5-Star Jonah Williams Commits to Texas 🤘

[Music] yo what's up everybody Welcome to Orange Bloods live on a Saturday night breaking news as the Texas Longhorns they finally get that five-star talent in the 2025 class that everybody has been coveting for weeks and months I'm Jeff Ketchum that is Jason sucel like subscribe comment on the page jump into the specs chat if you're with us live Jonah Williams linebacker safety General bad mother no matter where he lines up on a football field out of gavison ball is officially a Texas Longhorn uh Jason I you know it's it's weird that were here I don't know that three months ago if he had said this is how all of this was going to unfold I don't know that I would have believed you but yet here we are uh forget about all the background and the backdrop and the Texas needed this for momentum and they needed this for the 2025 recruiting class he's an incredible Prospect and it's exciting to think that you and I get to cover this guy for the next three or four years yeah and I bet uh Zach our baseball guys excited excited too you say he's incredible on the football field he's incredible on the the baseball diamond as well but you know I watched this film again today cat just for just a refresher not that I really needed it but we had time to kill right and uh he just makes it look so easy it's effortless you know as a Defender you know he's got multiple pick sixes where he's taking them back 100 yards uh he's physical you know in his tackling he's physical he can come up and run support he can tackle out in space he really breaks down you see him on special teams making plays and like I'm watching I'm like it just doesn't even look like he's trying and he's doing all these things and it just comes so naturally to him uh good instincts I mean he's just he really is the to total package uh thus the you know five star ranking he certainly backs it up so huge day for Texas huge uh huge commitment biggest one of the year so far you know they got another five star they're chasing Jamie French less than a week hilling out but uh huge commitment for Texas you know I've looked catch this has Texas up to the number 11 in the recruiting ranking so Texas just keeps you know this is back-to-back day days they've added commitments they keep kind of climbing those ranks and I expect that number uh that team ranking number 11 I expect that number to keep get getting lower and lower I think they're going to keep adding commitments but today was certainly a big day you can make a case probably the biggest day of the 2025 recruiting cycle for Texas so far Jason your connection sucks uh no other way way to say it if you could leave and then try to come back and see if we can get uh a little bit of a cleaner connection while Jason does that I'll let everybody know the rankings of Jonah Williams we take a Super Chat uh rivals.com fivestar number 20 nationally number six in the state of Texas that's his lowest ranking five stars number 20 nationally number six in the state of Texas when we talk about this guy being an elite of the elite Prospect ESPN has him ranked as a five- star number eight overall nationally uh on three has him as a high four star but I wouldn't pay attention to a whole lot of that they've got him at number 16 nationally so it would appear that more than anything else they just don't have that many five stars yet Jason I do think that is a little bit better 247 as him as a five star the number seven overall Prospect nationally no matter how you look at it we're talking about a national top 20 guy and a guy that inside the state of Texas is a top five Prospect in a year that is incredibly deep um he's just an immense talent I think pound-for-pound there's not a better football player than Jonah Williams in the state of Texas he can play linebacker he can play safety he returns kicks he can play wide receiver if he just wanted to be a wide receiver I think he would rank as a super Blue Chip at that as well he's just an amazing football player he's my favorite foot football player in the state of Texas in this class and Jason I got to admit like three months ago didn't think we'd be watching Jonah Williams up close at the Collegiate level it felt like Texas had much better chances with Dori and Moore it felt like Texas had better chances with a guy like Michael fusi and three months ago look Texas still hasn't gotten its official visit he announced his commitment to Texas without taking the official visit The Unofficial visit that he took back at the end of July was a big big deal but it's still um a unique recruitment it's by the way good to have you look much better now uh you're not choppy or anything like that I don't I'm hardwired in I'm not even Wi-Fi I don't know what happened there but sometimes restream is just a little wonky and uh all it takes more times than not uh is just a little reset real quick we'll take our first Super Chat uh oh there it is uh Tom G says is Jonah Williams the kind of talent that can compete for day one uh as a starting job Jason what do you think man they've got some really good safety Talent on the roster but I do think so I mean you know could he come in and beat out a Xavier philam I mean absolutely I mean he's he's going to be competing against other five star type talents assuming he stays at safety Now Catch do they maybe try to find some unique packages for him you know kind of put him in a linebacker hybrid type role you know we'll see we we'll talk about that moving forward I mean he's coming in with the idea of being a safety but we'll see what the long-term holds but could he compete for a day one starting job tomg I'm not going to put it past him he's going to have a lot of good talent in front of him but I think he is that good where he uh that is certainly within the realm of possibility I think a lot will come down to what does the beginning of 2025 look like for Jonah Williams um is he an early enroll lead do we do we know about you know he's I don't know if he's going to play baseball in the spring he would not be but you know what I'm hoping listen I may get a phone call from Jonah here in a little bit that'll be one of the questions I'll ask him if he is so um you know I'm trying to recall Katch I don't think I've ever talked to him about that well the thing is if he shows up early and participates in spr I think he is as I I'm sorry as interrupt as I think he is but I I need to confirm that how much baseball does he play if he comes in early how much football does he play in year one if he's completely dedicated to football he's the best safety out of all look Texas has landed some incredible safeties Dereck Williams is a young player in year number two the moment he committed you had a lot of Texas football players who watch film say that they thought he was