Fast-rising Texas CB Starrland Baldwin enjoying recruitment

Cypress Falls cornerback Starrland Baldwin Jr. has been one of the spring darlings in Texas football recruiting over the past few weeks.

Since his first offer from Oklahoma when he visited for the Sooners’ junior day event in February, the floodgates have opened and he now holds 13 total offers.

“I’m blessed,” he said. “I’m just happy I made that OU trip. My recruiting has really took off and this has been a great opportunity to explore all these colleges to see where I fit in best.”

Funny how tables suddenly turn from Baldwin showing interest in teams to those programs now hoping to grab some of his time. Next up on his itinerary are visits to Baylor on April 1 and an eventual stop at Houston - both schools he’s visited in the past.

“They’re both close to home - I’ve been to Baylor before with my brother and I loved it then, so I have to take that trip again,” he said. “With U of H, it’s going to be my third time taking a trip there this year; I went for a football game and my high school team went to a practice before their bowl game, so I’ll be going to another practice here soon.”

Utah was the most recent to offer this week, but he thinks that West Virginia is close to joining the race for his commitment as well. Besides the more recently involved teams, Baldwin also said that TCU has really grabbed his attention as a program there is a lot of mutual interest with.

On TCU

“I would have to say TCU [was an exciting offer], because I had been talking to them for a while,” he said. “TCU came to my school like a month before everything and they were the first college to come by and talk to me. They told me that they had some other guys ahead of me on their recruiting list, so they were going to have to see how some things went before they offered.

“After I got that OU offer, I got the TCU offer though,” he added. “That opened my eyes and I’ve been building a relationship with them. I feel like the OU offer and my performance the week before at The Opening regional - especially with my shuttle time - got them to make the offer.”

On West Virginia

“I love the West Virginia program,” he said. “Karl Joseph; I don’t necessarily think I play like him, but that was one of the most exciting players that I liked to watch coming out of college. I talked to the receivers coach from West Virginia and I may be actually going both ways, that’s what I love to do.”

This is an exciting time for Baldwin, who is still figuring out where teams are falling into place with him as offers continue to come in. His intentions of playing offense as well in college may be a little ambitious, but he’s definitely shown to be a capable cornerback that is particularly strong jamming receivers at the line. He’s versatile player in the secondary and a ballhawk that’s going to have more offers come his way before he gets things narrowed down to finalists.