standout chose the Longhorns over 26 other offers, including Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC.

Multiple visits to campus helped the Texas build a relationship with Burrell and emerge as a favorite for the 6’0, 215-pounder before position coach Jeff Choate was able to close the deal.

A highly-productive prospect, Burrell was everywhere defensively over the last several seasons, totaling 184 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and seven sacks, as well as forcing and recovering numerous fumbles.

As evident by his stat line, Burrell has a clear nose for the ball and knows how to navigate around and through defenders to find it. He displays impressive instincts at the position, being patient when needed and exploding downhill to put himself in ideal positions to make plays. Burrell thrives playing aggressively and going downhill and he often arrives with force, but he’s plenty athletic ad plays really well in space and in short coverage. He seems to diagnose plays incredibly fast, allowing his athleticism to just take over as he reacts and makes plays all over the field. I’m not quite sure what his ceiling could be, as he’s a bit undersized at 6’0, but there are so many positives to his game that his floor is probably pretty high, and he could very well find the field sooner than later.

Once ranked as the No. 498 player in the class, he’ll arrive in Austin as the No. 260 overall player and as the No. 20 linebacker, per the 247Sports Composite.