Texas Longhorns

Texas’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class suffered a blow on Monday when Demetrius Knox decided to decommit from the Longhorns.

The Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints offensive guard had been committed to Texas since November but took unofficial visits to Oklahoma and Ohio State this spring. All Saints teammate and Texas commit Daniel Gresham confirmed Knox’s decision.

The news of Knox’s decommitment is hardly a surprise considering how his recruitment has played out since that Nov. 26 pledge. Though Knox considered himself one of the leaders of the Longhorns’ 2014 class, the Columbus, Ohio, native had expressed interest in taking visits to out-of-state schools on multiple occasions this spring.

The biggest reason for Knox’s decision to pick Texas was the fact Gresham was also committed to the Longhorns. The two plan to play together in college, and at the time of his commitment last August, Texas was the only school to offer Gresham.

Knox, a 6-foot-4, 296-pound lineman, said in an interview a month ago that he was still solid with UT and had developed a great relationship with the coaching staff. Still, he knew the fan base was beginning to expect that he could back out of his pledge.

“Everybody feels threatened that they're going to have another big-name decommit,” Knox said at the time. “That's understandable. But if I was going to do it, I would've done it by now."

Before committing, Knox also considered Ohio State, TCU and Alabama. He's also shown some interest in visiting UCLA and other schools on the West and East Coast.

Despite Knox’s decision and the fact they’re a package deal, Gresham said he has not decommitted from Texas.

“With all due respect, I’m my own person,” he said. “Demetrius felt like it was the best choice for him.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- It was only a matter of time before 2014 center Terrell Cuney (Jasper, Texas/Jasper) became a Texas Longhorn.

That time came on Saturday.

Cuney, who had told HornsNation in the past that he wanted to visit a few schools before making his decision, decided the time was right to go ahead and pledge to the Longhorns.

In town for Texas’ spring game, Cuney let the coaches know in a visit in their office.

“It takes a lot of pressure off of me,” Cuney said. “I just felt like it was time, simple as that.”

Cuney chose the Longhorns over offers from TCU and Texas Tech but was receiving heavy interest from a host of schools, including Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, UCLA and Utah.

He joins Demetrius Knox (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints) as Texas’ offensive line commitments, and is the ninth overall commit in Texas' 2014 class.

“I went into their office and sat down with all the coaches,” he said. “It was just something I needed to do. I can’t wait.

“They were too happy. Everybody was just congratulating me. I told Coach [Mack] Brown, Coach [Stacy] Searels and Coach [Bo] Davis.”

The Longhorns loaded up on offensive linemen in 2013, adding one of the best units in the country. The Longhorns won't take many offensive linemen in their 2014 class. But a program can never have too many linemen, and the Longhorns got a good one on Saturday.

“They are getting somebody who is going to work, somebody who is going to do whatever it takes to make them better,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

Cuney is the second player to commit to Texas in the last 24 hours. Bryce English, a 2015 defensive tackle from DeSoto, Texas, committed on Friday.

The Longhorns have also offered several 2015 recruits in the past few days as they try and keep momentum on their side on the recruiting trail.

AUSTIN, Texas -- In the wake of five deommitments in the class of 2013, with one coming so close to signing day, Texas coach Mack Brown sent a with-us-or-against-us message to recruits.

He will also send the same message to the parents at Sunday's junior day.

"We're going to explain the rules to the families very carefully," Brown said. "I know that we're going to ask the families not to commit to us if there's any chance that they might want to go somewhere else and visit because we think it's not best for them, it's not best for us."

Those Texas recruiting rules, which were suspended for a few years, have also been explained to the coaching staff.

"What I've talked to our coaches about is you have to do a better job of making sure you trust the parents and that you don't talk one into coming," Brown said. "If he decides to come now, if you get a commitment, it better be because he's wanting to come, not because you recruited him and talked him into it."

That doesn’t mean there will not be exceptions.

"For me to sit here and say in every case it's going to happen while I'm coaching in the future, you lock me into it, you say, 'He lied,' I'm not going to do that," Brown said.

But, by and large, in the future, if a player is committed to Texas, the Longhorns staff will advise that player if he starts looking elsewhere, Texas will do the same.

"If you start looking, to me you're looking for something different than you've got," Brown said. "I'm going to look for something different than I've got."

Texas already has seven commitments for its junior class. Two of those, teammates Demetrius Knox and Daniel Gresham (Fort Worth, Texas/All Saints), attended other schools' junior days last weekend (Knox went to OU while Gresham went to Ole Miss). Both remain committed to Texas.

To further avoid situations, Brown has made more of an effort to be a part of the recruiting scene. He has already visited most of the high school programs where Texas has a 2014 prospect.

"I like to go to the school, see the coach." Brown said. "The other thing is that if you get a commitment, you'd like for the high school coach to help you keep it. We're going to make sure the high school coach buys into the commitment as well. I need to see those guys, shake their hand, tell them we're not backing out on kids."

That is as long as the recruit does not step out on Texas.