Brothers Kirk and Collin Johnson commit to the Texas Longhorns

The brothers made their decision while on a visit to Austin on Thursday after picking up their offers at the second Junior Day back in early March.

Kirk goes 6’0, 191 pounds and is rated as a consensus three-star prospect. In the 247Sports Composite rankings, he’s the No. 43 athlete nationally and the No. 57 player in the state of California. 247Sports thinks more highly of the older brother, ranking him as a four-star prospect and the No. 18 athlete nationally and the No. 30 player in California.

The Longhorns were his first offer back in March, but since then Arizona State, Cal, Colorado State, San Jose State, Utah, and Washington all offered. He took trips to USC, Arizona State, and Oregon before making his decision.

A high school running back, Kirk is likely to play that position in college as well, though the Horns do currently have two other commits at the position. He battled through an injury-plagued junior season that probably didn’t help his recruitment take off, but showed off his full skill set when he was healthy as a sophomore.

His father reports a 4.47 40 and 36.7-inch vertical leap for his son from the Army All-American Combine in January.

Kirk is at his best when he’s going downhill and quickly exploiting vertical seams, where his sub-4.5 speed tells and he was able to consistently pull away from defenders in a way that he wasn’t able to do as a result of injuries during his junior season.

Other than the big difference in acceleration, what also stands out from sophomore film is that Johnson was better making lateral cuts in traffic to find holes and get into the open field -- he looked more fluid in the hips than he often did as a junior.

Additionally, his ability to step through arm tackles around his feet allowed him to pick up major extra yardage once into the open field with one defender to beat and when tacklers were able to get him higher on his body, he was able to use his leg drive and lower-body strength to drag defenders for yards after contact, a skill that is often difficult to translate to college, but is nonetheless impressive to see from a high school sophomore weighing well less than 200 pounds.

Put all those skills together and the perception of a limited running back who might be better off at another position dissipates and the full view of a tough, speedy back comes into focus. Put the emphasis on tough there, but again, the legitimate sub-4.5 speed deserves further mention, too.

Collin is a 6’4, 180-pounder ranked as a four-star prospect in the 247Sports rankings just released. A top-100 player in the country sitting at No. 85 nationally, the younger Johnson is currently considered the No. 15 wide receiver and the No. 11 player in California.

His first offer came from Cal the day before he was offered by Texas. Arizona State, Colorado State, Oregon State, Rutgers, TCU, USC, and Utah all offered since.

The younger Johnson didn’t have a chance to show off his pass-catching skills much as a sophomore because the Valley Christian offense was mostly ground-based, but he does have impressive ball skills and is a ready and willing blocker with the size and physicality to dominant smaller opponents.

Their father has been adamant that the recruiting process would end once his sons make their decisions, so Texas fans should feel comfortable moving forward that neither brother will continue taking visits.

Kirk is the 10th commit in the 2015 class for Texas, which ranks No. 10 nationally and No. 2 in the Big 12 in the 247Sports Composite rankings. Collin is the first pledge in the 2016 class for the Horns, but his commitment is good enough to push Texas to No. 8 nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12.