5-Star CB Anthony Cook to stay home, commits to Texas

HOUSTON, Tex. -- For months, Anthony Cook managed to keep everyone guessing where he planned on committing. Not even his closest friends and teammates knew his decision prior to his announcement on national television on Wednesday at Lamar High School.

Now, several of them will continue on as teammates in Austin following his commitment to Texas.

After all sorts of speculation as to what his motivations were in choosing between the Longhorns, LSU and Ohio State, Cook kept coming back to what seemed the simplest rationale all along.

“I just felt like that was the right decision for me and my family,” he said. “It’s not far from home - if I want to go home, I can go home - I like what Coach (Tom) Herman is doing with the program, I just felt like it was right.”

Texas fans and coaches alike have been through every possible emotion watching and wondering what chance they stood with the state’s top prospect over the course of the season. Truthfully, Cook was wondering the same thing. While much of the Longhorns 2018 class bought in on the team’s future under Herman sight unseen, Cook waited to see the changes on the field before he chose to invest as well.

“That first game against Maryland, I was like man, I don’t know if Coach Herman is going to change it around,” he said. “But then, as I saw the season progress and I saw the improvement, even in the games they didn’t win I saw improvement. But the defense looked completely different from that first game to the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, the relationships that he built with the players already on Texas’ roster gave him further perspective on what’s been taking place in the meeting rooms and on the practice field.

“I talked to a number of players on the team now and they compared this staff to the old one and they can see changes,” he said. “They’re saying from the strength and conditioning program down to the things that they’re telling you, they’re going to get (me) right.”

Of course, Cook has two teammates at Lamar that had already been committed to Texas in Rivals250 prospects Al’Vonte Woodard and D’Shawn Jamison, too. Despite the obvious expectation that the two of them were heavy influences in his decision, Cook said that he looked at playing with them as an added bonus to his own personal decision, rather than a heavy motivating factor.

“They recruited me the whole time - especially Vonte,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that they played a significant part in my decision, but I am glad that we’re all going to be playing at the next level.”

The thinking early in his recruitment was that Ohio State was the team to beat and he chose to take his first official visit there this fall. At that point, he seemed primed to make his commitment in late October, but after an official visit to Baton Rouge just weeks later, the Tigers turned the tables in a big way.

“I really was thinking LSU - it came down to the wire,” he said. “LSU was in the lead after my official visit. Actually, I was thinking about silently committing with them after that, but I thought ‘nah, I better wait.’ After waiting, talking with different coaches, my friends and my parents, we talked and thought that Texas was just the best place for me.”

Part of that discussion likely included his potential to play early. Although he is joining what was already arguably the best collection of defensive back commitments in the country, he said the plan is to get reps quickly and show he deserves a place at the head of the table.

“They told me as soon as I get on campus I’m going to be in the rotation,” he said. “I just have to earn my spot. They told me that they need more at my position and I’m going to play regardless, it’s just up to me if I’m going to start or not.”

Texas now has more than just a nice collection of DB’s to look forward to - with Cook's commitment, the Longhorns are in the hunt to finish with the best recruiting class in the nation. With several other high-profile recruits considering joining what’s been dubbed a 'revolution' within the program, Cook predicted that the team is capable of more than just improving next season - and it starts with this 2018 class.

“Now that I look at it, this is going to be a nice class,” he said. “I’m eager to see what we’re all going to do. I know big things are going to happen and change is coming soon. Change is coming soon.”