Steve Sarkisian talks high school football recruitment at THSCA convention

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian recently appeared at the Texas High School Coaching Association event today. During this event, the D1 head coach opened up on his thoughts surrounding high school football recruiting after the NCAA’s recent five-year eligibility rule was introduced. The new NCAA five-for-five rule allows student-athletes, with a few exceptions, to compete for five years. This replaces the former four and five-rule, which granted student-athletes five years to compete in four seasons, which resulted in a lot of high school stars redshirting in their first year of D1 football. [ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ] “Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian had an interesting viewpoint on how 5 for 5 could impact high school recruiting,” Texas insider Evan Vieth shared from the event. “I think we’ve all got to wrap our brains around there might be a little bit of a lull in high school recruiting that’s coming. Now there’s players that are going to have an extra year to stay in college football that are going to transfer around or stay at their universities. That is going to impact some of the high school recruiting.” Sarkisian shared. Currently, Sarkisian’s class of 2027 includes 21 high school football commitments, with Texas A&M leading the way with 25. Included in the Longhorns’ class of 2027 is five-star cornerback John Meredith, the No. 2 prospect in the state, No. 1 at his position, and No. 2 nationally, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies. After transferring from Euless Trinity (Texas), where he helped guide them to the 6A bi-district playoffs, being named a MaxPreps junior All-American, the five-star cornerback was ruled ineligible for his 2026 senior year, a case that was discussed at today’s event. Alongside Meredith, Sarkisian also landed the recruitment of five-star wide receiver Easton Royal from Brother Martin (La.). The class of 2027 star was ranked as the No. 3 overall prospect in the updated Rivals300, with recent reports suggesting that he might flip his commitment to LSU. With one of the best states for high school football at his disposal, Sarkisian currently has eleven players from the state of Texas in his class of 2027 recruitment haul. Included in that is the No. 3 prospect in the state, five-star offensive lineman Ismael Camara from Gilmer (Texas) “High school recruiting, the impact that it’s going to have on all of our programs is going to be critical to all of our success. But I really believe from the morale of these young players and these kids, they feel the burden of taking care of their household because of the money and the ages and all these things.” Sarkisian continued at the event. “So I think overall it’s positive, but I do think the effects of this are going to take a couple of years to get down the road. We’re really going to see the impact of it all.” Following today’s conference, with discussions surrounding NIL, an agency roster, and the transfer of some of the top student athletes in the state of Texas, including Meredith, the annual Texas High School Coaches Association panel provided a significant amount of information going into the upcoming season, which starts in just over a month.