Texas went 0-2 against Georgia on the football field in its first season as an SEC program, but the Longhorns are proving a worthy challenger on the recruiting trail by scoring a pair of Top 100 commitments directly under Kirby Smart’s nose on Tuesday afternoon while Steve Sarkisian and three of his players, including Arch Manning, were at media days in Atlanta. 

Five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson, a national top 10 player from Grayson, Ga., pledged to the Horns over the Bulldogs on Pat McAfee’s show on ESPN. The 6-2, 210-pound Atkinson is the top-ranked linebacker in the class and the ninth-best player in the 2026 cycle, per the 247Sports Composite ranking.  His 50 reported offers a are a who’s who of college football. On paper, he’s the predecessor to Anthony Hill Jr. 

Texas then flipped four-star defensive tackle James Johnson, who committed to Georgia back in June. Johnson is ranked 69th overall in the 2026 class and is a top 10 player from Florida, per the 247Sports Composite. He’s listed at 6-foot-2.5 and 285 pounds and held offers from 43 schools across the country. 

The two commitments propelled Texas’ 2026 recruiting class to sixth nationally. Of the 20 pledges, three are composite five stars and eight rank inside the national top 100. Ten of the 20 play high school football in Texas. Sarkisian landed the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation last year.