ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – When the highly-anticipated college decision of Fort Worth Dunbar five-star receiver Darius White finally came down, it ended as some had predicted it would months ago. The road was long and winding to get to a final decision, but White has decided to spend his college days in Austin as a Texas Longhorn.

White said on Thursday in one final interview with Inside Texas that he would make a decision based on where his heart told him he should go.

White’s heart is now leading him to Austin for the next four years.

The nation’s top-rated wide receiver prospect and the No.9-ranked prospect in the ESPNU 150 announced his commitment to Texas Saturday afternoon during the Under Armour All-American Game at Tropicana Field before a nationwide television audience on ESPN. White is the 22nd commitment in the Horns' 2010 recruiting class that is shaping up to be one of Mack Brown’s best.

White's decision to attend Texas ended a recruitment that featured many twists and turns but in the end, many felt he was making a choice between two Big 12 South schools – Texas and Oklahoma State.

The Longhorns, White's early favorite, won the commitment of the No. 5-ranked prospect in the Inside Texas 2010 Top 100, and won a huge recruiting battle in the process.

Getting White’s commitment not only gives the Horns a verbal pledge from the highest rated offensive prospect in the state (according to ESPN) but it keeps the most physically imposing receiver in Texas home for college and away from the rival Big 12 schools that were after his services.

It also could help Texas in the battle for the top spot in the ESPN team recruiting rankings. Texas trailed Florida due in large part to the Gators two five-star commitments, but the verbal pledge of White gives Texas its own five-star prospect to add to a class that within the last three months has added a ton of playmaking ability on offense to go along with a defensive class that might be Brown’s best group ever. The Horns are also still alive with five-star prospects Jordan Hicks (see link below) and Jackson Jeffcoat.

The Longhorns had been in the picture for White long before presenting an offer to him during last February’s first Junior Day and by March the buzz was that White was all but a lock to eventually commit to Texas. Following a trip to the Texas spring football game things between White and Texas seemed to cool down and shortly after making a camp visit in June word got out that White wasn’t as high on Texas as previously suspected.

Fort Worth Dunbar head coach Todd Lawson maintained that White had not soured on Texas and that White and his family were leaving no stones unturned in the process and were going to check out all of the available options for the 6-foot-3, 200-pound pass catcher and Texas would still be in the mix.

As White’s senior season drew closer to starting Oklahoma seemed to be the school atop White’s list of favorites thanks in part to his Dunbar teammate and close friend Rashod Favors verbally committing to the Sooners. Like the previous situation with Texas, many then thought White was a lock to commit to the Oklahoma.

An Oklahoma verbal pledge never materialized and as White’s senior season on the gridiron played out it was evident that Texas wasn’t going to give up. During a district ball game against Fort Worth Arlington Heights four Texas assistant coaches (Major Applewhite, Bruce Chambers, Oscar Giles and Bobby Kennedy) were in the house to see White play, further showing just how highly the Longhorns coveted his skills.

Texas picked up a verbal commitment from Tulsa (Okla.) Central standout athlete DeMarco Cobbs in October and just when it looked like the plug would be pulled on White potentially committing to the Longhorns, White flipped the script and announced that he would make an official visit to Austin for Texas’ 2009 home finale against Kansas.

As time marched on following White’s official visit Texas picked up another commitment from a speed athlete – Dallas Skyline four-star receiver Mike Davis. In the meantime things between White and Oklahoma cooled to the point where White never took an official visit to Norman and instead opted to visit Oklahoma State for his third and final official visit.

Which then brought his recruitment to this week and White’s week in Florida for the Under Armour Game was one where he got closer to the six Texas commits playing in the game. On Tuesday, the day players started arriving in Orlando, White had dinner with Longhorn commits Davis, Aaron Benson, Ashton Dorsey and Adrian White.

Throughout the week White palled around with the future Longhorns, particularly Davis and Adrian White as the three prospects were involved in going against each other in the one-on-one drills and in 7-on-7’s during practice.

Now with his decision to sign with Texas next month, White will have much more time to get acquainted with his new teammates.

Texas Commits Come Out on Top, Bringing One More Home

By Jeff Howe, Inside Texas Recruiting Analyst
Posted Jan 2, 2010
Copyright © 2010 InsideTexas.com

The Texas commits -- which now includes Darius White -- celebrate the All-American game win (Jeff Howe/Inside Texas)