2013 Texas Football Recruiting: Longhorns At 14 Commits, Including Nation's No. 1 QB

Bastrop cornerback Antwuan Davis has committed to the Texas Longhorns for the 2013 season, according to a report by HornsNation. Davis is Texas' 14th commitment overall and first since March 8 when tight end Durham Smythe made his commitment on March 8.

Davis was highly-sought-after, reportedly turning down offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Vanderbilt.

Davis, at 6-foot, 180 pounds, is the No. 13 cornerback in the country, according to ESPN. He has the size that can only be refined and the speed to compete well in college. This is from the ESPN scouting report:

"Tall, lean and lengthy but has plenty of pop on his tightly wound frame. Quick twitched athlete who plays bigger and thrives on contact. This is a physical DB who plays with an edge and at times a reckless style that could be more under control."

Also, check out this highlight video of Davis as a junior in 2011.

Read more about the Longhorns at Burnt Orange Nation.

The 2012 college football season has not yet begun, but recruiting is already well underway for 2013. Texas schools have already managed to snag some top prospects via early commitments.

ESPNU has released their list of the top 150 prospects in the 2013 class. The Texas Longhorns keep seeing their name pop up alongside these top players, but the Baylor Bears have snagged at least one player on the list as well.

Two Texas commits appear in the top 10 of the ESPNU list: Ricky Seales-Jones, a five-star wide receiver out of Sealy, TX is ranked at No. 7. No. 9 is Tyrone Swoopes, a quarterback and defensive tackle from Whitewright, TX who is pegged as a four-star player.

No. 19 Darius James is also committed to Texas. He's a four-star center from Killeen, TX. Another local four-star recruit that has committed to Texas is No. 78 Jake Raulerson, an offensive tackle from Celina. Dallas offensive tackle Kent Perkins appears at No. 87. No. 111 is Jacorey Warrick, a wide receiver from Houston. The final Texas commit (so far) on the list is A'Shawn Robinson, a defensive tackle from Fort Worth.

Baylor's top commitment to date is a four-star quarterback and defensive tackle from Bryan, TX. Chris Johnson appears on the list at No. 106.

For all news and information regarding the Texas Longhorns, please visit Burnt Orange Nation or check out Barking Carnival. For updates and perspective on the Baylor Bears, head on over to Our Daily Bears.

MaxPreps' Tom Lemming, the godfather of college football recruiting analysis, released his first Top 100 list for the class of 2013 on Tuesday.

Lemming, whose been around long enough to remember Reggie White in high school, is high on Texas' recruiting class this year, putting six Longhorn commits in the top 100.

Highest among them is Tyrone Swoopes, an athletic 6'5 220 dual-threat QB from Whiteside, TX, whom Lemming ranks as the top overall QB and the No. 4 prospect in the country.

Two other future Longhorns made the cut as five-stars as well: Ricky Searls-Jones, a 6'5 220 athlete from Sealy, TX who could conceivably play a wide variety of positions in college, and Darius James, a 6'6 230 center from Kileen, TX.

Jake Raulerson, a 6'4 250 DE/TE from Celina, TX who was Texas' first commitment of the 2013 cycle, dropped in at No. 54, while two more linemen followed soon after: A'Shawn Robinson, a 6'5 302 DT from Arlington, TX, and Kent Perkins, a 6'6 300 OT from Lake Highlands, TX.

As has become customary, the state of Texas dominated Lemmings' Top 100 list, with 11 prospects in all. Only one, 6'7 210 WR Derrick Griffin (Texas A&M), has committed to one of the Longhorns' rivals.

For all the latest news and notes on Mack Brown's latest blockbuster class, check back with SB Nation Dallas' exclusive storystream and head over to Burnt Orange Nation and Barking Carnival as well.

The spring game is just another tool for recruiting and the Texas Longhorns had a long list of committed and uncommitted recruits on campus today to watch this years spring game.

While the Orange/White spring game will be the first time Texas football fans get to watch their team in over four months, the most significant part of the weekend may be happening off the field.

