Chevoski Collins Commits to the Texas Longhorns

Chevoski Collins, an athlete from Livingston (Tex.), committed to the Texas Longhorns today. Collins announced his decision at a press conference from his high school. Collins chose Texas over the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma St. Cowboys, and Baylor Bears, amongst others.

Collins had been noticeably quiet about his recruitment throughout the process, leading many recruitniks to think he had little interest in Texas. That may have been the case earlier this spring, when Texas secondary coach Duane Akina stepped forward to show his interest in Collins as a defensive back.

Collins had publicly stated that he preferred to play offense, but has now backed off that stance and will presumably start his career in Austin on the defensive side of the ball. In the end, Collins' desire to "join the Horns' family" was the difference maker. And hey, when the position coach at DBU says you're good enough to play for him, that's not a bad thing.

Things on the recruiting front had been mostly negative in recent weeks. The Longhorns' last 2013 commitment came in June, when Erik Huhn from Cibolo (Tex.) Steele pledged Burnt Orange. Since then, Texas has been through the very public parting of ways from top recruit Ricky Seals-Jones, the wavering of other top recruit A'Shawn Robinson, and some waffling from other top targets like Andrew Billings and Caleb Benenoch.

With the commitment of Collins, the Mack Brown recruiting dream wagon is back on track. The Longhorns are still heavily invested in fellow defensive backs Cole Luke from Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton and Marcell Harris from Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips. In addition, despite the loss to West Virginia, the Longhorns enjoyed a successful recruiting weekend, with both targets and committed recruits gushing about the Burnt Orange atmosphere.

As for Collins, Texas adds another versatile, East Texas afolete to its stable of defensive backs, with the outside possibility that Collins could also contribute at wide receiver or kick returns.