Joe, Justin, and Coach talk about the most important defensive tackles needs to land in this 2025 cycle. Subscribe to Inside Texas to stay locked in with your favorite team every single day https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/join/
Inside Texas Football
Recruiting Intel: Dominant DTs Texas Wants in 2025
Welcome to the Inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by inside Texas.com. I'm Joe Cook joined by Charlie Williams and Justin Wells. We got another great episode of recruiting Intel. And today we are going to go over the defensive line targets specifically at defensive tackle in the 2025 class. Make sure you like this video. Subscribe to the channel helps us out, helps us bring a lot of great content to y'all. Today we will go over commit Brandon Brown, Zion Williams, Dylan battle, Josiah Sharma, Lloyd Gidry, DJ Sanders and Myron Charles. We'll go a little rapid fire, but we'll start with the guy we've already talked about a little bit, but I didn't get coach Williams a chance to go over his notes with Brandon Brown. So coach, what do you see from the Florida base Texas commit? Yeah. Well, one thing we know about Florida kids, they got speed and even though he plays the line, this kid can run, right? You see him chasing down bar carries from behind. The quarterback has no chance when he's out there. One thing I love is you see him pick up a phone and take it to the house. It kind of reminded me of right, right? Taking the formula to the house versus Oklahoma, right? Except he's faster, but this kid can play, man. He can just keep blockers with his feet, which I love because you don't even have to put your hands on an offensive lineman and get, you know, get in and fight with those guys if you can beat him with your feet. So he has the moves from the defensive lineman. I love this kid. He can play edge. He can play in the middle. So wherever you put him, you can play Justin. You have a little note on the latest with them and how he'll be in Austin. A couple of months ago, we had the sense that he could or not months, maybe a month ago, there was a sense he could decommit that he was going to make himself more available. I don't really see that as the case at this moment. He's going to be in Austin on March 22nd through the 24th with his seven on 17, but he doesn't play seven on seven. He plays five on five, which is an old line D line type camp drill. I'm actually eager to see that and I'll be in Austin that Friday to watch him. And so he's going to be in Austin. That's going to be his first time in Austin. This guy's been committed for a few months and he's never seen Texas. And I think that's relevant. Should go a long way towards solidifying that relationship. But we'll talk about some guys now that Kenny Baker, the new defensive line coach has to start making inroads in and eventually efforts. He hopes leads to a commitment. Got to talk about Zion Williams, big defensive tackle out of Lufkin. Probably the best in the state. Maybe you could argue one or two other guys. But Charlie, when you watched his film, what do you see from the East Texas standout? Well, I love it because he's from East Texas, right? That's home for me, but Zion is a big strong disruptive kid. He can play the one or zero tech. He uses hands very well to feed blockers. He's chasing the ball back from behind. He's just a strong, athletic kid. Like he's that kid you stick in the trenches and say, I'm going to whoop you all day. I'm going to whoop your center all day. And that's exactly what he does. So I love this kid a lot. Justin, you know him pretty well being that he's from your neck of the woods. You've, you've been to Lufkin. You saw him last year, I think play Tyler legacy and, and have a big game. But this is a recruiting battle where a lot of schools within close proximity to Lufkin and that includes obviously Texas, Texas A&M, LSU are going to try to have something to say about preventing Baker from make landing this big fish. Absolutely. You said it, he's the number one defensive tackle in this, in the state. There's a few other guys, you know, that are going to battle for it. But he's number one, number, first of all, he has the best smile in the state. Like this kid is just, he just, he's happy. He is just grateful for everything. He's grateful for the attention. LSU is the one to watch. And it's because of Bo Davis. Bo Davis set the foundation for Texas in this recruitment over the last year. I've gone by there three or four times already. And, and LSU is, it's definitely the one he's going to be on campus in Baton Rouge on March 9th. I caught up with him yesterday. He's still scheduling his trips to Texas. He might come in for the spring game. And he's also looking at an official visit probably around the June area. This is one that Kenny Baker had to play a little catch up, but he's had a lot of help. Steve's occasion, Pete Quackaske. These are a lot of guys that have dove into this recruitment now to ensure that Texas is one of the last ones standing. You can't miss this guy. If Kenny Baker wants to make a statement in his first year at defensive line coach for Texas, you're going to