Texas Football: Longhorns Miss Out on Cornerback Target

Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw signs with Missouri

Texas missed out on a major recruiting target when three-star cornerback Ennis Rakestraw chose Missouri on national signing day. 

The Longhorns were late to offer Rakestraw, but pushed hard in the month of January in an attempt to land the Duncanville, Texas standout. 

At 6-foot and 170 pounds, Rakestraw should be able to pack on some muscle without losing any of his speed and acceleration at the next level. He has experience playing against some uber-talented receivers in big-time playoff games.

Without Rakestraw, Texas signed just one cornerback in the 2020 class in Kitan Crawford from Tyler, John Tyler. The four-star recruit was the No. 9 corner in the class according to 247 Sports. 

Even with a lack of true freshmen, Texas is still stacked with young talent at the position. The Longhorns have true juniors Jalen Green, Anthony Cook and D'Shawn Jaimson and Kobe Boyce, all of which had to start at one point or another in 2020. Kenyatta Watson was a true freshman this past season and came to Texas as a highly-touted recruit as well. 

The Longhorns missed out on a pair of corners in Joshua Eaton and Ethan Pouncey. Both were committed to the team at one point during the season but re-opened their recruitment. Pouncey ended up at Florida while Eaton chose rival Oklahoma as his final destination. 

The question now for new cornerbacks coach Jay Valai is whether the Longhorns will hit up the transfer portal in an attempt to bring in another corner or look forward to the 2021 class.