Bellaire Episcopal five star offensive tackle Walker Little is in my opinion the best offensive tackle in the country. Every school in the country wanted to get their foot in the door for the 6’8, 305 pound tackle, but it came down to two schools for the blue chip recruit. After a tightly contested race between the home state Texas Longhorns and the Stanford Cardinal, Little has elected to head West and play his football for David Shaw.
For some time it was known that this battle would come down to the Longhorns and the Cardinal, with others like Ole Miss a distant third option. Little and his family played things very close to the vest throughout the process and made their way to each campus several times as they thoroughly vetted each school both athletically and academically. Though Texas always had the proximity aspect in their favor and despite Little and his family making frequent trips up the road to Austin, the Longhorns were unable to secure his commitment down the home stretch.
The Longhorns were the first program to offer Little a scholarship and have been recruiting him as long as anybody, but one thing to keep in mind is that the stability of the coaching staff has been a constant topic of discussion and Texas is on its third offensive line coach since an offer was extended to Little.
Meanwhile with Stanford, Shaw and his staff are well dug in Palo Alto and their offensive line coach has recruited and developed several award winners and NFL draft picks since arriving in 2011. With Charlie Strong and his staff being removed after the season concluded, this became an even bigger selling point despite Tom Herman and his staff being hired relatively quickly.
All things considered, this one will sting quite a bit for Texas and their new staff. Landing Little would have made a strong statement for new head coach Tom Herman and would have kick started some momentum heading into the home stretch of the recruiting cycle. While Texas went heavy on the offensive line in 2016, Little had the ability to come in a contribute opposite of Connor Williams early on and eventually move over to the left side when Williams decided to leave for the NFL.
For the Cardinal, they pluck arguably the best prospect from the state of Texas and get an absolute stud that will no doubt fit right in with what the Cardinal do both on and off the field. Stanford is also in the running for five star offensive tackle Foster Sarell, and the idea of Stanford landing both book end tackles has to be frightening for Pac-12 opponents.
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