Texas lands 2026 commitment from elite DB, top-60 overall prospect
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Texas just made a big pickup for its 2026 recruiting class.
Samari Matthews is the newest verbal pledge for the Longhorns. The blue-chip defensive back, a top-60 prospect, announced his commitment on Friday.
Out of Cornelius (North Carolina) Hough High School, Matthew is listed as measuring over 6-feet and 190 pounds. On the 247Sports Composite, Matthews is rated 4-stars, the No. 5 player in the state of North Carolina, No. 6 cornerback and No. 57 prospect overall in the Class of 2026.
Matthews drew interest from Power 4 conference programs coast to coast. During his recruitment, Matthews picked up scholarship offers from 45 programs, including Alabama, Clemson, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Louisville, Georgia, North Carolina, LSU, NC State, Mizzou, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, USC, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
For Friday’s big decision, Matthews narrowed things down to Texas, Miami, South Carolina and Florida State.
Samari Matthews is a Longhorn https://t.co/4nOs1DCmfR pic.twitter.com/9by22YA0H3
— Nick Carboni (@NickCarboniWCNC) July 11, 2025
With Matthews on board, Steve Sarkisian‘s staff has Texas sitting at 18 verbal commitments in the 2026 recruiting class, which ranks No. 9 nationally on the Composite. Longhorn fans can get a preview of what Matthews brings to Austin by checking out his junior-season highlights in the Hudl clip below:
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
