2017 Texas Football Recruiting: Texas Commitment Josh Thompson

The Longhorns landed CB Josh Thompson from Nacogdoches, flipping the East Texas athlete from TCU.  Thompson has a good frame for the position and the competitiveness that Strong, Bedford and Clay Jennings value in their defensive backs.  He blew up fairly recently, winning an invite The Opening (that belies his Top 100 state ranking) where he recorded a sub 4.5 40 and a 36 inch vertical to go with a 6 foot, 180 pound frame.

While the state is stocked with elite cornerback prospects, Thompson's stock is rising and it's clear that the coaches like him as a potential nickel back with the possibility to play cornerback or even free safety.

As usual, Strong is taking his time filling out the class and the fact that both Patterson and Strong coveted him enough to give commitable early offers suggests his upside.  I see that in his frame.  He's very wiry with room to grow, really long arms and he still looks physically immature.  A little S&C will yield a 195 pound athlete who can still run and move laterally.  His HUDL highlights demonstrate a lot of fight - the one at 2:10 is interesting inclusion as he's caught peeking while hand fighting at the LOS against a quality wide receivers, he gets beat on the outside release, competes to recover and knocks the ball out from the trail position.

Very interested to see what Thompson looks like as a senior.  He looks like a typical Beast Texas late bloomer.

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If you're a recruiting nut, you'll love the 2016 Longhorn Football Preview. It includes a comprehensive review of the excellent 2016 recruiting class (including the exciting DL class and all of the Baylor Brexit signees) as well as a great overview for 2017 written by our friend and Inside Texas recruiting analyst Eric Nahlin.  He gives you a comprehensive look at the state of the state of Texas recruiting totem pole, the dozen elite targets on Charlie Strong's radar and an understanding of how Strong has shifted the paradigm back to late recruiting and furious February finishes away from the early recruiting model.

A must read for recruitniks.