Impact on Twenty Twenty Seven Class

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Texas has landed a commitment for the class of twenty twenty seven . Okay, don't stop me because we've got to talk about Junior Tupe coming up on locked on Long Horns . In troop You are Locked On Long Horns, your daily podcast on the Texas Longhorns, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day . Welcome in your locked on to the Texas Longorns. I H'm your host BK Brad Kellner, breaking news, breaking news, Texas just landed one of its top defensive targets in the twenty twenty seven class, junior Tupau is a long horn , the four star safety out of Alabaster Thompson in the state of Alabama just committed to Texas over Alabama, Auburn, Oregon and Indiana. Those were the other finalists amongst a number of offers . This is a really, really nice win for Steve Sarquesian, will Muschamp, Mark Orfe and the entirety of the Texas defensive staff anytime you can go into the state of Alabama and land a player that both Alabama and Auburn really wanted . That is a big deal and that does not happen every day. Texas went deep into SEZ country, recruited a player from one of the better high school programs in the state of Alabama. They beat the in state schools. They beat Oregon, they beat the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers. They landed a player who I think is a stud , and I know Texas thinks he's a stud too. And that last part is important. Texas really wanted Junior Tupau. This was not a board filler. This was not we just need another number at safety. Let's just grab a whoever and move on Tupa hasu been at or very near the top of the safety board for Texas pretty much throughout this entire cycle and that tells you what this coaching staff thinks of him. They really were looking for a standout safety in this class. They were looking to add a real defensive back piece with size, with versatility and with plenty of upside and they just did. Junior Tupeo about six foot two, six, three , one hundred ninety to and one hundred ninety and five pounds used to go by junior James, by the way. So if you hear that name, know we're talking about the same guy, but a top twenty safety prospect nationally, a bona fide four star recruit and he fits the modern def ensive back profile. You turn on the tape, you read the scouting reports. It is not hard to understand why Texas likes him so much. He does a little bit of everything. He lines up at safety. He lines up at nickel. He lines up at corner. He is a defensive back puzzle piece and that's important in today's college football because the modern game requires versatility. You need defensive backs who can do a little bit of everything. They can cover, they can tackle, they can survive in space. They can handle the quick game on the perimeter. Again, guys who can do and are willing to do everything to help a defense be successful and to help a team win Junior Tupo gives Texas a player with that exact profile . A taller ranging defensive back with a variety of positional experience in the secondary . He tackles well. He's willing to get nasty. He's got strong temperament. He plays with an edge. I mean, it's the exact kind of combination that coaches want. And then that extra length and coverage definitely helps with recovery because he never is too far away from an opposing receiver. I mean, if you're six , six, three and you can run and cover and tackle and play with physicality, you're going to get on the field and people are going to like you. Maybe it's safety, maybe it's nickel, maybe it's big corner in certain matchups, maybe it's a matchup piece against tight ends, maybe it 's special teams early on in your career . That's the value that this player has. And again, a big recruiting win for Texas. Tupeo came to Austin on an unofficial visit back in March after that there was a sense that maybe he'd be more willing to leave the state of Alabama than some people originally thought. Then he comes back for his official visit the weekend of june fifth through the seventh and that's the visit that changed everything. He left Austin saying Texas was his leader. His quote was pretty direct. Quote, I think Texas leads. I love Texas. I had a great time there. End quote, a pretty strong statement from a kid who still had a number of big schools pushing, including Alabama and Auburn. I mean, Tupa openly talked about having a great time with the Texas coaches when he was here, talked about hanging around the current players. Jonah Williams was his host. Shout out to Jonah . They went to a baseball game together, they went to top golf. They had dinner. Apparently they did karaoke too and Tupo talked about bonding with the recruiting staff, bonding with the coaches, bonding with the players. That stuff matterss. Relationship still win. Do you trust your coaches? Do you like your future teammates? Does it all feel real? Seems like Texas was able to accomplish all of that with Tupa After that visit in early June. He still took follow up trips. So this was not a lock. There was no commit back then, obviously. Alabama got a shot. Auburn got a shot. I mentioned Oregon and Indiana were in it too, but Texas held on and they got this one done. It's one thing to take a lead after a visit. It's another thing to keep it after the in state schools get their chance. And again, when you're talking about a kid from the Yellow Hammer State, that's not easy, right? Staying home's always going to be in play. Family and friends, the regional pull, fans, your coworkers, coworkers, your peers at school, the other students in your class , all those guys and gals can try to convince you to stick around Texas pitch one out this is a strong recruiting win. We've talked a lot about