a future Pro and one of the best safety prospects they had seen in a long time gelani McDonald kind of the same thing another big-time football player who is starting to assert himself in year two getting himself reps with the ones definitely in the two deep a guy to watch out for this season and Jason mentioned it Xavier Phil Samy that is a guy that was a five-star committed to Florida switches over to Texas the Longhorns have not had problems recruiting the safety position give Blake Gideon a lot of credit for that it's you know for all of the we they want all fans want to see better production um on the defensive side of the ball the secondary wasn't great a year ago Blake Gideon's done a very good job it was interesting that Jonah williamss mentioned Blake Gideon first name out of his mouth when he was asked uh in doing you know shown on on Three's National YouTube page and when the whoever that guy was I wasn't really paying attention but whoever it was it asked why did you pick Texas he mentions Blake Gideon first name out of his mouth let me tell you if I catch I can jump in I mean Jonah was you know going back a year and a half almost Texas was heavily involved and then Texas kind of started recruiting him him as a linebacker Jeff Cho did who's no longer at Texas of course then Texas really fell off so Blake gidon comes back in after choke leaves and says uhuh oh man I want you as a safety I want you in my room and Blake Gideon listen people you know rail on him for whatever reason but Blake Gideon is a huge reason why Jonah Williams is uh a Texas Longhorn commitment so you heard you mentioned it Jonah mentioned Blake first name out of of his mouth when he was asked you know what led him to Texas but not only did Blake Gideon win this recruitment he really had to reel Jonah back in when Texas had almost fallen out of the race yeah I mean the end of June Texas was way back now I think that Jim slash go high on the baseball side of things is probably the thing that kicked the door open back for Texas that there was definitely a thought of immediately Jonah Williams said look I'm going go check out Texas and then they kind of did it from there you think about that unofficial visit that they took spend a lot more time with the football team then he did with the baseball coaches uh the Longhorns made up a lot of ground here and man absolutely necessary when you consider what else has happened in recruiting I did not have Jonah Williams comes in at the end of August uh to save the day on my Lorn recruiting bingo card a month and a half ago and yet here we are another Super Chat from Oscar not to take from Sark but this is a JY slos pickup more than anything else isn't it or am I off the mark uh Oscar I'll let Jason like follow up on this in a second he does again slash Nagle I think is a big part of this but it's not an accident that he mentions Blake Gideon in order for this to happen as much as he liked schlagle the football side of things had to be perfect uh because that is first and foremost I think the way Jonah Williams defines himself as an athlete if he were Bo you know it reminds me of the Bo Jackson line football is my wife and baseball is my mistress maybe that's not quite the way Jonah Williams would describe it but if baseball were his wife I think he'd be getting ready for the major league baseball draft in 12 months and and and football would be on the back burner he's been pretty open about the fact he absolutely wants to play college football and that's kind of driven the train more than anything else it's a big coup for Texas baseball because because of what's happened with football helping pull Jonah Williams in they will add a potential difference making baseball Talent Dustin McComas has raved about his upside as a baseball Prospect at worst he's a lefty who throws mid90s so at worst you've got a guy that you can bring out of the bullpen that has an arm that would excite Major League Scouts he's a lot more than that and I don't know that Texas has really had an athlete quite like this in a long time I mean you know Ricky Williams was probably this type of athlete but he signed pro baseball to play with the Phillies so it wasn't a dual sport at the University of Texas um I'm hardpressed to think of anybody maybe you'd have to go back to Shea moren's to really find a guy who baseball player and a football player and so it's a unique moment in the history of the football program how does all of this gel together will be a little bit to be determined because there's no obvious had they gotten douche Robinson a couple of years ago we'd have a better idea of how this might look uh Instead This follows in that line and again I I I'm pretty excited as just a media guy I'm a big Jonah Williams fan I just love the guy is a football player and the idea that this is a guy that we're going to get to watch both on the football and baseball side of things means that it's real possible that almost you know if you think about the next 36 months once once he arrives if he's playing baseball and then playing football at the same time it's G be a whole lot of Jonah Williams over the course of a 12-month yearly calendar just a couple of months off during the summer and then it's Jonah Williams time pretty much from beginning of the school year until the end yeah we'll be talking about him quite a bit you know on the football field and the baseball dime and you know to Oscar's question there I don't really agree with that Oscar that this is a SOS pickup more than Sark or the football staff what we have been hearing uh you know and been reporting on orange Bloods for several weeks now is that this was going to be predominantly a football decision and then the baseball thing I'm not saying it didn't play a part of course but it was it was more secondary and you know I've heard hey the Texas baseball coaches now when Jonah visited in July visited Texas in July um uh sorry when he visited Texas in July they he did do a FaceTime call with schn okay so there was some recruiting but it wasn't like the baseball staff was super aggressively recruiting him and talking to him every day this was very much more of a football decision with baseball it just seemed to fit especially when slos came over that obvious elevated the baseball side for Texas but you know I don't know how you quantify it that'd be a question for Jonah but you know if it's 7525 or what the number would be but um everything I had been have been hearing uh is this was very much more of a football decision than it was a baseball decision it just happen to work out pretty well hey SCH Sagel in Austin they got a really good baseball program a really good baseball coach so it worked out well for Texas it's going to be real interesting watching him play this season Jason uh in fact fact if