have to sign Zion Williams. He's two hours from campus. You cannot let this guy leave the state. I think Eric Millene had a pretty good article not too long ago. There are a bunch of recruitments within a four hour drive that Texas needs to win, just with how strong the 2025 class is on three industry ranking. Number three, 49, Charlie Justin. But Charlie, I let you go first. Is that too low? Definitely man. I got hearing way higher than that. You're not going to find many kids can do what he does from at the defensive line position, and he's quick and fast. He has the size. So I don't understand the ranking on that one. But hey, I don't make them, but yeah, they can't really retire. Justin, six, five, three, 15, dances like a bear, play Santa Claus in the theater, get away with get this three, 49 off the screen before I punch something. This dude should be higher, much rare, hot. Listen, you can tell you how high he should be rated when he goes in the first round of the draft in the 230, 229 NFL draft. That's what should tell you he should be rated higher. I love it. Well, I'll get him off the screen. We'll talk about another guy, Dylan battle on three industry ranking. Number five, 25. Overall, out of Mansfield, timber view, a place that Texas has gone in recent years and is starting to get a little bit more traction in just as part of increased efforts in the DFW area. Coach Williams, Dylan battle. What do you see on his film? Man, he got the perfect last name battle. Cause that's what he does in the trenches. This is a big dude. This is the guy saying, I'm putting you over the center, bring on the double team. It doesn't matter. He's not going to get moved, right? He said he has the ability to hold his gap and split the double team, but you don't see kids being able to do that at the high school level much, but he does it quite well. He's another guy that gets after the ball and chase the ball at his size, but he's super strong. He's a guy. Like I said, bring on your double team. I'm going to anchor down a defense and let my linebackers roam free and let them make plays because that's what he does best. When you're when you're watching these, these highlight tapes, do you ever kind of notice what defenses the teams that these prospects are on, what they're running to see how much that they may fit into Texas defense? And is that the case with both the guys we kind of just mentioned? Yeah, definitely. I watched it for all kids just to kind of see with more of their fit where they projected at the next level, look, we kind of defense that they play now. And you see some of these high schools starting to adapt and play more multiple fronts just like they do at the college game. So when they go to college, they're already prepared to play that, whatever position they're going to play, if it goes to Texas, or he can play up and down the line and he's from a zero one, maybe put him in a two over the guard or maybe, you know, two eye, right? So he has familiarity with that already. And that's what I look for when I watch film. Yeah, Texas uses the two eye, a good amount based off Peek with Cowsky's two, four, five. But, you know, like you mentioned, it's a lot of similar skill sets. When the when you're looking at those lower number techniques on the defensive line, Justin, as far as where Texas stands with Dylan Battle and where does, you know, Dylan Battle stand with Texas as well. What can you tell us about this recruitment? Yeah, if Zion is number one in the state, Dylan Battle is number two. And now Dylan doesn't have Zion size. Dylan's more six, two and a half, maybe three bills, but he is active and he is athletic and he got worked up from Andre Kojo, Texas offensive lineman, who was at Tim review a few years ago. That's kind of who taught him the taught him the ropes of being, you know, getting ready for high performance football. Texas has some work to do here. His father's from Michigan and he's already been up there a handful of times. TCU is making a very credible push. LSU wants to get him on campus and will Texas Tech's trying to get him on campus. This one's going to be one. Like I said, he doesn't have a visit scheduled to Texas yet. But again, if Kenny Baker's going to really make a statement in his first year, you've got to hit on some of these in-state defensive tackles. And if it's not Zion on Williams, he needs to grab Dylan Battle. The biggest thing right now is get that kid on campus. We'll keep it going. And we will head west this time with Josiah Sharma. He's from Folsom, California. I think this is his second high school, but right now he's at Folsom. Has a little bit of offense, defense flexibility. But Charlie, probably what you see, what other college coaches see. This guy is going to be a difference maker at the next level on defense. Definitely. I like to call him a big cat. That may be a little too early for some people. We may not remember Big Cat Lee, I'm left from Dallas Cowboys. But John Henderson, who played for the Jaguar, I thought he's a big kid who can move. Man, he looks like a tight end plan detail, but he's strong. He's quick. He's well when he uses his hands. Well, he