4-Star ATH Jelani McDonald Commits to Longhorns At All-American Game

The Longhorns added another talented name to their 2023 recruiting haul.

Matt Galatzan | Jan 7, 2023

One of the Texas Longhorns' highest remaining priorities, former Oklahoma State commit Jelani McDonald announced his college decision on Saturday afternoon during the All-American game in San Antonio.

And he is heading to Austin, committing to the program in front of a national audience.

McDonald is listed as an athlete by most recruiting services, but likely sees the field on the defensive side of the field for the Longhorns.

He can play at any level of the defense but projects mostly as an off-ball linebacker or a box safety.

McDonald also played on the offensive side of the ball for Waco Connally, however, playing quarterback.

In 2022 as a quarterback, McDonald completed 33 of 72 passes for 707 and 13 touchdowns and rushed 77 times for 852 yards and nine scores.

On defense, he finished with 25 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks, a pass breakup, and an interception.

As the Longhorns look to continue to grow defensively under Pete Kwiatkowski, adding a talent like McDonald to the mix could go a long way in doing so.

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Published Jan 7, 2023

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.