anybody wants to go to huddle I believe they posted the highlights from his scrimmage last night I think they were scrimmaging Santa Fe I'd had to go back and look and see exactly what it was off the top of my head but Williams unless I'm comp the camera angles were weird on the Huddle film but uh I'm pretty sure he had a pick six last night this guy specializes in big plays I think he had six pick sixes a year ago he's a dangerous wide receiver he returns kicks he's a touchdown at the high school level waiting to happen and I'm I'm real interested to follow this season follow how his body develops I wonder Jason if if baseball weren't a thing I wonder what his body looks like with three or four years in at the high school level in a offseason workout program where he's lifting weights all the time he's building up his body the one thing that you would say about Jonah Williams is that as good of a looking kid as he is I mean he looks like a million bucks when you watch him on the field but he's been a guy that's played baseball he's been a guy that's Run Track he's been a guy that's played basketball obviously he plays football he's not been a guy that's had really any offseason workouts and for him to be 63 a strapping 200 pounds maybe even 205 it feels like he's a few biscuits away from maybe being an outside linebacker I my dad from all of my NFL research shows that the sweet spot for linebackers from the state of Texas the ones that end up going pro is somewhere between 212 and like 219 that most of the best players as prospects were in the teens um when they were in high school Williams isn't that far away he's got the exact right height that you're looking for and I feel like if that guy had been lifting weights and working out and going through full offseason programs at galison ball I think there's a real good chance he's not 200 pounds so what happens with his body moving forward will tell a big part of the story of where he goes well you know Rivals actually has him listed as a an outside linebacker which I don't really agree with I mean I think he's people are recruiting him as a safety that's what his intentions are but you're right he gets in a college weight program it can go one of two ways he's going to have to make the mental commitment to like okay I want to bulk up and be a hybrid linebacker or hey mentally I need to commit to not gaining too much weight so I play myself or gain weight and take myself out of the safety position um I think he prefers to say play safety so you know he'll he'll add some muscle mass but I think he'll try to stay pretty lean he's not going to come in and just you know pack in you know thousands and thousands of calories and just try to bulk up he's going to probably gain lean muscle mass but you're right I mean he's um you know he's not a kid who's lived in the weight room you know some guys his age already have so he's still got some fine tuning with his body but you know long term I don't know I don't know where to project him I you know Marshall levenson from Rivals said today he I I posted in my orange Bloods uh commitment story like hey we've got him as a linebacker because that's ultimately where we think his body will go and they may be right I mean if he gets up to 225 or something you know he's it might be tough to play safety but you know what he's tall and long I mean I don't know he might be able to carry 220 and still play in the defensive back field but uh you know those are those questions are two three years down the road I think I think he comes in as a safety that is where his head is that's where his heart is and I think that's where where he'll get his first look de marvan overshown had a similar mindset coming in different body and not the same Prospect but Deo shows up and plays safety early in his career and there were a lot of people when he was in year one at Texas and mostly playing a lot of special teams seeing a little bit of backup action there were a lot of people who thought playing at linebacker now we're wasting time watching him play safety eventually he does move to linebacker and obviously ends up being a guy that's a starting linebacker in the NFL right now for the Dallas Cowboys I tend to think of Jonah as a DB I think when I watched a young demarvion overshown I was able to see the linebacker upside a little bit more than I do I think Jonah could easily play linebacker and look if he does if he shows up and quickly gets to let's say 215 the only guys they have at that weak side linebacker once David Benda and Marice Blackwell are gone after this season and neither of those players has a CO year remaining like this is it then you're talking about Tai Anthony Smith who's had a really good camp but isn't I don't think he's going to knock the doors down and just take a starting job I don't he's he's third te right now I don't quite know how much he's gonna play and then you've got Darren glette who hasn't been so good at linebacker that they didn't say no Over My Dead Body when they needed help at running back nobody said we can't afford to do that he's he's our future at linebacker so I think the pathway is there the earliest the easiest pathway for H is if he comes in a little more closer to a linebacker size Embraces that it wouldn't shock me at all if that guy was starting at linebacker as a true freshman just the way they made a way to get Anthony Hill on the field this is that type of talent I think that's his easier path catch but I just I don't think he wants to do it I mean I agree I AG honestly I don't I'm like you I think you said you like him as a safety I just think as a safety he's so his instinct in his just ability to bait players and I mean bait quarterbacks and make plays on the ball and his return capabilities when he does make a interception um I man I just I I agree with you wholeheartedly I think his easiest path to playing time is at linebacker but boy the skills he has is safety and his mental makeup at safety are I think what make him so special I think he's a unique weapon that quite frankly could transcend the idea of safety linebacker yeah maybe he may revolutionize the role I mean at least for Texas you know we conventionally think of that star position as like the nickel corner and I don't know you know depending on defenses they've got positions like this for guys Bandit linebackers that are really big safeties that are just used uh in nickel or dime a little bit more so um because of the size he brings to the table the player that I compared him to was former Dallas Cowboy uh should be Hall of Famer Darren Woodson what's interesting about Woodson is that he shows up at Arizona State and he's a DB in college they had him play linebacker but he really was one of these tweener linebacker safety types that at Arizona State they just let him