It’s been a little more than one year since Texas added a very early commitment from offensive lineman Hayden Conner. Moments ago, UT offensive line coach Herb Hand added another key piece to his 2021 offensive line class when center Michael Myslinski announced his decision to commit to Texas.
A 6-3, 285-pounder out of Jacksonville (FL) Bishop Kenny, Myslinski gives Texas a big interior line pick-up from a player who projects as a pure center at the next level. Myslinski picked Texas over a final grouping of Florida State, Iowa, Maryland, Duke, Michigan State and Missouri.
Prior to his commitment, Myslinski took a busy tour of unofficial visits to the campuses of the schools that were finalists. He was unable to have any face to face interaction with the coaching staffs of those schools due to the ongoing dead period, but was able to get a feel for the cities and the campuses in addition to communicating with coaching staffs via Facetime.
Myslinski said there’s a lot of reasons that led him to choose Texas, including his relationship and trust in the UT staff.
“Coach Hand, coach (Mike) Yurcich, coach (Tom) Herman, I think they’re awesome coaches,” Myslinski said about his decision. “Texas is a great school as well, academically. I love coach Hand, think he’s one of my favorite o-line coaches. I feel like he can develop me and prepare me for college. He’s recruited me for a long time, we have a great relationship, and I can definitely see me playing for him. Their o-line has a great chemistry and I can see me fitting in with them.”
Along with the Texas coaches, Myslinski has been in touch with current Texas linemen Junior Angilau and Derek Kerstetter, in addition to fellow commitment Conner. All there have given him positive reviews of their experiences in the program and/or relationship with the UT coaches.
“They just tell me how much they love Austin, how much they love coach Hand, how much they’ve developed over the years,” Myslinksi said of his talks with Angilau and Kerstetter. “They’ve been supportive, telling me about schools they visited when they were recruits, just kind of a helping hand. I’ve talked to them a long time about life there, social aspect, everything.
“Hayden Conner, I’ve talked to him the most. He told me grew up in Texas, about an hour away, so he’s a home-grown Texas Longhorn, how much he loves it there. Kind of same things Derek and Junior said. He loves it there.”
Myslinski becomes the Longhorns’ 16th commitment in the 2021 class. Texas will look to add at least one more offensive lineman to the class, with Savion Byrd, Bryce Foster, Ryan Lengyel and Erick Cade sitting as the top targets. With his decision out of the way, Myslinski said he’ll now turn his attention towards his senior season and life as a Longhorn.
“I think I’m going to shut it down. If I’m committing to someplace, it’s a big deal. I don’t see myself as a soft commitment,” Myslinski said.
