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DeSoto wide receive Johntay Cook sat surrounded by his family and teammates as he signed his National Letter of Intent — officially making him a Texas Longhorn.
The Dallas area’s top wide receiver has known for a while what his future holds after committing back in June.
But as his coaches sang his praises, and he inked his commitment, Cook saw his childhood dream becoming a reality.
“It’s every little kid’s dream,” he said.
For Cook, his DeSoto teammate Tre Wisner and South Oak Cliff’s Malik Muhammad and Billy Walton, less than a week ago, they were on high school football’s biggest stage claiming state titles. In two weeks from now, some of them will be starting over and enrolling early at Texas to begin the next chapter of their careers.
For some of the state’s top college programs, a Dallas wave is coming. Texas and TCU, especially, cleaned up in recruiting and signing the area’s top recruits this year, as the state’s top talent chose to stay local.
Of the 87 committed players of the area’s top 100 recruits, 40 are staying in Texas between 10 different schools, and 47 are headed out of state to 29 different programs. Texas claimed the most commits at nine with TCU at a close second with eight.
Texas also signed four of the area’s top 10 recruits on Wednesday — Denton Ryan linebacker Anthony Hill (No. 1), Cook (No. 4), Muhammad (No. 6) and North Crowley linebacker S’Maje Burrell (No. 10).
It also signed three top-50 area offensive linemen, Walton and Wisner.
Cook, one of the biggest advocates for other local players to join him at Texas this season, said the reasons Texas boasts the No. 4 recruiting class in the nation, per 247sports, are obvious.
“It was definitely Steve Sarkisian and the coaching staff,” Cook said. “And obviously, Arch Manning, he’s going to attract a lot of good guys just with his name.”
But the less obvious reason for his excitement stems back to a camp he and a number of the top recruits attended two summers ago where he met many of his future teammates.
“It’s a brotherhood we really started building,” Cook said.
That community feel is what drew North Mesquite wide receiver Cordale Russell (No. 13) to TCU — not once, but twice.
Russell’s first of three commitments was to SMU back in August of 2021. But after Sonny Dykes and his staff left, Russell jumped ship with them and pledged to TCU in November of last year. In that time, he developed a strong relationship with running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples, who announced he was leaving ahead of the 2022 season to join the Los Angeles Rams.
“I took a step back, so I decommitted and went on some visits,” Russell said. “Tech was in there, Baylor was in there, Ole Miss was in there.”
But eventually, Russell found his way back to TCU in May for a second time.
“I was looking at it, and nothing really was making me feel at home except for TCU, so I knew TCU was my home,” he said.
While Russell made his decision ahead of the 2022 season, he believes TCU’s success and run to the College Football Playoff was instrumental in recruiting the nation’s No. 17 class. It added Garland Naaman Forrest defensive lineman Markis Deal (No. 9) and Red Oak safety Warren Roberson (No. 14) as the other top 20 recruits from the area, in addition to five other top-50 area commits.
But Russell was searching for much more than a place he could play, succeed and that could propel him to the NFL.
“They made me feel wanted. You know what’s fake love and real love,” he said. “It’s everything I need, and everything my family needs. This is the best for us, not just for me.”
His family was a priority because Russell knew he wanted them to be able to watch all of his games, so TCU was the perfect fit for that.
It’s a perspective shared by many of the area’s top recruits.
“Why not do it for my own state?” Cook said.
The state’s top college coaches like Sarkisian and Dykes had the same idea. So while some may be leaving the Metroplex to head downstate, many of these Dallas area’s stars are just getting started.
“I feel like we’re just a different breed,” Russell said. “We’re built different.”
On Twitter: @Lassimak
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