Jaden Hullaby commits to Texas over Arkansas, LSU and TCU

Three-star Bishop Dunne (Texas) athlete Jaden Hullaby gave commitment to Texas on Saturday evening after a visit back to The Forty Acres. The verbal pact comes in the aftermath of an unofficial visit on Saturday, the second visit of March for the Dallas area product and just three weeks away from procuring the offer from the Longhorns.

Hullaby’s pledge is the fifth from Texas -- all of which are from the home state. Coach Tom Herman now has five offensive commitments in his 2020 recruiting class as the Longhorns begin to take their first steps toward an offensive blueprint of the future.

The Longhorns offered Hullaby on March 11 -- as an offensive athlete. On tape, Hullaby plays primarily running back for Bishop Dunne High School. He’s a three-star prospect who can remain on the field for three downs at a time -- as a pass-catcher and, of course, a runner out of the backfield.

Hullaby has great size for the position (6-foot-1, 210 pounds). He hits the hole hard with power. He can push the pile, runs downhill and can run over a defender en route to the end zone. Additionally, Hullaby can catch balls as a safety valve for his quarterback. He’s a solid route-runner and a reliable option in the passing game.

Furthermore, Hullaby’s commitment is a first for Bishop Dunne in some time. There’s a state-wide narrative that the Longhorns struggle recruiting the Dallas area, and Hullaby is a strong first step at tearing down that narrative. There are ample blue-chip recruits at his high school and Hullaby’s brother, Landon Hullaby, is in line to be a top recruit in the Class of 2022. Without question, Herman is proving he can effectively recruit North Texas, too.

Hullaby has been a top running back on Arkansas’ board for a good amount of time. The Hogs have yet to land a commitment at the running back position in this recruiting cycle and now whiffed on one of its top targets who displayed interest via visits in months prior. Coach Chad Morris loves to recruit the Lone Star State, especially the Dallas area, and still remains in the mix for several other running backs like four-star Seth McGowan or three-stars Ty Jordan, Stacy Sneed, Devon Achane, Kelvontay Dixon, Jay’Veon Sunday, Frank Brown and Kelvontay Dixon, among others.

The same goes for LSU, which offered Hullaby around the same point in time as Texas did. LSU, like the Longhorns, got the three-star athlete on campus and tried to lure him to join the 2020 class. The Tigers signed two nationally ranked tailbacks in December -- John Emery and Tyrion Davis -- and is now working hard to continue to pad its backfield depth with a strong 2020 haul. LSU will likely shift its focus to in-state targets like Rivals100 back Ashaad Clayton and other elite options such as Zach Evans.

TCU was able to get Hullaby on campus early on this spring before his offer sheet started to balloon. The Horned Frogs were in a strong position for the local standout, but other offers that carries more weight certainly drew his attention away. TCU has yet to settle on a running back in its 2020 recruiting class. The Horned Frogs have offers out to in-state backs like Dixon, Achane, McGowan and Tahj Brooks (Tulsa commitment) and Myles Price (three-star). The pressure mounts on Gary Patterson to land one of them with Hullaby officially off the board.