like fly all over the field and make plays but when he went to the NFL as a second round draft pick the cowbo always did the weird thing of spinning him back which isn't usually what you see you usually see the spin down but Darren Woodson was a unique guy that even at the size he played at was able to play in the secondary that's what I think of Jonah Williams I think it's real easy to Envision I never would have thought of that one that's a really good comp yeah thank you um may have something to do with the fact that I absolutely adore and love Darren Woodson so I've been waiting my entire adult life to compare another a Texas player to Darren Woodson but I think he I think he's talented enough that the coaches six months from now eight months from now will get maybe a taste of him in Spring football or they'll just know based on what they're getting in this he's a guy they're going to want to find a way to put on the field he these guys like Jonah Williams win you football games and sometimes you know we spent a lot of time last year wondering what are they going to do with Anthony Hill are they going to use him as a pass rusher is he going to play Edge is he gonna play a linebacker now they've got him playing Mike linebacker sometimes man you just put dudes on the field and let him go kind of the Harold Perkins thing too like don't don't put a position on the guy just let him go play somewhere on the field and he will make plays and make you better uh I wouldn't be shocked if the way we think about the Texas defense changes a little bit with the addition of Jonah Williams they will be able to use him in a different capacity than anybody else they have on the defensive roster at the back end of the defense with all due respect to drik Williams and I would say gelan McDonald is a version of Jonah Williams at his absolute Apex if he could touch it I could see some of the same things I don't quite see see Phil say of the exact same way so I I I think Jonah Williams may change the way Texas operates a little bit by any means necessary to get this guy on the field yeah galani I'm try like you know I've seen him but well he's 6'2 he's 205 yeah I just in high school he was much more lean I think than than Jonah uh I saw your photos in the photo gallery I was like man you had 10 pounds to that guy go play will linebacker yeah um so I'm so distracted my phone's going crazy but um you know in the the deal catch we're talking about uh I saw someone in the chat like is this one where you have to worry about him or is he gonna shut it down you know Jonah's a kind of a non-nonsense kind of guy and uh I watch erer New Mexico okay yeah that's a that's interesting can we do that I didn't know that ear laacer film from the New Mexico days was readily available and so I want to watch that yeah I might go on YouTube tonight um but uh you know Jonah you mentioned it he still hasn't even taken his Texas official visit so um to me that bodess well for Texas I mean we were told even had he committed elsewhere you know we heard he still gonna take a vis month ago yeah he was gonna take a Texas visit so you know I think listen had he committed to LSU or Texas A&M I think the chances of a flip to Texas would have been much higher than those schools getting him to flip from Texas because he still has that Texas official visit that he'll take probably in well he signs in December he may take it you know I don't know when he'll take it to be honest with he may take it in the fall or he may try to take it in December after he signs but uh I don't think you'll you'll will see a lot of shenanigans with Jonah Williams flipping overweight lover for 499 says should we be concerned that Terry Joseph doesn't have a single recruit in this recruiting class will he even be here next year uh you know they've got uh it's it's a concern I they got Caleb Chester committed um so he does have one you know I mean I don't know I think there were multiple guys that were recruiting Caleb Chester for this this staff but you know I mean Kobe black last year that he's had some good moments but Malik muhamd I mean they've it's not like they haven't Rec recruited the corner position well yeah this year they have not knocked it out of the park for sure Ian I think Caleb Chester is a good player I mean he's only a three star Prospect but I don't know if you saw that well yeah Co you posted it on on orange Bloods catch that interception he made in there scrimmage I that dude's just a a baller so uh um you know it's not like Terry Joseph hasn't it's not like that position uh is void of Talent on the Texas roster he's done a really good job this recruiting cycle has been a bit of a struggle I think the thing that when we talk about Corners though so let's talk about the best corners in the state right now and I want to make sure I don't forget anybody Devin Sanchez is a top guy and that kid decided pretty early on that he loved Ohio State Texas ended up not even being a factor in his recruitment strangely enough I wonder exactly where Texas sits in the hallways of Northshore High School these days given they haven't had a lot of success there in recent years you had the Chris Ross thing happen last year and they get they didn't get a sniff of Devin Sanchez beyond that they missed out on Dorian brew and he was always a guy that it felt like Texas was behind on everybody thought he was going to Ohio State he goes to Oregon I think that's one if your Texas that may be the one that you look at and go Terry Joseph come on that's the one maybe you needed to get there were two super Blue Chip Corners Sanchez and brew and then when you go beyond that they kind of made the decision on Kobe sers that they weren't going to put the gas down and accelerate on his recruitment really open the door for A&M to go get him but I think that if you were to have a private conversation with sarkeesian about that and say well what about Kobe sellers I think he would say what about Kobe sellers we in the end we we didn't press the gas on that one and then it's Deon pedway another kid that's committed to A&M another kid that Texas really didn't spend a lot of time on courland gillery commits to Oklahoma number 28 in the state for me anyway they offered him but they didn't really press for Giller either so the guy the only real Corner they've sweated in state for a variety of reasons was Dorian brew and they didn't win that battle and that's fair to say Terry Joseph Oregon came in and and took your cornbread on that one but Sanchez never really materialized as a realistic option missed on Aiden anding today um treston Castro is a guy they brought in for an official visit he's committed to USC they more out I was going to to they've looked more out of state hey Phillips is kind of a corner and he flipped to LSU so that's a Miss