As Wescott Eberts explains over at Burnt Orange Nation, it's the final major recruiting weekend of the spring and the last significant on-campus event until the June summer camp:

When the Texas Longhorns play the annual Orange-White game on Sunday, the school will host a variety of high-profile 2013 targets, as well as get an early start on the 2014 class by inviting top sophomore prospects into town.

Even with the late cancellation from Oklahoma cornerback Stanvon Taylor, there will be a number of important defensive back targets in Austin for the game. The two most important visitors are from out of state -- Chandler Hamilton (AZ) cornerback Cole Luke, the top target at his position, and Rossville Ridgeland (GA) safety Vonn Bell, one of the top safeties in the country.

For the in-state players, the trip will simply provide another look at the program -- both Davis and Smith are pretty familiar with the coaches and the campus after multiple visits this spring. For Luke and Bell, however, the visit is monumental -- Texas may not be able to get either on campus for a summer camp, making this the only trip to Austin before a possible official visit. Bell's verbal offer should become official, while Luke is virtually certain to receive his formal offer.

For the latest on Texas football's 2013 recruiting cycle, stay tuned to SB Nation Dallas' exclusive storystream and check out Burnt Orange Nation and Barking Carnival.

The Texas Longhorns 2013 recruiting class has claimed their 13th commit when tight end Durham Smythe (Belton, Texas) verbally committed to Texas Thursday night. The 6-foot-6 230-pound tight end had offers from 13 schools including every BCS school within the state of Texas, plus offers from Nebraska, Michigan, Florida, Stanford and others.

Here is what Barking Carnival has to say about Smythe:

Soft hands, explosive first step, nice breaks on his routes, and an enthusiastic blocker who uses great feet and hand placement to find his fit and drive defenders. He's comfortable with his hand on the ground or split out on a linebacker or safety. You don't have to watch many highlights to see that he's a natural pass catcher with enough speed to work the deep middle. He gets off the ball quickly - he has a stronger first step than a number of WR prospects I've seen film on in the 2013 class - and that make him tough to jam. Look at the 1:00 thru 1:15 highlights [below] for an idea of what I'm talking about.

The consistently lazy comparison for Smythe is David Thomas, but David was 6-2 205 as a high school senior who didn't hit 225 until his second year of college. Smythe is a natural TE all the way.

Here are highlights of Smythe:

The Texas Longhorns have received a verbal commitment from one of the highest ranked interior offensive linemen in the nation, Killeen Harker Heights' Darius James.

James is a Top 100 national recruit and a Top 10 recruit in Texas as well. James is ranked 36th in the country by 247sports.com and ranked 92nd in the country by Rivals.

Last weekend, the Longhorns had a host of commits which included four-star OT Kent Perkins from Lake Highlands, DE Daeshon Hall from Lancaster, and Jacorey Warrick and LB Deoundrei Davis, both from Cypress, Texas in the Houston area.

James announced his commitment to the Texas Longhorns around noon on Monday. With his size and athleticism, the young James has a chance to see the field right away as this Longhorn group looks to pick itself up after a disappointing 2011 season.

"It was a gut feeling," James said. "It just felt right."

Here is a highlight video of James in action.

For more information on the Texas Longhorns, visit Barking Carnival.

The Texas football recruiting machine, which picked up three commitments over the weekend, continues to roll, as four-star OT Kent Perkins became the tenth class of 2013 football player to commit to the Longhorns on Monday:

OB has confirmed that Lake Highlands offensive lineman Kent Perkins has committed to Texas.

— Geoff Ketchum (@gkketch) February 27, 2012

Perkins, at 6'6 285, has the size to be a prototypical left tackle in the modern game, with the foot-speed and length to contain elite edge pass rushers.

The Dallas native, who plays for Lake Highlands, a DISD school located near White Rock Lake, was recruited by most of the Big 12, with Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Baylor rumored to be in the running behind Texas.

A four-star recruit, he is rated as the No. 25 player in the country in the latest Rivals 250.

A highlight tape from his sophomore season:

For more Texas recruiting go visit Burnt Orange Nation and Barking Carnival. For a national view on recruiting make sure to visit SB Nation's recruiting hub.

Sunday has been a busy day for Texas recruiting as they landed their third commit of the day in 6-foot-6, 235-pound defensive end Daeshon Hall (Lancaster, Texas). Hall was not even planning on attending Texas' second junior day since he is also on his high school's basketball team and he could not miss practice.

