On Aug. 7, the Texas Longhorns received their best news in months. 

Five-star wide receiver Kaliq Lockett, ranked as the No. 2 player in the position by 247Sports, announced his commitment to the Longhorns that afternoon, making the call to wide receiver coach Chris Jackson live on the 247Sports YouTube channel. Lockett, a top-five player in the state of Texas, marked the first five-star commitment of the 2025 cycle for Texas, a surprisingly late feat to achieve for the Longhorns.

Lockett joined six other Longhorns who are ranked as top-200 players in the class of 2025 with his commitment, but Texas is still far from where it wants to be. Even with a huge win with Lockett’s recruitment, the Longhorns have heard a lot of bad news from recruits this summer.

Early in July, the Longhorns lost a chance to create the best wide receiver recruiting duo in five years when No. 1 overall wide receiver Dakorien Moore commited to Oregon.

Texas’ losses didn’t stop there. DJ Sanders, a mammoth defensive tackle from Bellville, chose the Texas A&M Aggies over the Longhorns the same day Lockett committed. The No. 5 offensive tackle in the class, five-star recruit Michael Fasusi had been one of the main targets for the Longhorns over the entire year. Instead of donning the Texas burnt orange, Fasusi threw the ‘Horns Down’ sign on his Instagram post, committing to rival Oklahoma Sooners. Alongside Fasusi’s commitment this week, the Longhorns lost former commit Kade Phillips to LSU on Sunday.

Texas hasn’t only seen losses this summer, thankfully. The Longhorns fought back against the Ducks, securing defensive lineman Josiah Sharma’s commitment. Smith Orogbo and Nick Townsend, two of the more sought-after players in the state of Texas, also joined the team in early July. Texas, however, still has a long way to go.

The Longhorns are one of just four teams that have had a top-five recruiting class in the last two years. The other three teams — Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State — all rank inside the top four of 247’s team recruiting rankings. Sitting at rank No. 14 for the class for 2025, Texas has not been up to par in recruiting, but hope is far from lost. The Longhorns are known for shooting up rankings later in the year because of strong regular season recruiting visits. 

“I think we’re set up,” Texas football general manager Brandon Harris said last month to 247Sports. “We’ve always done a good job of finishing really, really well. Ultimately, the season has a lot to do with that, and I think we’re poised to have a really good season.”

Of the seven remaining uncommitted five-star players in the class of 2025, Texas is strongly in the running for three of them: safety Jonah Williams, wide receiver Jaime Ffrench and athlete Michael Terry III. Alongside those three, the Longhorns are heavily pursuing offensive tackle Nick Brooks, who chooses between Texas, USC and Georgia on Friday. Safety and star baseball player Williams will choose between powerhouses LSU, Texas A&M and Oregon on Saturday.

If Texas were to secure three of these four commitments, the Longhorns could shoot up to as high as the No. 5 class in the country, leap-frogging four SEC schools and settling in right above Auburn on the 247Sports rankings. Texas will know where Brooks and Williams stand by the end of the week and French will commit a week from now. There is currently no word from Terry on an official date. The Longhorns are known for finishing strong, and securing the majority of these players would bring them back into the elite recruiting tiers of the 2025 class.