Longhorns Country

Five Star Longhorns LB Target Riley Pettijohn Sets Commitment Date; Texas Favored?

The Texas Longhorns hope to land on of their top targets on the board later this week.

Matt Galatzan

Riley Pettijohn on his Texas visit
Riley Pettijohn on his Texas visit / Riley Pettijohn on X
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The Texas Longhorns are getting scorching hot on the recruiting trail.

On Monday, the Longhorns landed a commitment from four-star edge rusher Smith Orogbo, adding yet another talented name to their 2025 haul.

And later this week, they have an opportunity to land an elite linebacker to add to Pete Kwiatkowski's defense, with five-star McKinney (TX) linebacker Riley Pettijohn announcing his commitment date for July 6.

Pettijohn will choose between Texas, the Texas A&M Aggies, Ohio State Buckeyes and USC Trojans.

Riley Pettijohn on his Texas visit
Riley Pettijohn on his Texas visit / Riley Pettijohn on X

Last season with McKinney, Pettijohn was all over the field, making 125 tackles, eight tackles for loss, three sacks, five pass breakups, one interception and blocking a field goal.

As it stands right now, Pettijohn is seen as a Texas lean, with a 93.2 percent confidence rating per the On3 Recruiting Prediciton Machine, which includes RPM picks in favor of the Longhorns from On3 recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong.

Pettijohn is rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as the No. 31 overall player in the country, the No. 9 player in Texas and the No. 4 linebacker in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

He will make his decision after coming off of official visits to each of his four finalists last month, Pettijohn visited Ohio State on May 31, USC on June 7, Texas on June 14, and Texas A&M most recently on June 21.

“The visit was as expected," Pettijohn told On3. "They did a good job of highlighting all the resources Texas has that make them an elite program. They also made it abundantly clear how much they value Riley and his unique skill set.”

Should the Longhorns land Pettijohn, he would become the second linebacker commit alongside Elijah Barnes.

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Matt Galatzan

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Publisher of LonghornsCountry.com, AllAggies.com, and the Managing Editor of BuckeyesNow.com and TheGroveReport.com He is also the Editor-In-Chief of RamDigest.com and TexansDaily.com. Galatzan 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 under Mike Fisher at DallasBasketball.com in 2014, which at the time was part of the 247Sports network. He also spent two years covering the SMU Mustangs for PonyStampede.com on the 247Sports network.  When DallasBasketball.com and CowboysCountry.com moved over to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, Galatzan followed suit, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of LonghornsCountry.com and AllAggies.com a year later.  Through the years, Galatzan has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, former Longhorns players Dan Neil and Phil Dawson, and many other recruits, and current/former players for each of the teams he has covered.  Galatzan is also a full-time employee in the digital media department for Audacy and KRLD FM's 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, which is the official radio home of the Dallas Cowboys.  You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan For any inquiries, please email matt.galatzan@gmail.com

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