However, Hall was able to do both and his decision paid off when he earned an offer from Texas. Hall had offers from Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Washington and Missouri. In his junior year Hall recorded 60 tackles and 11 sacks which lead to him earning multiple offers.

Hall moved to Texas from Washington for his junior year and realized he had to step up his game, which he did:

"It was crazy," Hall said. "It's way different. Kids are really bigger and stronger. & When I got to Texas, everything changed. I owe a lot to my coaches. They helped me a lot with my pass-rushing moves."

Hall is the third defensive lineman to commit to Texas for the 2013 class, joining Celina's Jake Raulerson and Fort Worth Arlington Heights' A'Shawn Robinson.

The Texas Longhorns have landed two more verbal commitments in Jacorey Warrick (Cypress Texas/Cypress Falls) and LB Deoundrei Davis (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Woods).

Warrick is listed as an athlete but was being recruited by Texas as a slot receiver. Overall, Warrick had 11 offers so far and had already taken visiti to Oklahoma and Baylor, and had a trip planned to go visit LSU.

However, staying in state is a big deal for Warrick so he may not take that trip, last season he caught 43 passes for 856 yards and 11 touchdowns and is the third receiver Texas has landed so far in their 2013 class.

A highlight tape from Warrick's junior season:

Ricky Seals-Jones, a top tight end recruit from Sealy High School (Sealy, Texas), has committed to the Texas Longhorns. Seals-Jones also had received offers from LSU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama, among others.

At 6'5" and 220 pounds, Sealy has used Seals-Jones primarily as a quarterback, but he will come into Austin projected as a wide receiver or a tight end.

The commitment of Seals-Jones brings the Longhorns list of 2013 verbal commits up to five this year as Seals-Jones joins quarterback Tyrone Swoopes (Whiteside, Texas/Whitewright), wide receiver Jake Oliver (Dallas/Jesuit), defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson (Fort Worth, Texas/Arlington Heights) and defensive lineman Jake Raulerson (Celina, Texas/Celina).

Mack Brown and his offense will have fun figuring out how to properly utilize Seals-Jones size, as many believe that "RS-J" is just scratching the surface on how to play out wide and on making plays in space.

Over at Barking Carnival, John Kucerak has an in-depth look at why he is such an intriguing prospect:

So is he a tight end? Receiver? Safety? No. He is a rather large young man who, unlike his genetic equal Tyrone Swoopes, doesn't need a role right now. He has great ball skills and hits with his shoulder pads. He's talented and creates violence. Worrying about a position now misses what Texas is trying to do -- collect as much physical talent as possible and put it in a pail (or as Bo Davis says, "pell." Sorry Bo, I heard about that. Everyone has their moments!) to sort out later.

A highlight tape from his junior season:

Recruiting for the Texas Longhorns has picked up steam by landing three verbal commits this week, and now they are in the running for Georgia defensive end Robert Nkemdiche who is the top recruit in the nation for the 2013 class and is already holding many offers.

The Alabama Crimson Tide look to be the early leaders, but he does have interest in his home state school the Georgia Bulldogs. Other major programs that are in the mix are the USC Trojans, Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, and Oregon Ducks.

Texas is being considered due to offensive line coach Stacy Searels who has ties to the Georgia area and recently held the same offensive line position with Georgia with stops at Appalachian State, Cincinnati and LSU.

As Burnt Orange Nation points out, it is better to try and fail to go after Nkemdiche then have him say that he wished Texas gave him a call.

For those interested in what the nation's top recruit looks like in action, here you go:

Even though the Texas Longhorns received zero verbal commits on their first Junior Day, Texas has since landed three players since then including five-star quarterback Tyler Swoopes who committed on Friday.

The other two players who verbally committed to Texas are wide receiver Jake Oliver (Dallas/Jesuit) and defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson (Fort Worth, Texas/Arlington Heights).

Oliver is a four-star recruit and is on the initial Rivals top-100 list at No. 61 and chose Texas over other in-state offers he had from the TCU Horned Frogs, Baylor Bears and Texas A&M Aggies, plus offers from the Michigan Wolverines, Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers and other big name programs.