um yeah they've targeted some out of state guys and just has haven't been able to close the deal I mean so but you know again if we're looking just at this year no it's been a subpar cornerback recru he's got to do better yeah he's got to do better but you can't forget what he's done last year and the year before and you know that that room looks pretty good in terms of the talents on the roster but yeah you can't have multiple years where you only have one quarterback and it's a a three- star guy and listen I like Caleb Chester but you've got to have some of these high-profile guys you can't go back-to-back years without Landing those guys and I think it might be as simple as that I think if the team's really good on the field I can't imagine that Steve sarkeesian would punish him off of one season but if moving forward the recruiting from this season and this if there's no Kobe black in 2026 no Malik Muhammad no combination of maybe a couple of guys like that um I think the thing that you you'd point out about Terry Joseph is he's not a good enough recruiter that if you decide we're gonna go across the country and try to get guys um he's not that good he's not you don't automatically go oh Terry Joseph's on the case say no more it's not he's solid he's a good recruiter but he's not one of these guys that's a bird dog that's just going to go win anywhere I don't I think Jason and I are kind of on the same page I don't think it's the kind of thing that you need to freak out about but it is important to note that this class hasn't materialized the way that you would like it to and as Jason said can't have repeats of this you can when you've got some skins on the wall you can have a year like this and say okay you get to get out of jail card circumstances but I think offensive line recruiting before uh you who was the under Herman um oh gosh herb hand like you can't have two or three of these years exactly that'll get your run out of town deservedly so but you can absorb one year we have one maybe two corners but he needs to hit knock it out of the park next recruiting and the portal could be the great equalizer if they ever needed to go into the portal you think about a guy uh like the bohamed kid out of Washington this year they were really interested in him bring they brought in two portal guys right Gavin Holmes and the the kid this year from Cali so uh yeah but they haven't G G out and gotten the whale right right and they've kicked the tires on those guys and they just decided we're not going to spend that amount of money on muhamad out of Washington I think there were multiple reasons behind that but ultimately they had a chance Oregon did what they had to do kudos to them you won't find me hating on Oregon because they've decided Well if you're not going to do it we will do it Uncle Phil says it's okay um watch what happens in the offseason and the portal still you're G to get Malik Muhammad back again next year you've got Kobe Black coming in so you know you think about J Baron and Gavin Holmes are the two guys this year that will battle on the outside but you you should have Gilbo coming back I I can't imagine that he's so good this year that he would turn pro even if it's on the table he could do that but on paper they're they look pretty hellacious next year in the secondary in a starting lineup if I tell you if I told you right now Malik moham Kobe black uh Jaylen Gilbo and at the back end some combination of Derek Williams gelani McDonald Xavier Phil Sami or uh the commitment to a Jonah Williams that feels like a bunch of guys that someday should play in the NFL so you know I think they're okay at the top end I don't think that they have this class I think would have been a depth class because whoever they would have that would come in at the cornerback Position will be behind Malik muhamad presumably would be behind a Kobe black who's would be in year two next year I think the scary thing is that the depth behind those two guys at cornerback that's where it's not good enough like it's hard to know exactly who their third guy will be next year although Jayvon Co the kid from San Jose State who came in as a transfer this he's got two years of Eligibility so he'll be in that mix but if you look at the corners I tell you what I guess we're forgetting a couple of names because they also have Warren Robertson who although he hasn't gotten on the field people talk about him like he's pretty good then you've also got Santana Wilson who's relatively new wasn't here for the spring I think it has a chance to be a tremendous player and then you've got El Mack so they actually have got some guys in the secondary that we haven't completely accounted for they'll come back next year with Seven Corners before they would bring anybody else and right now that would be Caleb Chester so they're going to be fine at cornerback it'll be the next year where Gilbo and Cole definitely come off the books and Malik uh Muhammad would be eligible for the NFL draft draft where they could lose a real lion share of the secondary potentially in the 2025 season but I think they're okay like if if I'm Terry Joseph and somebody would yelled at me on the street corner Jason yo Terry what's what's up with your position you suck at recruiting I think he would go I suck at recruiting and I think he'd start rattling off names and say look at our depth chart yeah look at our depth chart I got Santana Wilson and Ward Matt running third string who else has that good a talent running third string and I you know touche coach tou uh Jason let's put a ribbon and bow on this and let's go back to Jonah um I'm gonna I'm just gonna ask you a few questions and you can fill in the end of the sentences this commitment for Texas means what H uh good question it's pretty broad um this commitment for Texas means they're back on track I think if they didn't get Jonah Williams I kind of said he was kind of the Swing piece right like if this is going to be a top five class I think it almost had to include Jonah Williams on the commitment list you know we kind of started sensing catch this was trending Texas's way after that Late July visit but I never felt comfortable saying he's going to Texas until late this week we're kind of like okay and then certainly today were're like 100% lock we kind of you know heard it from multiple people so um but there was still some doubt in my mind I think when I wrote my column my 321 column it was actually last Sunday I wrote it um I didn't post it till Tuesday but I wrote it on Sunday I put him at 51% to Texas so I was like hey I don't know you know I said I think it's Texas but I don't know so this one to me was still kind of touch and go up until you know yesterday and then certainly today we knew but uh to me this gets Texas back on track all these people