Texas Football: Signing Day Preview Part III (Watch Highlights)

Longhorns are making a late push for Ennis Rakestraw. Will it be enough?

National signing day in February used to be the biggest recruiting day for recruiting news of the year, but after just two seasons with the new early signing day rule, there's little doubt that college football is quickly changing.

It is estimated that 77 percent of all FBS football players signed their letter of intent back in December, making the first Wednesday in February a big of an afterthought nowadays.

However, with a large percentage of its class put away, the Longhorns were able to hit the recruiting trail hard down the stretch and have a chance to pull in some major impact pieces when the other 23 percent of players sign on the dotted line.

Let's have a look at the players the Longhorns are still actively recruiting and the odds Texas has at landing each of them. 

Ennis Rakestraw, Duncanville

Rakestraw is one of the fastest rising prospects on some major recruiting boards through the last month. The Longhorns were late to the game offering the in-state cornerback, but have been pressing hard to make an impression over the past few weeks.

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.

Texas scored a major win getting Rakestraw to visit the Forty Acres last weekend, his final official visit before singing day on Wednesday. Judging by his Twitter activity it is safe to say that the three-star prospect clearly enjoyed his time in Austin and left with an even better impression of the program than he had coming in.

With all that said, it still feels like Alabama is in the lead in this race. The Crimson Tide are hard to beat when they put in the kind of time and energy they have for Rakestraw's services. Also, don't rule out Missouri. The Tigers have been in on Rakestraw's recruiting the longest of the major contenders and were the clear leader for a long time.

Chances he ends up at Texas: 25 percent 

Part I - Alfred Collins

Part II - Princely Umanmielen

Part IV - Savion Williams