4-star DT Jordan Elliott follows 5-star DT Ed Oliver in committing to Houston

Oliver became the first consensus five-star prospect in modern recruiting history to pledge to Houston on Thursday evening, and now new head coach Tom Herman has some consolidated momentum and a complement to Oliver. Elliott is a consensus four-star prospect, the No. 84 recruit, No. 12 defensive tackle and No. 12 player in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, making his pledge historically significant for the Houston program, too.

Formerly committed to Baylor, Elliott was thought to be high on both Texas and USC until his unexpected decision on Friday afternoon, which came less than a day after he released his list of top eight schools. The 6’4, 305-pounder holds 36 total offers, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, TCU, Texas A&M and Washington.

Elliott had a breakout season as a junior, recording 78 tackles, 31 tackles for loss and 12 sacks.

As with Oliver, the question is whether Herman and his staff, which includes former Houston Westfield head coach Corby Meekins, can keep both of the elite prospects committed until National Signing Day next February. Elliott, for instance, has a visit planned to Alabama set for June. Will he take that visit and another potential visit to childhood favorite USC?

In any case, Houston has some unprecedented recruiting momentum and an emerging recruiting star in Meekins, who was Oliver’s coach before leaving for the college ranks. Other area prospects could follow the lead of Oliver and Elliott. In fact, consensus three-star offensive guard Dixie Wooten of Houston Lamar already committed to UH earlier on Friday, and consensus three-star running back Trayveon Williams could add his name to the list of Cougar pledges in the near future.

Herman and the Cougars are trying to take over Houston and, so far, the results are shockingly impressive.