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UT landing Ant Hill is one of the bigger stories of the recruiting cycle

Texas scored a huge head-to-head win over Texas A&M on Thursday night.
Texas scored a huge head-to-head win over Texas A&M on Thursday night. (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

The Texas Longhorns have had many moments of recruiting momentum in the 2023 class, already fielding one of the top classes in the entire country. Moments ago, the UT staff took another step forward with a huge addition on the defensive side of the ball.

Longhorn fans, you can officially welcome five-star linebacker Anthony Hill to the UT family.

Hill, out of Denton Ryan, announced on Thursday night that he has committed to Texas, giving the Longhorns one of the biggest pieces of an already stellar recruiting class. The 6-2, 228-pound standout is the Longhorns second-highest rated commitment in the 2023 class, behind only consensus No. 1 prospect Arch Manning.

It was an interesting journey that led Hill to Austin. One of the nation’s hottest prospects, Hill could have had his choice of just about any program in the country. He took summer official visits to Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Southern Cal. He would wind up narrowing his list down to two schools – the Longhorns and the Aggies – before selecting Texas A&M in late July. In September, Hill would give the Aggies an official visit but Texas never really went away.

The UT staff stayed in close contact with Hill and his family throughout his recruitment and even after he committed to Texas A&M. The Texas staff, including Steve Sarkisian, made a visit to one of Hill’s games this fall and Hill always left open the possibility of taking a Texas visit for a game. The week of the Longhorns’ game against TCU, it was learned that Hill would be in attendance for that game, sending Longhorn fans into a frenzy. A few hours later, he blew the top off the recruiting world when he announced his decommitment from Texas A&M.

Landing Hill is a tremendous triumph for Texas for a number of reasons. First and foremost, he’s a rare talent, the kind of player that can come in as a true freshman and make an impact on any defense. Secondly, he plays at a position in linebacker in which Texas is needing playmakers. On top of that, it’s a major head-to-head win over in-state rival Texas A&M, and it especially twists the knife in the Aggies after Hill was committed to A&M for more than three months. Lastly, Texas has had no problem recruiting elite offensive talent under Steve Sarkisian, but this win shows the nation that the Longhorns are also able to load up on top prospects on the defensive side of the ball.

In order to win out in these types of recruitments, you have to develop strong relationships and the current Texas staff was able to do that from the moment it got in Austin. Jeff Banks, Steve Sarkisian, Chris Gilbert, Jeff Choate and really the entire Texas staff did a good job of recruiting not just Hill, but his family as well.

“We’ve had as a family, and Anthony, always had a great relationship with the new staff from day one,” Hill’s father, Anthony Sr, told Orangebloods.com earlier this year. “We’ve known Banks, since he offered him at Bama. We’ve known Banks and Sark. When they came over, they gave the call, told us they were going to be at Texas. They really wanted Ant.”

Hill joins a Texas linebacker class that also includes Hawaii’s Liona Lefau as well as in-state standouts Derion Gullette and S'Maje Burrell. Texas is set to lose starting linebacker DeMarvion Overshown to the NFL. Jaylan Ford is a junior who could still test the NFL waters himself after a standout 2022 season. The Longhorns have very little established depth behind those two players, meaning the incoming freshmen will all have a chance to make an early impact for Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense. Hill is just the type of talent that may be hard to keep off the field.

“Texas landing five-star linebacker Hill immediately provides a player in the second level that can contribute in a big way as early as next season,” said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Nick Harris. “But even before then, Hill will be able to provide crucial recruiting momentum down the stretch for the Longhorns as they look to close with a top three class ahead of the Early Signing Period. Other than Arch Manning, this easily serves as the biggest recruiting win for Texas in the 2023 cycle.”

Hill is the nation’s No. 15-ranked prospect overall and he’s the country’s top-ranked linebacker prospect. Hill will graduate in December and enroll at Texas in January.

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