has an array of moves. He can rip, dip his shoulder, swim move, you know, push, pull. Like he has it all and he loves playing defense. He loves to get out to the quarterback and anybody. He's very disruptive in the backfield and you have Texas fans. He has a kind of, I want to say, Alfred Collins, right? He's being long and rangey, but he's had more size to him. He's already aggressive and gets out there. I love that Alfred Collins comp. You can tell he's got room to fill out, but he's still got some length that other guys don't have. Yeah, exactly. Justin with with someone from California, Folsom, California, kind of more towards the realm of, of Steve Sarkeesian of even Johnny Nansen, but where does, where do the Longhorn stand with this California prospect? You know, if Zion's ranking is ridiculous, if Zion's ranking is a sin, then Sharma's is internal damnation, because there is no way in hell that there are 572 players better than this big joker. Listen, out of all the guys we're talking about, this one might have the most upside. He is violent and big. And here's the thing. He was committed to Washington. He was under Kaitlin Dubor for a while. Dubor took off to Alabama, so he decommitted, and now he's going to visit Alabama. I would be shocked if he doesn't wind up in Alabama. He had a great relationship with Dubor and that staff. But just like Coach said, like this guy is just big. There is some alpha Collins there, but he's already filled out more. Like he he's got a he's just got a lot of clay there to mold and Sharma. Goodness gracious 573. I know we're going to talk about a couple of other ones that are higher rated. I don't know if I would have any of these guys rated above Sharma at this moment. Yeah, he's got a lot of talent that his frame just provides just as a baseline right there, and it'll be interesting to see what West Coast and even South Eastern teams start to take in and try to get in on that recruitment before we keep going forward. Got to show a little bit of love to our friend Andre the lawyer. Andre the lawyer never takes for their clients. No win, no pay and no upfront costs. A long time inside Texas user with his principal office in Dallas, he's been representing injured Longhorns throughout the state of Texas. Every client gets a personalized text message number so they can contact the team and get direct access to their lawyer all day and all night. Call Andre the lawyer at 214-444-8808, whether you're in a car wreck, an 18 wheeler accident, slip and fall on the job injury or any wrongful death suit. Call Andre the lawyer at 214-444-8808. Thank you to our friend Andre the lawyer. But now we return to some defensive linemen. This is another player from the Houston area, Floyd Gidry from Spring High School. Charlie, I like this guy's film when I watch him, but you had a little bit more discerning eye. What were your takeaways when you saw the spring stand out? He's another strong kid, right? He loves the bull rush. He can push the offense lineman back into the quarterback's lap, and he loves to do that. Takes on quite a bit of double teams every Friday night. But like I said, he's another kid who can hold his gap. He's like a strong bull rush type guy. He doesn't have to use any other moves because he's so strong. I was going to push the offense alignment back each and every time. And so I mean, I like this kid. I think he's a normal free take. I don't think he has to size to play zero or one unless, you know, he gets to a college and they put weight on him, but I don't think they need to. I think he's perfect at three because he's athletic enough to play, but he's strong enough too. So one thing I thought I noticed and I want to hear your perspective on it is he. We talk about first step with defensive tackles real often. And to me, that seemed like the trait that stood out most. Did you see that when you watched this film? Yeah, he does fall off the ball and he has a good pad level when he doesn't. That's why he's so successful at pushing those guys back because he stays underneath kind of like a Aaron Donald and he's going to drive you back. So he does have a quick first step. Justin, this is obviously we're talking about a host of guys, but this seems like a recruitment Texas is in real good position for. What's the latest with Gidry? Yeah, you know, he's already got his stuff scheduled. I don't think he has an OV yet, but he's supposed to be in and spend the spring time, maybe the week before the spring name of the week after. I can't remember exactly, but look, Texas was early on this recruitment. They offered early. They built a relationship early and it was a team effort from the staff. Kenny Bakers picked up where they left off. I would be moderately shocked or surprised rather if Texas doesn't land Gidry. I think it's a real good mix. I believe we met him on a junior day in January 20th. If I'm not mistaken, I can't remember. Was he there, Charlie? And Joe, I can't remember for sure. Um, but he's a guy that he may not be as highly rated as these other ones, but that first step is real. The size is real. The effort is real. And we talk about motors. Gidry's got a