Longhorns sitting in a strong early position with OL Connor Stroh
Offensive lineman Connor Stroh is a hard prospect to miss at 6-7 and 345 pounds. The Texas Longhorns were the first school to officially take notice of the Frisco Wakeland standout, extending a scholarship offer to Stroh back in October. Since then, programs like Baylor, Florida State, Indiana and SMU have also entered the race and while Stroh is appreciative of all his opportunities, he’ll likely never forget the moment he picked up that first offer from the UT staff.
“I loved it. It was a lot of hard work, and it came up in that moment. It felt great,” Stroh said.
The journey to picking up the Texas offer was one that took months to play out. Stroh was invited to a UT camp in the summer and attended, though he couldn’t work out due to injury. He did meet Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood and graduate assistant O-line coach Quinshon Odom on that visit, and the two sides kept in contact during the 2021 season. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was on the sidelines when Wakeland played Denton Ryan, and things progressed quickly after that.
“After I played Denton Ryan, I got invited up for the Tech game. Steve Sarkisian was at my game and he saw me play and he liked what he saw. After the game, I talked to Flood and he said he would watch my film and give me a call once he’d done that. Then that Thursday of that week he called me and told me he would offer me,” Stroh said. “After that I went to the Red River game and then the week after that I got invited to the Oklahoma State game and that's when they offered.”
Getting that midweek phone call from Flood was a memorable moment for Stroh, a Rivals250 member in the 2023 class.
“I had I assumed (the call) was about my film. When he called, I was it was in the middle of physics, so I was happy to be able to go answer that call,” Stroh said. “But it was it was crazy. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before, so it was surreal. It was really cool.
In January, Stroh will be in Austin on January 22 for a visit for the Longhorns’ Junior Elite Day. Prior to that, he’ll visit Arkansas on January 15 and he’ll then end the month with a visit to Baylor on January 30. Stroh is keeping an open mind at this stage of the recruiting process, but does admit the Longhorns are in a strong position.
“Right now, they're one of my top schools,” Stroh said about Texas. “Out of the five I have, I think it's between them and Baylor. I got a really good feeling from Baylor too, but I love Texas right now.
A four-star prospect, Stroh is the nation’s No. 21-ranked offensive tackle prospect. He checks in at No. 235 on the Rivals250. With Texas being his first offer, Stroh said that confidence that the UT staff showed in him will carry some extra weight.
“Yes, I do think that matters. Because without them, maybe I could have gotten these other offers, but they made it a lot easier for me to put my name out there. I'm grateful to them for that,” Stroh said. “I'm glad that they took their time to look at me and actually see that they wanted me and not wait for somebody else to offer me and then talk to me.”
With visits upcoming and more colleges likely to evaluate Stroh during the spring evaluation period, Stroh said he’s in no hurry to rush into a decision. When he makes a commitment, he wants it to be his first and only pledge, so he’ll continue to take things slowly and evaluate his options.
“I'm probably going to commit sometime next year. I just want to let all my options roll in before I make an early decision. What if I do commit to a place like Texas and then for some reason, I just get a bad feeling? I don't want to have to commit,” Stroh said. “I feel like that's a lot of trouble that I don't want to go through. So when I want to make my decision I want to make sure it's the right one.”