Burnt Orange Nation gives a scouting report on Oliver:

At 6-4 and about 200 pounds, Oliver will provide a big target for future Texas quarterbacks and creates separation in high school with his overall fluidity and ability to set up defensive backs by changing speeds. Watching Oliver in 7on7, it was clear that he has an advanced understand of how to lull defenders to sleep before using every bit of somewhat limited explosiveness to get open, especially deep.

Even when he doesn't create separation, Oliver can still make plays with his impressive leaping ability off two feet and can consistently high-point the football, leading to an immensely productive junior season that saw the Jesuit product score 24 touchdowns and record more than 1,600 receiving yards.

The only negative is that Oliver does not have top-end speed or short-area explosiveness, so there is some concern if he can get open in the college game. However, being 6-feet-4 he can get open and use his vertical ability to catch the ball at its highest point.

Here are some highlights from Oliver during his junior season:

The other commit is defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson. Robinson, No. 69 in the Rivals top-100 list, chose Texas over offers he had from Alabama, LSU, Baylor, Arkansas and TCU.

Robinson's highlight tape:

To break down the Tyrone Swoopes commitment, we've brought in Wescott Eberts, also know as "Ghost of Big Roy", who covers Texas football recruiting for Burnt Orange Nation, for a Q&A.

1) For Texas fans who have never heard of Swoopes before, what makes him such a highly-rated player?

To say it briefly, what makes Swoopes such a fantastic prospect and high school star is his elite athleticism/size combination. He's 6-5, 220 pounds and could play close to 240 in college without losing his quickness. Recently, he caused something of a stir in internet circles when he dunked on star 2013 basketball prospect Julius Randle, one of the top players in the country in his age group. It's safe to say that the athleticism he displays on the basketball court translate to the football field as well, as he has deceptive speed for his size and is similar to Vince Young in that he can use his exceptional balance to break tackles in the open field.

2) He's obviously an incredible athlete. How are is his passing skills right now?

There are some differing thoughts on Swoopes as a passer right now. The guys over at 247Sports think that he's pretty raw and that's not really an unfair assessment, but for me, what really matters is that even though his release is a bit low and, again, looks quite a bit like Vince Young's throwing motion, he has the arm strength, can spin the ball well, and shows evidence of being accurate, though he's a bit inconsistent at this point. Basically, the tools are there, in spades, so Swoopes just needs a little bit of coaching and polish.

Whenever I think about him as a passer, I go back to one of the only highlights that was available of his sophomore season way back last spring on Maxpreps. Swoopes rolled out of the pocket to his right under pressure and uncorked a bullet downfield 60 yards on the air that his receiver made a diving grab on. It wasn't quite perfectly on target -- his receiver would have had an easy touchdown had the throw been several inches shorter -- but it was the type of play that gave me chills at the time and convinced me that Swoopes was a big-time, big-time prospect. Sometimes all you need to see is one play and then everything else just fills in around the edges.

3) What's a realistic time-table for when he'll be able to start contributing in Austin? What are the chances he ends up being red-shirted?

I think the odds are overwhelming that Swoopes will take a redshirt year when he gets to Austin. He seems ready for it and understands that he'll probably need some time to develop in college before being ready to take over as the starting quarterback and I think that says a lot about his maturity and the fact that he doesn't have any illusions about where he is as a player right now.

As for as a timetable, I think the major jump in competition level (Whitewright is a 2A school) will cause a bit of a transition period and the depth at the position in front of him will also have a major impact. If David Ash is able to secure the job this season, it could be 2015 until Swoopes has a serious chance of competing for the job, when he would be a redshirt sophomore going against a redshirt junior in Connor Brewer, but as the Garrett Gilbert saga demonstrated, there are plenty of things that can happen between now and then that could change that projection.

4) What does his early commitment mean for the 2013 recruiting cycle?

Since Jake Raulerson has been pegged as the leader for the recruiting class -- which will be especially true on the defensive side of the ball -- I don't expect Swoopes to take on a huge leadership role, even on offense, but his friendship with Sealy WR/TE Ricky Seals-Jones could lead to a commitment from him in the coming days. And, of course, it always helps offensively in recruiting to have a quarterback in place in the class so the targeted prospects know who they'll potentially be playing with.

