Some top talent left to gobble up

AUSTIN — December’s new early signing period has sapped February’s national signing day of some oomph. Texas signed 19 players during the new 72hour window, and its 2018 class ranks third nationally per the 247Sports recruiting database.

Some intrigue still remains as several big names teeter between their final options, but Texas coach Tom Herman already knows what the bulk of his Wednesday signees will look like.

Katy defensive lineman Moro Ojomo committed to Texas late Tuesday night, and Westfield’s Keondre Coburn, the nation’s No. 11 defensive tackle, could join Ojomo in burnt orange.

Carthage’s Keaontay Ingram, the state’s top-ranked running back, will sign as well and could immediately slot in as UT’s opening-day starter if he lives up to the hype after rushing for more than 2,300 yards as a senior.

Yoakum wide receiver Joshua Moore, Dunham School (Baton Rouge, La.) defensive lineman Michael Williams and William Chrisman (Independence, Mo.) defensive lineman Daniel Carson are all expected to sign Wednesday morning.

UT also is hopeful it can obtain commitments from Oak Ridge pass rusher extraordinaire Joseph Ossai and Cypress Woods offensive lineman Christian Jones.

Arkansas commit Andrew Parker, a three-star linebacker from New Orleans, might flip to the Longhorns.

Even if a few names slip through the cracks, Texas should finish with its highest-rated class since 2012. And when all is said and done, UT likely will have signed 11 of the state’s top 15 players, including six of the top seven.

“We had to make sure that these players stopped leaving the state,” Herman said in December. “That going out of state wasn’t more attractive to them. I don’t know that the University of Texas has changed. I don’t know that we’ve changed much. Obviously, the facilities was a big point of emphasis for us when we first got here, and that helps kids deserve to train and be trained in the best facilities in the country.”

Most of the work is already done, but Wednesday provides one final opportunity for Texas to display its recruiting resurgence.

“We are definitely not done,” Herman said in December. “This will be a full, if not overfull, class of maybe 27, 28, 29, somewhere around there. With all these midyears we have coming back last year, which was our plan with not signing a full class last year, knowing that this rule would be in effect, with this new signing rule where you can only sign 25 per class.

“So this was a much bigger plan. This plan goes all the way back to when we first got here 13 months ago, and what we were going to do with the 2017 class in terms of being able to save a lot of these scholarships for this class and count them backwards.”