The “shock treatment” of the Texas Longhorns victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday may have been the last thing the Longhorns needed to do to secure the commitment of Dallas (Texas) South Oak Cliff running back Jordan Stevenson on Saturday, as broken by Horns247.
2015 RB Jordan Stevenson commits to the Texas Longhorns
After several misses, the Longhorns have their 2015 running back.
The addition for Texas was made even more significant by the fact that two 2015 in-state running backs with offers from the Longhorns have already committed to recruiting rival Texas A&M -- Jay Bradford of Splendora (Texas) and Rodney Anderson of state power Katy (Texas).
The 5’8, 185-pound Stevenson is a Dallas Skyline transfer ranked as the No 18 running back in the nation by the 247Sports composite rankings and the No. 34 player in the state of Texas. Stevenson also held offers from Arkansas, SMU, and Utah State, somewhat odd given the high-profile nature of Skyline as a high school that produces talent every year, his verified speed and solid rankings by the services.
The best asset for Stevenson is that speed -- he ran a 4.37 40 time at the Dallas Nike Camp last April, a mark that tied with five-star cornerback Tony Brown of Beaumont (Texas) Ozen and North Little Rock (Arkansas) cornerback Kavin Alexander. It clearly transfer to pads, where Stevenson is a home-run threat every time he touches the ball.
At this size, he’s probably not a load back in college and he doesn’t project as someone who is going to pick up yards after contact by moving the pile, so it’s a major positive that he has impressive open-field moves, including a spin move that may or not translate and some serious shake that has a better chance to show up on the field for the Longhorns in the future.
When there are creases, Stevenson does a good job of getting north-south quickly and outrunning defenders, but he also has the vision to find cutback lanes and the patience to let blocks develop before he bounces runs outside, something he does well because his speed is as good laterally as it is in a straight line.
Stevenson is the ninth pledge in the 2015 class for Texas, a group that now includes seven four-star prospects and ranks tops in the country. No other schools have more than six pledges for 2015 at this time.
