Waco Connally athlete Jelani McDonald picked up a Texas offer last week, and the versatile defender made his way to Austin on Saturday for his first UT visit, an unofficial visit to watch the Longhorns take on Iowa State. For McDonald, there were a lot of positives to take away from the experience.
“Everything was cool. I loved it really,” McDonald said. “The coaches were good. I liked the environment. Everything was just positive.”
McDonald, an Oklahoma State commitment, spoke with Texas assistants Jeff Choate and Gary Patterson and also got some time with head coach Steve Sarkisian. The message from the staff … just keep doing what he’s doing and they’d love to have him at Texas.
The 6-2, 190-pound McDonald committed to Oklahoma State back in July. He remains committed, but is still openly fielding interest from other programs, including Texas.
“I’m solid with them. I’m still accepting more offers as they come. Other than that, I’m still solid with them,” McDonald said. “I still talk to them and at the end of the day, I’m still committed to Oklahoma State.”
Texas is recruiting McDonald as a sort of hybrid linebacker that can play in the box or drop into coverage, where his versatility and athletic ability could be best utilized. The UT staff has talked about bringing him for an official visit, and McDonald said he’ll be ready when the two sides figure out a timeline.
“We have talked about it, just haven’t picked a date. Any time they give me date, I’m ready to go,” McDonald said.
During last weekend’s stop in Austin, McDonald got a chance to connect with several Texas commitments. That group was working hard to get him to flip his commitment to Texas.
“That experience was great. We were all in the player’s lounge. I talked to Tre Wisner. I spoke to Arch (Manning). Arch is cool. He’s not cocky, he’s just cool, just saying what’s up?,” McDonald said. “Tre, he’s telling me to flip. Then I got Derion Gullette, he’s telling me to flip too. They were all telling me to flip. We were all talking, saying they have something special coming. They had me thinking a little bit.”
