Colbert commits to Texas

Two months ago, few recruiting fans had even heard of the name Adrian Colbert. A safety out of Mineral Wells, Colbert fit the bill of a talented recruit who was flying under the radar for most of his high school career. But that began to change in early October as college coaches began to hear about the speedster, with numerous programs making the trip to Mineral Wells to get a first-hand look.

The Baylor Bears extended an early scholarship and Colbert accepted on October 19, but as more programs began to enter the picture, Colbert decided to weigh other options. Colbert set up official visits to Baylor, Texas and TCU, with this weekend's stop in Austin the first of his trips.

Heading into the trip, Colbert said he was leaning towards keeping his recruitment open but he did not rule out the possibility of giving the Texas staff a commitment. It turns out, the Longhorn program was more persuasive than Colbert expected.

The 6-1, 193-pound defender gave the Texas coaches a commitment during his visit, becoming the 25th pledge in the Longhorns' 2012 recruiting class.

"I really think when it came down to it, he had said this is not just a decision for the next four or five year, it's for a lifetime," said Mineral Wells head coach Chuck Lawrence. "If you're a grad of UT, you've got suupport all ove the world. And the way their DBs have gone to the nfl, I think those are the two bigest reasons he chose Texas."

Colbert, who also held offers from Baylor, TCU and Texas A&M, gives Texas another talented defensive back to add to a group that is facing the prospect of losing two senior safeties in Blake Gideon and Christian Scott, plus the possible early departure to the NFL by junior Kenny Vaccaro.

Colbert is also a standout on the track. He is the defending class 3A 400-meter champ with a time of 48.23, and he plans to run track in college as well. During his official visit to Texas, he met with Texas men's track and field head coach Bubba Thornton.

A player who can be physical in run support but also has enough speed to play man coverage against the pass, Colbert thinks his versatility is a big reason college coaches had been chasing his commitment before his pledge to Texas.

"I can see the field pretty well, can read plays, have recovery speed and I have a lot of downhill speed," Colbert said. "And I'm not afraid to hit anybody. "

"Adrian has a burst," added coach Lawrence. "When he sees it happen, he has a special burst I've never seen before in any kid I've ever coached. I think when everyone got to looking at the film, they saw it too. When he sees it, he has a burst that's special."

Colbert did a little bit of everything for Mineral Wells. He rushed for 576 yards and 10 touchdowns on 59 attempts, he caught 28 passes for 572 yards and 6 touchdowns, he recorded 90 total tackles and he scored on both a punt and kick return.