National Signing Day: Texas Locks In Its 2026 Core

By Lee Harbin – ATX Gameday Recruiting

Texas didn’t chase headlines today as much as it stacked answers.

On the first National Signing Day for the 2026 cycle, the Longhorns signed 23 high school prospects, with 22 of them set to enroll early and be on campus for spring ball. Only offensive lineman Nicholas Robertson is scheduled to arrive in the summer.

Depending on which service you check, Texas lands somewhere in the back half of the top 10 nationally: eighth in the 247Sports Composite with 24 commits and three five-stars, fourth in the SEC pecking order there, while Rivals/industry rankings have them hovering around No. 7–11 nationally.

It’s not the “supernova” No. 1 class of 2025, but in terms of roster building, it’s a balanced, high-floor group with legitimate headliners on both sides of the ball.

The Headliners: Bell, Atkinson, Bishop, Cooper

Texas built this class around four true tentpoles:

QB Dia Bell (Elite 11 MVP) – A five-star quarterback and Texas’ highest-ranked offensive signee. He won Elite 11 Finals MVP, is a top-four QB in the class, and projects as the hand-off from Arch Manning once Manning exits for the NFL.
LB Tyler Atkinson – A five-star from Georgia, the No. 2 linebacker in the country, and a Roquan Smith-type profile: instinctive, productive, and athletic enough to be the emotional center of a defense.
ATH Jermaine Bishop – A Travis Hunter-style two-way weapon from Willis who just put up a playoff line that looked like a video game: double-digit catches, 300+ yards, scores on offense, a game-sealing pick, and impact on special teams. Texas will start him at receiver, but his versatility is the value.
RB Derrek Cooper – A five-star running back with over 2,000 rushing yards and 30 TDs across his last two seasons, 8.6 yards per carry, and verified home-run ability. With the possibility of multiple veteran backs moving on, he’s a real candidate for early volume.

Add in EDGE Richard Wesley, a top-six edge nationally who reclassified from 2027 and flipped from Oregon, and you get something Texas has made a habit of under Sarkisian: blue-chip answers at quarterback, premium pass-rush, and explosive skill spots.

Class Snapshot: Numbers, Ratios, Geography

From what’s public across the major services and early-enrollee lists:

Total signees: 23
Early enrollees: 22 of 23
Five-stars: 3
Four-stars: 12
Three-stars/others: The remainder, mostly specialists, developmental linemen, and role players.

That’s a blue-chip ratio (4★/5★) in the 65–70% neighborhood, which is exactly where you want to live if you’re trying to stay in the Playoff picture every year.

Geographically, Texas leaned into:

Texas and the SEC footprint – Bishop (TX), multiple DBs and LBs from Texas and Louisiana, plus big bodies from Florida and Georgia.
National reach at premium spots – Bell from Florida, Wesley from California, and others from Colorado, Michigan, and North Carolina.

The pattern is familiar: stay anchored in-state and in the SEC footprint for volume, then go national at quarterback, edge, and top-end skill when it’s worth the flight.

Offense: QB Successor, Skill Reload, Quiet OL Work

Quarterback room:
Bell gives Texas its third straight cycle with an elite QB prospect (Ewers → Manning → Bell). With his late-career high school injuries, the expectation should be patience: a likely redshirt and a developmental year or two behind Manning and the current depth chart. That’s fine. This is how you avoid the cliff when a star QB leaves.

Running backs:
Cooper is the headline, but Texas also added Jett Walker, another 6-1, 210 back who will enroll early. With potential exits from the current room and at least one transfer already out, this is a numbers and talent play at once.

Wide receivers / ATHs:
Between Jermaine Bishop, Kohen Brown, and Chris Stewart, you’re looking at multiple early-enrollee receivers with size in the 6-0/6-1, 180–195 range and verified production. Bishop is the star; Brown and Stewart are the volume depth you need to keep the WR room from getting thin behind the established rotation.

