After signing 23 players in the 2026 recruiting class during Early Signing Day on Wednesday, the Texas Longhorns are remaining busy in the 2027 cycle as well.
Per reports from On3’s Hayes Fawcett, three-star safety Karnell “Greedy” James has committed to Texas, choosing the Longhorns over Texas A&M, TCU and Arizona State among others.
A product of Manvel (Texas), James also received offers from Florida, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston, Missouri, Vanderbilt, SMU, Oregon State, Minnesota, Iowa and many more. He attended Texas’ camp in Austin this past June.
Texas Lands Second Commit in 2027 Class
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian reacts with defensive linemen Colin Simmons after beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs in overtime at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
The news of James’ commitment comes just a few days after the Longhorns landed a massive commitment from 2027 five-star wide receiver Easton Royal, who announced his pledge to Texas after the team’s 27-17 win over Texas A&M in the regular-season finale.
The Longhorns previously held a commitment from four-star linebacker Taven Epps, but he reopened his recruitment on Nov. 9.
As for James, he posted 31 tackles, (five for loss), one fumble recovery, seven pass breakups and one interception last season as a sophomore.
While meeting with the media during Early Signing Day, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian talked about finding the right fit with it comes to recruiting, emphasizing that the player needs to match a desired physicality but also have the right character.
“But again, do they fit us? Do they fit us physically in the style in which we want to play?” Sarkisian said. “Do they fit us culturally from a character standpoint? And that’s the homework that we need to do to get that done. And so the transfer portal is great, and like I said, it fills needs for us. But at the end of the day, when you really look at us year in and year out, the bulk of what we do is in high school recruiting.
“Going into this year, we were one of the younger football teams in the country,” he continued. “We knew that going into the season, we knew there was going to be growing pains. And going into next year, I think we’re going to reap the benefits of that. We had a lot of young players, first and second-year players play for us this year that are going to be a lot better players next year. So we’re going to grow up again, and we’ll become a veteran football team again.”