For the third time in less than 24 hours, the Texas Longhorns have added a name to their commitment list. On Friday, it was 2020 quarterback Hudson Card and 2019 offensive tackle Tyler Johnson. Moments ago, 2019 tight end Jared Wiley joined the fun and announced that he too will be playing his college ball at the University of Texas.
The 6-6, 230-pound Wiley played tight end as a junior and that’s the position at which he’s being recruited, but he’ll make a move back to quarterback this fall in order to help his Temple team. With his commitment now out of the way, Wiley said he’ll turn his attention towards getting ready for his senior season.
“It feels great, honestly. Now I can focus on me and my teammates for my senior year,” Wiley said. “Going into this summer, I’m going to put my focus into putting 10 or 15 pounds on, perfecting my craft at quarterback.”
Wiley, who will graduate in December and be an early enrollee for the Longhorns, is the Longhorns’ second tight end in the 2019 class, joining Brayden Liebrock, who committed earlier this month. Wiley said coming in as part of a two-man tight end class was never something he had an issue with.
“It was more of ‘I have to compete regardless,’ so what’s adding one more player to it?,” Wiley said. “I was talking to some people about it and in my mind, it’s really not a big deal to me.”
A terrific pass-catcher at the tight end position, Wiley is a fluid athlete who is only scratching the surface of his potential. He recently clocked a 4.53 in the 40-yard dash and showcased his skills as a receiver at a Rivals.com 3-Stripe Camp earlier this spring.
His decision came down to Texas and Houston, but he said he ultimately felt more at home in Austin.
“It was really just a lot of praying. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. My mom made a comment that I’m going to start getting gray hairs pretty soon. So I’ve been thinking about it nonstop,” Wiley said. “Really, whenever I went there for the first junior day, they just really made me feel like family.
"Man, there’s not really anything to not like about Texas. It's really close to home ... Really it’s an unbelievable place."
Wiley is Texas’ eighth commitment in the 2019 recruiting class.