Tight ends & specialists:

Charlie Jilek (TE) adds a move/H-back body to a room that will always be heavily used in this scheme.
Mikey Bukauskas (P) and Jake Collett (K), plus long snapper Trott O’Neal, mean Texas quietly handled the specialist pipeline as well. You don’t notice this on Signing Day, but you notice when it isn’t handled three years from now.

Offensive line:
It isn’t as “loud” as some recent cycles, but John Turntine III, Kaden Scherer, and Nicholas Robertson form the core of the OL haul. All are 6-4/6-5 and 270–300 pounds plus, and all but Robertson are early enrollees. This is more of a developmental group than a plug-and-play class, but that lines up with where the current OL room is on the depth chart: a lot of returning snaps, less immediate need.

Defense: Front Seven Star Power, Secondary Volume

Front seven:
Atkinson and Wesley are the obvious headliners. Together, they address the two things every modern defense needs:

An inside linebacker with real coverage ability and “soul of the defense” traits.
An edge with frame and burst who can live on the field in passing downs without getting run off the field in the run game.

Behind them:

Rocky Cummings (LB) and Kosi Okpala (LB) bring more length and range to the second level.
James Johnson (DL) is a 6-3, 279-pound interior presence who fits the “heavy but not stiff” profile Texas has been targeting inside.

Texas did take some hits here: four-star DTs Vodney Cleveland and Corey Wells flipped to North Carolina and Auburn, respectively. That’s a miss in pure interior star power and will likely get addressed through the portal.

Secondary:
The defensive back haul is built on volume and versatility:

Samari Matthews – A four-star corner from North Carolina, labeled as “most underrated” by at least one outlet and projected as an early contributor given how often Texas has relied on young DBs recently.
Toray Davis, Hayward Howard Jr., and Yaheim Riley – Safety/corner hybrids with varying frames and movement skills who all enroll early. Davis is the No. 1 player in Colorado; Riley is a local flip with multi-sport athleticism.

The pattern here is clear: they’re stocking up on DBs who can cover, tackle, and move around. With how much nickel and dime Texas plays, this is roster math, not luxury.

Early Enrollee Edge

The biggest structural win of the day is simple: 22 of 23 signees will be in Austin for spring ball.

That matters for three reasons:

Strength & nutrition: They get a full cycle with the college strength staff before ever taking a snap that counts.
Scheme fluency: Spring install is where freshmen either keep up or get buried for a year.
Portal insurance: The more of these guys you have in the building early, the better you can project who’s ready and where you still need to shop in the portal.

This is exactly how you marry high school recruiting with portal strategy rather than letting them fight each other.

What’s Left: Portal and February

Despite the solid top-10 haul, Texas will still have work to do:

Interior defensive line: Losing Cleveland and Wells creates a gap in long-term, high-end interior talent. Expect at least one impact portal DL target.
Experienced defensive back: Even with all the DBs signed, a proven veteran corner or safety from the portal makes sense, especially if anyone leaves late.
Offensive tackle depth: If a multi-year starter hits the portal, Texas will likely look for a one- or two-year stopgap at tackle rather than forcing a true freshman into the fire.

Early national coverage has already framed Texas’ post-signing-day focus squarely around portal needs, which matches the roster math: the high school side is largely done; the 2026 two-deep will be finalized via transfers.

Bottom Line

For today, the takeaway is straightforward:

Texas landed a true franchise quarterback prospect.
Added a five-star linebacker and a top-end edge to keep the defense from sliding.
Secured a multi-tool offensive weapon in Bishop and a potentially day-one back in Cooper.
Built real depth at DB, LB, and WR.
And got almost all of them on campus early.

It’s not the flashiest class on paper compared to last year’s No. 1 overall, and the misses at interior defensive line are real. But in terms of structure, this is the kind of class that keeps Texas’ long-term roster curve pointing the right direction.

The star power at the top is good. The early-enrollee rate is elite. The rest will come down to portal execution and development.

For a staff that’s already shown it can hit on both, today’s numbers are exactly what you wanted to see.