{"id":345057,"date":"2026-06-21T22:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345057\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T22:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:02:22","slug":"lsu-flips-key-2027-offensive-recruit-away-from-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345057\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU Flips Key 2027 Offensive Recruit Away From Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Houston football has been excellent in the recruiting department since head coach Willie Fritz took over in 2024, but the Cougars have now lost two top offensive recruits in less than a week.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">First, 3-star wide receiver Braylon Lane flipped his commitment to the Iowa State Cyclones because he said it was an overall better fit for him.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">Now, news broke that 2027 3-star receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hayesfawcett3\/status\/2068799226616721851?s=46&amp;t=9hieG0yK_8WRKC_wLkuklA\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Gary Burney Jr.<\/a> flipped his commitment to the LSU Tigers, leaving Houston short-handed offensively in the class.<\/p>\n<p>How Gary Burney Jr.\u2019s Departure Affects Houston<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kvp0v5ywajy9kdg92k.jpg\" alt=\"Willie Frit\" title=\"Willie Frit\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6a\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 25, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Houston Cougars head coach Willie Fritz against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">The Cougars are coming off their highest-rated recruiting class in program history in 2026, and that momentum has started to carry over this year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Houston held a top-5 2027 class earlier this week; however, after two commitment flips the Cougars are now without two talented receivers going forward.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">Burney is a talented 3-star wide receiver from Parkway High School in Bossier City, La, and he was Houston\u2019s top wide receiver commit in the class.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">He stands at 6-foot-3, and he projects as a matchup problem for opposing corners at the collegiate level because of his athleticism and size.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">Burney gained a lot of attention from scouts after a breakout junior season, where he caught 76 passes for 1,367 yards and 15 touchdowns, averaging just under 18 yards per reception.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">He was also a standout in track, where he ran a 22.72 200-meter dash along with qualifying for regionals in the 4&#215;100-meter relay.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">Burney had the potential to be Houston\u2019s wide receiver of the future; however, LSU had the major advantage in this recruitment, being so close to home.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The top target also made it clear that the Tigers were where his heart was when he announced his commitment flip.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">\u201cI knew this [LSU] was home since I was a child,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hayesfawcett3\/status\/2068799226616721851?s=46&amp;t=9hieG0yK_8WRKC_wLkuklA\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Burney told recruiting insider Hayes Fawcett<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">While this is a major blow to he Cougars, Houston still has plenty of time to recruit for the future.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">UH still holds commitments from 3-star receivers Mo Poko and Marcus Watson Jr., who are both off to a solid start offensively in the class.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">Without Burney and Lane in the program anymore, expect Fritz and staff to get very aggressive in bringing in at least one more standout receiver to add to the 2027 class.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">Fritz has proven that he can field a team that can compete at the top of the Big 12 Conference, and Houston fans can expect the same result while he is still the head coach for the Cougars.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston football has been excellent in the recruiting department since head coach Willie Fritz took over in 2024,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-345057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}