motor. And so, you know, you take those guys, you go to the SEC and you find a spot for them. And so I think Gidry and Texas just makes too much sense right now. We'll keep it moving. We'll go to some of the guys that are a little bit higher rated. And this is, this is going to be a favorite of y'all DJ Sanders from Belleville High School on the model of Eric Nelline on three industry rankings, number one, oh, seven prospect. And Charlie, I don't know if you know, this Belleville runs a pretty option heavy offense and you can kind of tell that DJ Sanders has to deal with physicality every day and practice. By the way, he plays against opponents on the field. Yeah, I like DJ a lot. I think he's athletic freak and he's strong. I think he's more before he can play. He can set the edge so he can move up and down the line. He reminded me of Chris Whaler before he got big and played the tackle. Like he can run the ball. If you put him on offense, like, put him back there, let him go. Like he's an athletic freak who can play. And I love this kid a lot. You see him taking farmers to the house. Like he's so quick. And nobody's catching it from behind. So I was like, man, I love this kid. And I think he'll be a great gig if Texas gets enough. They're like, they can move him up and down the line and do a lot with him. Justin, this one for the state finalists seems like it's becoming an in-state battle. But what are you hearing when it comes to Sanders? Yeah, this was probably going to come down to Texas and Texas A&M unlike a handful of other ones in this in this class. You know, Sanders got to see him at the state championship. He was active. Like Coach said, this guy can play up and down the line. I think the four-eye part of him makes him a little different than the rest of the guys we were looking at and talking about, which gives him a little bit of an advantage. And I think he is squarely ranked. This is a guy that you take these type of players every cycle and you figure it out. You put them in the scheme and you figure these guys out. DJ has so much athleticism that that makes it pretty easy. It's going to come down to Texas and Texas A&M. I think A&M may have a quiet lead there right now. I know Eric went by there recently. And I think that was kind of the gist he was feeling. But Texas is squarely in it. Kenny Baker's trying to build on to it. I know Coach PK is as well. And so Texas won't stop. This will be a guy that I feel like they'll recruit through the whistle. We got one more to talk about before we get into a little, a little bit of a higher level discussion. And that's Myron Charles on three industry rankings, number 145 overall prospect. I believe from Port Charlotte, Florida. Texas offer maintains communication with Texas, one of a number of options and a little bit closer to some of the places that Kenny Baker is a little bit more familiar with. So Charlie, when you watched his film, what do you see from the Florida product? Yeah, the first thing that stands out to me is that he has a quick first step. He's very active with his hands and he knows how to use them into defeat blockers. Has a little array of moves as well. Like he can get off blocks, any kind of way, anything it takes, he can use that move to get off a block and he's fast. He took a pick six to the house. Like you don't see that much, right? He's an athletic kid, another athletic kid. I see him at the three tech, but he also can play edge. So it gives him an kind of advantage, kind of like Jesse said about DJ. He can play far out. Like he has a speed and quickness, but the strength to also set the edge. So I love this kid a lot as well. Justin, this is a out of state recruitment where a lot of the southeastern big boys are going to be coming after Myron Charles. But where are the Longhorns positioned right now? You know, if they'll be positioned well, once they get him on campus and, you know, I caught up with him last late last week and he still hadn't said his visit yet. I think he's still in the mix of trying to do that. I think he wants to see what Austin has to offer. But you know what reminds me of this is a Charlie Strong take all day long, because that guy love those Florida, those South Florida athletes. And Myron Charles is that kind of guy. It's one of those don't overthink it type kids. You know, he can do a lot. He's big, he's strong, he's fast, and more so than most places he's mean. And that to me is the thing that kind of differentiates him from the other ones. Florida looks really good right now. Miami and FSU were throwing, throwing some attention at him. I think Tennessee as well, he's got a ton of offers, but until Texas can get him on campus. And I believe they will possibly this spring. This one's going to be another one that it's going to be hard to read until they can see it. So I had to look up where Port Charlotte is because I don't know if it's on the top part of the state. If it's in the, you know, right now on South Beach and if Google will pop it up, it is in. Fort Myers, so like, you know, maybe two hours south of Tampa, kind of on the west side of the state. So a little bit, I don't know where the