were worrying about why is Texas closer to 20 than they are to top 10 or top five and I'm like well you know it's a legitimate concern it's a legitimate uh you know question but now they're hovering around that top 10 people in the chat I've seen it about Jamie French yes Paxton my future cast is on Texas for Jamie French I feel wonderful about that future cast so you know they get Jonah today if they get French yes or next week they got Nick Brooks yesterday they've got khik Lockett a couple weeks ago I mean this suddenly is looking like another top five recruiting class for Texas okay so but without Jonah Williams I don't think we'd be saying that so to me this gets them back on track heading the right direction it's funny you and I come from slightly different places on this Jonah Williams thing uh I was talking to one of my sources the wolf I always send out a wolf call so everybody body will know exactly so this is this has been a really good source for me and he mentioned you know from an nil perspective they weren't talking to anybody and he let me know there's one guy in the month of August that they're GNA have an nio that did it with dcor and Moore everybody else are waiting to have the big nil conversations but he told me there would be a big nio conversation at some point in the month of August I assumed it was fusi I just I did to he told me this conversation I was like oh it's got to be fusi right so he didn't give me a name didn't give me a position he was just you know FYI there's one guy that is a little a little different we're gonna make sure that no chances are taken so for a week I thought it was fusi and I think I you know look I'll be honest I'm like baby's dad and Dirty Dancing when I'm wrong I I typically if I know I'm wrong I will I will say I'm wrong when I don't think I'm wrong but I'm wrong I will fight you tooth and nail but when I know I'm wrong I I I'll say it about a week after that happened I was communicating with the same source and there was a real vote of low confidence on fusi source told me I have zero confidence in signing forsi and I thought well I guess they haven't had a freaking nil discussion with that kid and I can't remember the timeline on this but at some point I was told they felt really good about Williams so much so I was told if they don't get Jonah Williams then they don't know what they're doing they've got no feel for the pulse of what's happening in 2025 recruiting that I think they felt like you know what we've anticipated the things that have happened we haven't liked them all but we haven't been flat caught off guard flat footed by anything that's happened I think the Jonah Williams one was the test because I think going back to late ju they felt like we are getting Jonah Williams and we think we're getting ready to go on a run that's gonna Josiah Sharma flips and then you know they did pick up uh the offensive lineman yesterday Nick Brooks and then they're feeling really good about Jamie French and then you know I'll be honest I haven't lot of s I have not personally had a lot of sources bring up Michael Terry I don't I'm not telling either yes or no on that I'm just saying that of the guys I've had specifically mentioned to me they've kind of felt like this is this is where we're this is where we're going and and oh by the way I think they think they're going to flip a couple of guys I would point to a guy like myON Charles and say just keep an eye on that one because when the Sanders kid committed to A&M at defensive tackle nobody that I talked to related to Texas football so much as blanked it was like yeah we're gonna be okay at defensive tackle and Sharma I think so clearly their number one whether right or wrong their evaluation of Sharma is off the charts good they think he's their number one guy they flip him they get Jonah Williams they get Jamie French and suddenly all of that confidence is very very high behind the scenes I think is warranted but had they missed on Jonah Williams the show we would be doing right now and we would be saying look they we think they're going to get Jamie French but like we we officially have reached the stage where who they think they felt good with has has not ever materialized really in this class so I think Williams was a big test for the overall picture that behind the scenes they've been drawing for themselves and I think they would tell you we've got a couple of big more recruitments to come maybe by the end of this month certainly Jamie French next weekend Texas I think is a prohibitive favorite there they think they're going to flip a couple of guys they think they're going to kill it in the portal and I think they feel like man if you add all of that up together it's pretty damn good recruiting class it's not everything that we would want or need but I think from an nil standpoint they feel like it's left them a lot potentially to go into the portal and get some guys that might be able to immediately play in 2025 so I'm telling you like I was I was I was willing Jason that kid had put on an A&M had because I had somebody text me this week I flat out ignored them partly because the last time this person communicated with me they cursed me out for whatever reason sometimes when people think they've got information they will text me whether they've called me names or not and this guy said Jonah Williams to A&M 700,000 K and I thought okay well whatever I'm gonna I'm gonna file that away and if I so much as hear a whisper of A&M in the last week or two I'll Ring the Alarm in our team's Channel and say Jason I'm here in A&M and somebody told me and I didn't really trust it but now we've heard it a second time it never happened it was always a real strong Texas Vibe none of the other reporters covering this for other schools regardless of whether it's rivals or Tech sags or on three or whomever LSU reporter hit me up today like hey should I have a story ready or you think it's Texas I'm my D dude don't waste your time I feel pretty good so yeah and the thing is if it's doesn't go that way the a lot of times unless the coaching staffs are telling the losing schools right like A&M finds out it's not them and they tell but J not tell the coaches he even said hey Sark I have not talked to Sark you know it's like when he announce so he may not have talked to Sark but I'm telling you conveyed behind the scenes that people feel Stark knew Stark knew but he didn't hear it from Jonah yeah and Jonah didn't officially say I'm you know whatever the gray area is of conveying I'm with you and and I'm telling you that I'm with you may have been his parents or his agents talking behind the scenes feeling like okay from an nil perspective everything that we want the conditions for which if Joan is gonna come to a school how's it going to work out but even the