Take Two: Will elite 2021 Texas RBs stay in state?
Derek Young/KSO
Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.
UPDATED 2021 RANKINGS: Running backs | All-purpose backs
RIVALS RANKINGS WEEK:
Monday: Top 10 revealed
Tuesday: Rivals100 revealed | New five-stars | Mind of Mike | Ranking top QBs
Wednesday: Rivals250 revealed
Thursday/Friday: Position rankings revealed
CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
THE STORYLINE
The state of Texas is loaded with talent in the 2021 class and that’s evident at many positions including running back.
Garland (Texas) Lakeview Centennial’s Camar Wheaton is the only five-star running back so far in the class and Cypress (Texas) Fairbanks’ LJ Johnson has moved up to the fifth-best running back in the class.
That means Texas is the only state with two top-five running backs as Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview’s Cody Brown, Cornelius (N.C.) Hough’s Evan Pryor and West Bloomfield, Mich., standout Donovan Edwards round out the top five.
This is another monster opportunity for Texas, Texas A&M and other regional programs to land top talent. Wheaton has taken national visits, but has shown a lot of interest in the Longhorns and other programs. Johnson remains wide open as well, but the sense is he’s more likely to end up in-state.
Can Texas and Texas A&M keep these two highly-talented running backs in the state or will other national powers come in and land their commitments?
TAKE ONE: Sam Spiegelman, Rivals.com Texas and Louisiana analyst
“Wheaton is a little bit more open than Johnson at this point. Wheaton has an offer sheet with basically every college program that you’d expect for a five-star running back. He’s been to Texas a few times but he’s also been to Oklahoma, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Alabama is another team to watch.
“Johnson has seen his recruitment take off this offseason and he’s definitely made a steady number of trips to Texas and Texas A&M and it’s more likely that Johnson stays in-state when it’s all said and done.
"Both are still pretty open at this point with Wheaton being the one more likely to leave the state of Texas.”
TAKE TWO: Mike Farrell, Rivals.com national recruiting director
“A lot depends on Zach Evans. I don’t know if A&M is going to get him, but it looks like he’s looking more out-of-state than he is at Texas A&M and Texas. If he gets out of state, it’s important for one of those schools to land Johnson and it’s important for Oklahoma to get Wheaton.
“Oklahoma is recruiting so well without a home-state advantage. If it goes out and wisn the Big 12 and shows how potent that offense is again, it will be in the mix for five-stars in the state of Texas. It looked like A&M had some recruiting momentum, now Texas has all of it, so Oklahoma needs to win a big one here soon.”
