Ohio State landed one of the top wide receivers and best overall prospects in the country over the weekend when Garrett Wilson announced his commitment to the Buckeyes. Being that Wilson is from Austin, Texas, it is no surprise that the Texas Longhorns were also in the running. So why did he choose to leave the state?
Wilson, who actually grew up in Columbus, said on Twitter that he is “coming home.” However, he gave another reason for not choosing Texas when speaking with Nick Krueger of Rivals.com, and Longhorns fans might take offense to it.
woo buddy that second paragraph pic.twitter.com/Z00MYQGJ6T
— stringsays (@stringsays_) April 30, 2018
There was once a time when it would have been unheard of for Texas to miss out on a top recruit from Austin, but a lot has changed since Mack Brown took the team to the national title game in 2009. While Tom Herman led the Longhorns to a 7-6 record and a bowl win in his first year least year, there is still a long way to go.
“I feel like just looking out for my future that Ohio State was the right choice for me,” Wilson said. “They put receivers in the [NFL] every year regardless of their stats – obviously I want to catch passes – but I feel like they are doing that now with the quarterbacks that they got. The chance to compete for national championships is also appealing to me, and being from there, growing up there and watching all the legends that were there from years ago was something that I couldn’t forget about.”
Herman is hoping to change the perception Wilson and others have about Texas. Some unpopular comments the coach made last year probably won’t help, but ultimately winning is what is going to solve the issues in Austin.
