Longhorns flip LB Tyanthony Smith from Texas A&M

Texas A&M’s loss is UT’s gain.

Tyanthony Smith, a longtime Aggie commitment, has flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to the Longhorns. The Jasper product announced his decision moments ago.

Smith had been committed to Texas A&M since June, picking the Aggies over schools like USC, Oklahoma and Texas. He had remained pretty solid in his pledge to A&M while also staying in touch with the UT staff, and the script really began to flip when Texas A&M parted ways with Jimbo Fisher.

The 6-2, 205-pound Smith took an official visit to Texas last weekend and the deal was basically done at that point. A four-star prospect, Smith becomes the Longhorns first linebacker commitment in the 2024 recruiting cycle and he'll be the only true linebacker that Texas will sign.

Smith’s recruitment was an interesting one to track over the course of the last year. Early on, Texas seemed to hold a commanding lead and the Longhorns seemed poised to get an early commitment. Over the course of last spring and summer, things cooled off with Smith and Texas and it opened the door for USC and Texas A&M. There was some back-and-forth between those two teams with each team occupying the top spot on Smith’s list at one point before Smith eventually settled on Texas A&M on June 30.

In the end, new Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was unable to hold onto Smith’s one-time solid commitment, and the Longhorns were waiting in the wings to scoop up the East Texas standout.

Early in his recruitment, Smith told Orangebloods.com that a few factors would be important in his final decision. Player development was key, and he also noted that he wanted to be on a team on the rise. With the Longhorns set to compete in the College Football Playoff, Texas certainly fits that bill.

Smith checks in at No. 190 on the Rivals250 and is the No. 30-ranked player in the state of Texas.