Longhorns Pick Up Seventh Commitment

When Lewisville (Texas) Hebron linebacker Lewis Baker returned home from an unofficial visit to Austin on Wednesday afternoon, he admitted that his visit with the Texas coaches went well as he listed the Longhorns jumped to the top of list of favorites.

Apparently, the visit went even better than he first let on because the 6-3, 200-pound linebacker called the Texas coaches on Friday with some big news.

"I waited a couple of days because I wanted to make sure I still felt the same about it," Baker said. "I kept waking up and having the same feeling. So, why wait? I called them and committed."

According to Baker, it wasn't that hard of a decision once he met with the Texas coaching staff.

"The whole thing was about finding the right place for me," Baker said. "I went down there and just fell in love with the place. I met some of the players and met with all of the assistant coaches and they gave Coach Brown the ok. Coach Reese told him that I was one of the most impressive players he's seen in 20 years."

The 6-3, 200-pound Baker is the Longhorns seventh commitment for the 2002-03 recruiting class. In a year when the Longhorns are expected to take only two linebackers, Baker becomes the second linebacker to give the Horns a verbal pledge, joining Pearland, Texas star Scott Derry.

"I called Scott yesterday to congratulate him on committing," Baker said. "I first met him at the Texas A&M junior day and I've gotten to know him pretty well."

Baker chose the Longhorns over a slew of other schools that had also offered him, including Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Boston College, Michigan State, Missouri, SMU, TCU, Georgia Tech, Tulane, Tulsa, Kansas, Iowa State, California, North Texas and Northwestern.

"A lot of people asked me why - why would I want to go to Texas because they have some many linebackers," Baker said. "I'm not afraid of anyone. I have a lot of confidence in myself and I'm not going to back down from anyone. I'm not cocky, I'm just confident in my abilities."