allegiances lie in that part of the state, probably closer to Miami, but maybe Florida state, maybe Florida. And maybe it's just kind of in the middle of nowhere enough of Florida to where the guy would want to try elsewhere. I do have a question about Kenny Baker. Obviously, he was hired after this season, after the dolphin season was over. And so for a lot of these guys, they've been getting attention for probably up to this point around a year. They've been to recruiting junior days, you know, even as sophomores. They've been recruited. They've received offers and they had relationships with a lot of coaches. But when Kenny Baker comes in, he's got about a year's worth of time to either maintain a lead or make up ground. So, Charlie, as someone who has, you know, gone to a school in your experience at UNLV, where there was previously established relationships and you had to either update those or take those over. What's it like? Like, what's the process like for an assistant coach? When he gets to a spot, has a number of targets, he knows he needs to pursue and needs to start communicating with them. Yeah. So it's not just on him. I think it's a team effort. Everybody has a chance to get to know that the kids that's on the board that you're recruiting, right? Find out is everything there is to know about them. Every staff should put information about kids in a recruiting system based called ARMS, so everything about their kids in there. So it's just your job, the GH job or the intern going there and find out everything there is to know about a kid and then related to Kenny Baker. So when he does talk to the kid, he can introduce himself, talk, talk about his history, his background, where he came from. But then he already says, Hey, I noticed this about you. I watched your film X, Y, and Z, right? So the kids going to say, Oh, man, this coach is already doing his homework on me, right? And so you just got to build a genuine relationship from there, but take those notes and everything that the previous staff added, or if somebody knew him from a previous staff that you may know, or the coaches on current, the current staff know about a kid, take that, apply that information and just reach out to the kid and just build a relationship from there. And then Justin, one more to finish up on, you know, last cycle, only Melvin Hills and Alex January are part of that class after Don Cherry Robinson decided to get out of his national letter of intent and head to Florida. So a two defensive tackle class after a one defensive tackle class with Sadie or Mitchell, of course, they added Tia Sivea, but that's a one year rental. This seems like a position where Texas really wants to load up in 2025. Yeah, you know, I don't know if the math, you know, adds up well, but, you know, one in one class and two in another equals four in 2025, because you're going to have to take three, three, at least three or four. I mean, you've got to stockpile. And I think Sart kind of knew this class was going to be that way. I don't know if Kenny Baker knew it when he took the job, but it was going to, it's pretty, it was pretty much known that the state was getting a little better, cycling back up with defensive tackles. And of course, Texas has that reach across the country now because they have so much momentum coming off the playoff, coming off the big 12 championship, a lot of trajectory, a lot of, a lot of good things coming in Austin right now. I think the numbers four, I think you have to take four simply from a number standpoint, because again, they're in the SEC. It is bully football. And if they can't stop the run, they will get that ball down their throat. And the only way to do that is to add a Zion Williams, add a Dylan battle, snag a Floyd Gidry and maybe go out of state and get a Josiah Sharma. That's the way you do 2025 defense attacks simply because the last two cycles have been a little low on the numbers. Got to get those numbers up, guys. Yeah, it seems like every position has, it's been knocked out of the park. And even defensive tackle had some good, obviously additions, just not the quantity, I feel like that Texas would have wanted. So they, they kind of have solved edge over the past two cycles. DB's looking up, linebacker's looking great, but on defense, they really need to not only stock up with quality, but quantity when it comes to defensive tackle. Fellows, thank you so much. Make sure you like this video. Subscribe to the inside Texas football YouTube channel. Help you, it will help you bring a bunch of great content throughout the off season. Give us a shot over at inside Texas.com. You can get one month of premium access for just $1. So it's March 4th, spring football starts this month. You're going to want to get all the insider notes on not just recruiting visits, but also team in Intel practice of reports and everything that you might think of leading into the spring game, you're going to want to stick around. Thank you all so much for joining. Thank you, Coach Williams. Thank you, Justin. I'm Joe Cook. We will see you next time on the inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by insidetexas.com.