Texas baseball coaches as of today from what we had heard weren't taking it for granted that earlier today that Jonah Williams was gonna come to Texas so he has done a really good job but I'm telling you had somebody Late July basically put their reputation on the line and say if that doesn't happen we don't know what the we're talking about ignore us because at that point we will have gotten the pulse of that situation incredibly wrong so I'm kind of thankful that Jonah Williams picked Texas so that I don't have to Forever ignore a source who's otherwise been really good to me but 2025 has been a little squirly and I think the one thing Jason that everybody behind the scenes at Texas will agree to is and just because you feel some way 48 hours before an announcement in 2024 48 hours is a long time until the announcement and you know you saw with Josiah Sharma before he committed to Oregon that it looked like it was going to be Texas and then it was like what the hell just happened what there were a lot of Texas people that were Oregon must have come out with nil guns a blazing that they flipped that late that Mom wasn't happy but you know these things can't happen in 2024 so there was always that with Jonah it was it was in the last 48 hours does Oregon or does LSU or does A&M an A&M Squad by the way that for me their highest ranked Prospect in the state this year is uh kyote Armstrong I have him at 13th in the state I think Rivals has him at eight but they've recruited okay but nobody talks about the fact that their super Blue Chip recruiting could be a lot better too they have kotti at 13 Riv they have him at 13 that's right because I mentioned this I think Marshall levenson the other day thank you for corrected me I had mentioned that Marshall tweeted out of the top 18 guys uh or the top eight guys from the state of Texas that Longhorns didn't have any commitments but if you had said who A&M doesn't have any of the top 12 and before fusi committed on whatever the hell day it was Wednesday Wednesday yeah Oklahoma didn't have anybody in the top 20 it really speaks to Texas's reputation the the bar that Texas is is expected to reach that going into Wednesday neither Texas Texas A&M or Oklahoma had really connected with a mega recruit from n State it's so weird I cannot look back and point to any year that it's completely like this where and and you could even include LSU in that list as well I mean the four schools that we think of regionally in the state of Texas depending on the area of the state really having feet on the ground and and flag poles in the ground and kind of known well if a guy goes from there then he goes to this school it just hadn't happened yet so for Texas this was really big because in a week from now they're going to be inside the top 10 of the rivals rankings and I think the thing that if Jonah Williams doesn't do it Jason and I'll let this be my final thought and we can wrap up with some closing thoughts and Say Goodbye if there's any other super chats I'll make sure that we didn't miss them in fact uh I see one from barbs 10 that I'll get to uh in just a second this should stop the what's wrong with Texas recruiting that in a week from now they they're going to have at least one festar committed depending on the service Jamie French is ranked in a certain kind of way but everybody believes he's a super Blue Chip they'll be inside the top 10 in the rivals rankings and I think most of the various Services rankings so I think even though this is a Texas recruiting class that we know could be better they know we know that there's some real badass prospects primarily in state that Texas would love to have have in this class and they don't I think the negative ation though will stop yeah I think so even we've seen it on orange a lot of hand ringing but I think that will stop we'll get to the Super Chat here you know I just look catch do you know in the in the top 100 in the state of Texas take a guess how many guys are uncommitted in the top 100 15 two oh my God yes dude Michael Terry and I should have known that I feel like de Blanc at number 95 is the only other one that's uncommitted that's wild inredible yes but I'm telling you the Texas people behind the scenes believe I I tell you here's what they believe they believe there's going to be more flips than ever before and it's made me think to myself I may not put in future cast moving forward because if these guys are all they're all you know if the system is set up it's like oh you got it like pick anybody but um you know Kade Phillips is a good example okay so you pick Texas for Kade Phillips and then he flips to LSU even though he knew he was gonna flip it counts as a loss for us exactly yes so if it's about to go Haywire in the state of Texas and guys just start flipping in such a way that it doesn't make any sense to put in future cast before the end of the summer it will at least be something that I give consideration to um anyway Barb says just joining a little late but thanks for the show if not Terry Joseph then who was on your wish list does Jonah trigger any flips let's start with the last question first I doubt it yeah I don't think so I think I mean listen most of these guys we just said their minds are for the most part made up um you know I think Jamie French's Mind Is Made Up This is help you with someone like Michael Terry probably not but you know I think it helps with a guy like Jamie French or Terry in the sense that momentum momentum so it's like I'm not going by myself so I'm not going program that's going to struggle three years you know this Texas thing still still cooking so yeah I mean it it might help a little bit in that perception but I don't think it moves the needle on the Terry Joseph I don't understand the question like who's on like as far as a coach who's I think there it's a cornerback who is on the Dream Team list okay for college cornerbacks boy you're at it's a great qu barbs it's not a bad question I don't have anybody off the top of my head that the problem with most of those guys is the guys that you would want I guarantee you'll be like oh the guy in Ohio State or you know LSC is really good you know now Corey Raymond would be one of the names I think that would be on the list but he's kind of bounced around a little bit I just ended up back at LSU uh he's a incredible recruiter he's an incredible developer of talent I was a little surprised that he was even on the market there for a little while before going back to LSU I'll say him just because I've said him before but I'll be honest I'm not if if Chris delti has a list of head coaches that he keeps at all times in the event of a coaching change I have to be honest I do not have a cornerback coaching list on a crib note any on a crib sheet anywhere Jason that lean on and go