{"id":729120,"date":"2026-06-27T11:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729120\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:40:16","slug":"texas-took-the-lead-early-and-never-looked-back-4-star-safety-junior-tuupo-is-a-longhorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729120\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas took the lead early, and never looked back: 4-star safety Junior Tu’upo is a Longhorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Sarkisian<\/a> and Texas<\/a> continue to stack talent in the 2027 class.<\/p>\n

Four-star safety Junior Tu\u2019upo<\/a>, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound standout from Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson<\/a>, announced his commitment to the Longhorns over Alabama<\/a>, Auburn<\/a> and Oregon<\/a>, giving Texas its 18th pledge of the cycle.<\/p>\n

Ranked as the No. 22 safety<\/a> and No. 254 overall prospect in the Rivals Industry Ranking<\/a>, Tu\u2019upo held close to 30 scholarship offers before ending his recruitment in favor of the Longhorns.<\/p>\n

Although Alabama, Auburn and Oregon remained in the race until the end, Texas took control after Tu\u2019upo\u2019s first visit to Austin during the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t really expecting much from Texas, at first,\u201d Tu\u2019upo told Rivals. \u201cWe were just going to see it, but they definitely surprised us. Coach Blake Gideon<\/a> surprised us.\u201d<\/p>\n

[ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ]<\/a><\/p>\n

From that point forward, Texas never let go of its lead.<\/p>\n

The biggest reason behind Tu\u2019upo\u2019s decision was his relationship with safeties coach Blake Gideon, who handled his recruitment from the very beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach BG was the biggest part of it,\u201d Tu\u2019upo said. \u201cHe\u2019s always been upfront and honest with me about how he felt, how he planned to use me and what he thinks I can develop into. I really trust his word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gideon\u2019s investment extended beyond football. He visited Tu\u2019upo multiple times during the spring and built a strong relationship with the entire family.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got close with my father and my family and got to know us outside of football,\u201d Tu\u2019upo said. \u201cBG put in a lot of effort coming all the way from Texas, and that really showed how much he cared and wanted me there. What he is about, who he is as a person, was just as impressive as the type of coach he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

More coaches at Texas made an impact Tu\u2019upo\u2019s decision<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp<\/a> and head coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a> were also major factors in his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Coach Muschamp is one of the best defensive coordinators in the game,\u201d he said. \u201cI also built a great relationship with Coach Sarkeesian. Overall, everybody on that staff \u2014 from the assistants to the recruiting staff \u2014 we built great relationships with all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first spring trip to Austin ultimately changed the trajectory of his recruitment.<\/p>\n

After arriving with modest expectations, Tu\u2019upo left convinced Texas could be home and gave every other contender a chance to catch up. None of them could.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re building something great down there in Texas,\u201d Tu\u2019upo said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason why I chose them. The staff is strong, they have great coaches, and Coach Sark has the program competing for championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the Alabama standout heads to Austin as commitment No. 18<\/a> in a class that continues to reinforce Texas\u2019 status as one of the nation\u2019s recruiting powers under Sarkisian.<\/p>\n

Like this story2Share article<\/p>\n

Members only \u00b7 one like per member<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Sarkisian and Texas continue to stack talent in the 2027 class. Four-star safety Junior Tu\u2019upo, a 6-foot-2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[4650,399,308693,398,396,397,99,170813],"class_list":["post-729120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-al","tag-football","tag-junior-tuupo-27-thompson","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-thompson-warriors-alabaster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}