Other than leadership, the commitment from Swoopes solves what could have been a dicey quarterback situation in the class. There are a ton of really good prospects in the state in 2013 and waiting on Swoopes could have put Texas in jeopardy to miss out on one or multiple other talented signal-callers, so the commitment from Swoopes is extremely significant in that it kept the coaching staff from having to make those difficult decisions that had plenty of potential to go poorly for the 'Horns.

5) I've heard he's quite the basketball player as well. Any chance he tries to do both sports in college?

As mentioned above, Swoopes does have some serious hardwood talent, which he may have inherited from his aunt, of whom you may have heard -- former WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes. But despite that basketball ability, Swoopes hasn't said much about wanting to play basketball in college and it seems that he's completely committed to becoming the best football player he can be.

In a major victory for a Texas football program that has struggled to a 13-12 record in the last two seasons, the Longhorns received a verbal commitment from five-star QB Tyrone Swoopes, the No. 1 player in the state, on Friday morning:

Multiple reports that Whitewright QB Tyrone Swoopes has committed to Texas. Huge, massive, monumental commitment for the 'Horns. #hookem

— Wescott Eberts (@GhostofBigRoy) February 17, 2012

Despite Texas' offensive struggles in the last two years, as well as the highly publicized flop of five-star QB Garrett Gilbert, Swoopes came on board less than a week after the school's first Junior Day, the unofficial kick-off of the Longhorns' 2013 recruiting cycle.

A super-athletic 6'5 220 dual-threat QB, he is also considered one of the top basketball players in the state. As a mobile QB, he fits the spread offense which Texas became known for with Vince Young and Colt McCoy behind center more than Gilbert, a more traditional pro-style QB.

Indeed, the comparisons to Young, while unfair, are inevitable:

Tyrone Swoopes is easily the most physically gifted QB Texas has received a commitment from since Vince Young.

— Wescott Eberts (@GhostofBigRoy) February 17, 2012

His commitment should be a major asset for an aggressive Longhorns coaching staff going forward on the recruiting trail, while his high-school games, played in Whiteside, TX, a small town 60 miles north of DFW, could become a must-see for Texas fans in the same way that incoming five-star RB Johnathan Gray's were last year.

For both Swoopes and the coaching staff, the big issue going forward may be managing the expectations placed on the rising high school senior, as Gilbert seemingly crumpled under their weight in his time on the 40 Acres.

A highlight video from his junior season:

In the past at the Texas Longhorns junior day camp they would land about a third of their class, and then have only a handful of scholarships to offer from summer until signing day. Texas has since backed off on offering so many players at their junior day, and this year they offered 10 players.

The ones to earn an offer are tight end Durham Smythe (Belton, Texas/Belton), defensive back/running back Kyle Hicks (Arlington, Texas/Martin), wide receiver Ra'Shaad Samples (Dallas/Skyline), quarterback Tyrone Swoops (Whitewright), running back Dontre Wilson (De Soto), Dallas Jesuit (Jake Oliver), receiver Ricky Seals-Jones (Sealy), offensive lineman Darius James (Harker Heights), offensive lineman A'Shawn Robinson (Fort Worth Arlington Heights) and defensive tackle Justin Manning (Dallas/Kimbell).

Texas received zero commitments on Sunday, but Samples is looking like he will be commiting to Texas soon. Samples is close to making a decision but he still wants to discuss it over with his family, and the indication that he may commit to Texas is that he is considering canceling his other junior day visits to Texas Tech and Alabama.

Of those offered that Texas offered, they are really wanting tight end Smythe since the Texas offense is needing tight ends that can play many roles:

"Coach [offensive coordinator Bryan] Harsin told me this is the most tight-end-friendly offense they've had since ever, probably, at Texas," Smythe said. "He talked about how the person who's going to play the position has to be smart because they're going to move him around a lot, whether it's in the slot, down in a stance or flexed outside.

"You have to be versatile, and that appeals to me," he added. "Versatility is what I focus on."

Smythe is rated as the No. 7 tight end in the nation and is the No. 24 rated player in Texas. He also has offers from Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech, with more to surely come later.