Texas HC Steve Sarkisian pays visit to five-star Florida commit

Texas Longhorns HC Steve Sarkisian Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Texas HC Steve Sarkisian pays in-person visit to five-star Florida commit

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 12/7/23

Steve Sarkisian has his Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff and like any good coach and recruiter, he's looking to capitalize on the momentum.

That's the open secret on the recruiting trail. Success on the field begets success with recruits, so it's no surprise to see Sarkisian parlaying Texas' 12-1 season and CFP berth into a visit with five-star Florida commitment Xavier Filsaime.

Filsaime, the consensus No. 2 safety in the 2024 class and No. 30 player overall, is from McKinney, Texas, and Sarkisian and safeties coach Blake Gideon visited him in his home.

Texas HC Steve Sarkisian and safeties coach Blake Gideon visited Florida 5-star safety commit Xavier Filsaime tonight

Filsaime is taking an official visit to Texas next weekendhttps://t.co/ueo4TnX0Ib pic.twitter.com/BPZqvE2hhO
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) December 8, 2023

That's not a picture you want to see if you're Florida head coach Billy Napier or a member of his recruiting staff. Not only did Filsaime visit with Sarkisian and Gideon, but he also threw up the "Hook 'em Horns" sign.

To top it all off, Filsaime is expected to take an official visit to Austin next weekend, so for all intents and purposes he seems like a rare five-star recruit who should be on flip alert.

The safety has been committed to Florida since April of 2023, but per On3, Texas has stayed in contact with him since that commitment and he's taken multiple unofficial visits to see the Longhorns this fall.

“I think things continue to trend a little bit towards Texas here. That official visit, as you know, makes two visits in a short amount of time, that’s not good news for Florida,” recruiting insider Gerry Hamilton recently said.

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