2015 Texas Longhorns Football Recruiting: Horns Land 4 star Athlete Tim Irvin

The Horns added a pledge from 4 star ATH Tim Irvin right after receiving a commitment from TE Devonaire Clarington, securing two 4 star athletes from the Sunshine State and catapulting the 2015 Texas recruiting class into the Top 10. With several big names still uncommitted, Strong and company could still conceivably challenge for a Top 5 finish.

Irvin is a fascinating prospect, the rare athlete that's clearly special even if the conventional testing measures don't quite capture it.  The film loves him a lot more than the tape measure and stop watch.  Like Quandre Diggs, Irvin is a short, stout (little teapot?) athlete with fantastic change of direction and a deceptively powerful punch packed into a small frame.  Irvin excelled as a high school running back, kick returner and defensive back and he could end up playing anywhere from nickel, safety, running back, slot receiver.  It doesn't matter.  We'll figure it out.

That's junior film, by the way.

As you can see, Irvin has unique balance and power off of his cuts, has ridiculous shake, uses his low base and lower body strength to inflict punishment or power through arm tackles and he has tremendous spatial awareness that's evident whenever he touches a ball in the return game.  He is not particularly straight line fast and his height does represent a problem if he finds himself contesting jump balls with guys like fellow commitment Devonaire Clarington. Irvin is also 19 years old and very thickly built - the positive there is that he could be ready to contribute on Day 1, but it also means he may represent a high floor paired with a 5-8 ceiling.

Some guys are just dawgs on the football field and you want that mindset and skill set on your 85 man roster.  That's Irvin.