defensive back recruiting in this class. John Meredith, the third, obviously the big headliner at corner who committed a week ago. You've got Greedy James committed as well. Still some other corners in the mix , potentially some good news coming for Texas tomorrow , but safety was a key need. Again, the Longhorns felt like they needed a difference maker at safety in this class, not just a body, but somebody who can totally change their look on defense. Tupeo gives them just that because of the size, because of the versatility, because of what he's done so far in his high school career, he can grow into multiple roles and be sort of a Swiss army knife once he gets to the forty acres as a junior in twenty twenty five, sixty six tackles, five TFLs, three interceptions, seven PBUs very solid numbers. He's around the football. He's not afraid to come downhill. The five TFLs tell you that he could trigger and make plays near the line of scrimmage. Again, three interceptions. So there's some ball skills there. And you think about a guy again with that length , if his ball skills keep improving, the ceiling totally changes. We're not just talking about a safety who could tackle. You're talking about a defensive back who can be physical, but can also take the ball away. And we know Steve Sarkesian loves takeaways. We'll must champ two. I mean , that's why Steve Sarkesian made the move to Coach Boom in the first place. This is going to be a more aggressive defense. That's all about creating pressure. That's all about creating turnovers. I think Tupaupe cano develop into that kind of piece who helps with all of those things . Could eventually become a prospect down the road , not necessarily a guaranteed day one starter of course, but a player with tools ,versatility and upside. This is the exact kind of fit that you want when it comes to a safety. Texas went out and got somebody that they really believed in. This staff liked him a lot. They were as high on Tupa as they were in any safety in this class. At least that's what I've been told that is a big deal. When Texas is able to go out and get a player that they really, really wanted , that matters, not just because of the star ranking, not just because of the position ranking, whatever, but because he fits and because the Longhorns believe in what the player is all about . And this continues a trend of Texas going national for defensive talent. Tylerer Alexand from Florida, Casa Curry from California, John Meredith, I know from Fort Worth, but Texas kind of going all over the country right now just in the last weekend change, getting players from all over the fifty states. If you want to win national championship s, you don't just stop at the state border. You go find players that you believe in all over the country. Texas just went into Alabama and got one . Now, what does it mean for the twenty twenty seven recruiting class as a whole. Well, Tupeo is the nineteenth commitment for Texas in this twenty twenty seven cycle. He's the ninth member of this twenty twenty seven class to be added in the month of June. But don't forget Texas, also landed twenty a twenty eight quarterback Neiman Lawrence last night. So it's ten total commits this month again, nine for twenty seven and then one for twenty eight. And oh yeah, the month isn't over just yet. I mentioned Texas could be getting some good news from a quarterback soon, Montrey Jackson. We talked about I think it was yesterday morning's episode. We've been dropping all sorts of content here. There's so much happening on the recruiting trail. Montre Jackson, the corner commits tomorrow. Jason Johnson will be committ ing in a couple of days . More good news could be coming very, very soon. But for this one, as we wrap things up, the bottom line here is simple. This is a very strong pickup for Texas. Again, six, two, six, three , long . He's got range. He's willing to tackle. He's got ball skills. He's got positional versatility and Texas beat out Auburn and Alabama for an Alabama kid. That should not be brushed aside. That is a real national recruiting win and this recruiting run just continues. Sark is like NBA jam on fire right now or MLB slugfest in flames, whatever old school video game that you prefer. That's Steve Sark esian. And it's been a lot of fun to cover this team. The first few months going into June. Longhorn fans not super thrilled with the way things were going on the recruiting trail. We preached patience. Sark owns the month of June and he's doing it again here in twenty twenty six. This class has gone from outside of the top twenty five in the country to borderline top five in the span of three weeks. Trust in Sark, trust in this staff , they continue to recruit at an extremely high level. All right , that'll do it for this one. Thank you for trusting in me. If you made it this far number one, God bless you number two, please remember to like, subscribe, share, leave a comment, rate five stars. We're love to get Shall's thoughts on junior Tupo and whoever else you would like to see in this twenty twenty seven recruiting class moving forward. Don't forget about the Every Dayer Club as well. Another great way to support what we are building here with locked on long horns. But y'all enjoy your Friday and the rest of your weekend . And thanks again for tuning in. We will talk to you all soon. Until next time, horns up , m'sic offro. We'll see y'all soon. This is locked on long horns But before we go, a quick shout out to our friends at Ozu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together . One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales , and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odu comes in. 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