Longhorns score huge commitment from top national OL Brandon Baker

In his time in Austin, Kyle Flood has proven to be a terrific recruiter for the Longhorns along the offensive line, reeling in some of the country’s top prospects.

Flood has done it again, landing a commitment from Rivals100 offensive tackle Brandon Baker moments ago. Baker, out of powerhouse Mater Dei in California, chose the Longhorns over Oregon, Ohio State, Florida State and Nebraska.

The 6-5, 290-pound Baker visited Texas for the Longhorns’ spring game in April and returned for an official visit in June. Early in his recruitment, it looked like Oregon had a commanding lead but the Longhorns began to surge after Baker’s official commitment and seemed to take control late in the summer.

A high four-star prospect who could very well be a five-star before the rankings are settled, Baker gives Texas another huge addition to a recruiting class that already featured three Rivals100 members before the addition of Baker.

"In an offensive tackle class where no one has totally separated themselves as No. 1 in the class, Baker is an incredibly safe pick because he almost never gets beaten from his right tackle spot,” said Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney. “It might be curious to some why he plays right tackle but with him on that side and Auburn commit DeAndre Carter at left tackle, it really works well for Mater Dei. Baker is not going to be a physical destroyer who plants every defensive end on the ground but he never, ever gets beaten, he has a great power base and he's so athletic that his long-term projection is really elite."

Baker becomes the Longhorns’ 18th commitment in the 2024 recruiting class. He’s UT’s third offensive line commitment, joining Nate Kibble and Daniel Cruz. Baker becomes Texas’s second highest-rated commitment, behind only Colin Simmons.