Texas Football: Herman Comments on Two Signing Day Additions

The Longhorns add two key pieces to their 2020 class

Texas added a pair of key pieces to its 2020 recruiting class with five-star defensive lineman Alfred Collins (Bastrop Cedar Creek) and four-star athlete Kelvontay Dixon (Carthage). Both players come from in state. 

Collins is a second-generation Longhorn. His mother played basketball on the Forty Acres. He was heavily recruited by most major blueblood programs and chose Texas over finalists Alabama and Oklahoma. 

“With Alfred, it seems like we’ve been recruiting him for forever,” Texas head coach Tom Herman said. “It’s been about two-and-a-half years. He’s from right here in Bastrop. His mom played basketball here at UT for Coach (Jody) Conradt. His dad has got a great job here in Austin. All of the boxes were checked a long time ago from a character and work-ethic standpoint. When you turn the film on, this is a guy who just continues to get better. He’s so long, and strong, but extremely athletic. He’s a starter on their basketball team and a guy that’s going to do everything right. He’s going to give his teammates everything he’s got every time he steps on the field.”

Dixon is the younger brother of current starting running back Keontay Ingram. He was previously committed to Arkansas but chose Texas after re-opening his recruiting. 

“Kelvontay is a fantastic young man,” Herman said. “He goes by ‘Moochie’, so that’s really what I know him as. Obviously, being Keaontay Ingram’s little brother, and us having a relationship with that family, made him a no-brainer. His two grandparents that are heavily involved in his life really made it well known that he was one of our kind of guys. With him, you get a ton of speed, a ton of aggressiveness and a knack for finding the football. And you get a guy that has played a lot of different positions in his career in high school.”

Due to the smaller number of signees, the Longhorns coaching staff didn't host a traditional signing day press conference, but head coach Tom Herman did speak on each of the two newest Texas players. 

On how the early signing period has changed recruiting:

“February is not really regular signing day anymore,” head coach Tom Herman said. “It’s almost late signing day with most of our class wrapped up in December. 

On recruiting inside the state of Texas:

Something we’re extremely proud of – all but one of our recruits in this class are from the state of Texas. I want to thank the high school coaches here in the state of Texas and their straight-line recruiting model. We take a lot of pride in getting the best of the best in our home state to play for their flagship university, which is The University of Texas. We couldn’t be prouder. We addressed a lot of areas of need, and brought in a lot of guys we think will be able to come in and play early. 

“We have over 60 guys on our roster from the state of Texas. Recruiting here in this state is going to be our lifeblood. We love going out of state when the interest is reciprocated, but we know that for us to have the kind of success that is expected here, we’ve got to do a great job in our state, and I feel like we’ve done that.”