oh I wrote this down seven months ago I'm so glad you asked no Cory Raymond's about the only one I can think of D keina can I put d a keina on there I don't know exactly no I'm all for like young upand cominging guys who are just badass recruiters I mean we know that Sark will go to the NFL too yeah that if the answer was he plucked some guy from the Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coaching staff whether he's an assistant to the assistants or an assistant onfield coach I mean sark's done enough now and gone into a different areas where honestly sar's Talent pulls probably much wider than we give it credit for I think the higher the defensive tackle coach this past season was was proof of that there's no way anybody had that name on a list SAR didn't give a damn whatever sark's list is it wouldn't be our list anyway so um I don't know that there's any reason for us to worry about our list I promise s's got some list somewhere and it's got a bunch of names on it that you and I probably don't know but you know he does and you know what he gets paid a sh like wait if if sucel and I were making 10 Mill a year I'd be like Jason goddamn it it's our job to know who the short list is but we don't so I'm not going to hang us out the dry uh quite that much Jason any final thoughts I don't see see any other super chats no no um I got actually an audio interview sent to me uh today or just few minutes ago so I'm going to listen to that see what Jonah had to say I'll pop some notes on orange Bloods and then probably flesh out the actual interview maybe for my column on Monday but um no man just big day you mean you know big night for Texas uh huge huge momentum getter and I think this just eases there's been a lot of nervous moments on orange Bloods and on our message board with just fans like what's going going on why are things what's going on with recruiting and I think getting Jonah Williams eases a lot of those concerns and I'm fully expecting more good news next next week on Friday with Jamie French it's completely fair I mean right or wrong there was a perception uh and and look we may have had it wrong the whole way with a guy like Riley petton but fans had been told from all over the place not like just from Orange Bloods I think there was a consistant Vibe amongst all recruiting services that Texas leads for Riley Petty on and then when cor Moore decommitted from LSU the thought process was that kid's going to Texas you think about Michael fusi there was a time when U was the leader and then A&M came in but then it felt like after the Texas visit that Longhorns had really made a big impression there and in the end he doesn't commit to the Longhorns either so I get it today helps today the the world gets rided a little bit you were told for most of the week yeah you can you could actually make plans to be on your computer at 6:30 on Saturday we didn't do that with fusi on Wednesday someone pointed that out on orange Bloods we didn't have an official Michael fusi thread pinned at the top of the board when he made his announcement you it's so funny because I was just about to make that thread I got a photo sent to me from the deal and I went I was like oh cat's already started a thread so I put my stuff in there but fusi I'll give a little peek behind the curtain before he log off um so fi's announcement was on Wednesday and he and I had talked talked a couple weeks ago and I I know fusi pretty well and he's like dude pull up to my my announcement I want you there I'm like all right well I hit him up on Tuesday I said Mike I said I don't want to spend six hours on the road if you're gonna commit to Oklahoma or something and uh he was kind enough to tell me like it's not going to be Texas so um but at my the point I thought of this earlier and you were talking about your source and you're glad that the source was right and um I sent the screen capture that fusi sent to me like hey it's not going to be Texas uh to people in Austin and they were like oh like they they did not know so I mean you talk about I mean sometimes even the most connected sources kind of can misread these things so this is one that it feel I'm sure it feels good for people inside the football offices to say all right they can stick out their chest a little bit and said okay yeah we felt good about this one and it came to fruition even maybe if Jonah didn't tell him until the last minute they uh they had a really good read on this one that that's good to hear guys do us a solid hit that Thumbs Up Button if you're ever going to hit thumbs up on a video on orange Bloods live maybe do it on the day that a five-star kid instate from gavson Ball by the way it's been a while since the Longhorns went out to gal ball that's wearing my Casey Hampton Jersey dude why didn't I think of that I should have worn my Casey Hampton Steelers jersey tonight right just about to say it's the home of Casey Hampton and when you think about the last TW it used to be a hot bed of talent I can remember Lawrence Richardson coming out in 2000 and that was back in the day when of course there was a guy from galison ball in the top five or top 10 then it felt like we went a long time until Mike Evans and Mike Evans came out of nowhere nowhere he he didn't start playing football until his high schools like his high school senior year in high school and so it was a great evaluation by A&M but Texas has not been heavily involved in galison ball really for very much over the course of the last couple of decades when it used to be a Mainstay of Texas constantly being in there so Texas back in and gavson ball we'll see what that means in the longterm future but having Jonah Williams man every May kids at galson ball that don't even know who Casey Hampton is so as crazy as that might sound Jonah Williams is in the here it's in the now it will mean a lot for a long time presuming they keep Jonah Williams but I have a feeling this won't be a recruitment where that's too much of a problem but then again I've thought a bunch of stuff about the 2025 recruiting class and a whole bunch of it's been wrong so maybe don't write that part in ink but today is an ink worthy kind of a day you can write it was a massive day for Texas Longhorn football and that doesn't change uh for myself and Jason sukel appreciate a little bit of time on a Saturday night uh you guys have a great weekend when we get back on Monday by God it's game week should be fun I don't know if you guys know this Texas ranked in the top five in college football pretty high expectations go check them all out over at orangebloods.com the conversation never stops no matter the hour of the day uh and the information also never stops and occasionally we do stuff here on orange Bloods live you guys have a great weekend I'm just blabbering at this point