What a finish for the Longhorns after Texas landed a big commitment from 5-star defensive tackle Justus Terry. Terry, the highest-ranked player in the Texas class, explains his decision to commit to Texas.

When the decision was made and how it turned out:

I sort of wrapped it up this week by thinking and praying really hard about my decision. I really didn’t want to focus on it too much because I’m trying to make a state championship run with the boys. … I really didn’t want to worry too much, but this week I decided to just take two days to clear my head and talk to God. When I made my decision, I felt good about it, fell asleep on it, woke up and was ready. That’s why I made my decision today.

About Chris Gilbert and Kenny Baker:

Coach Gilbert, he has a motor. It never stops no matter what happens. You can’t answer the phone and he’ll still call. No conditions. He just wants the best, wants me to be the best I can be. Coach Baker, a good coach, great coach. When it comes to technique, he wants you to have the best technique, hitting, coming off the ball and things like that. He pays attention to small details. He sends me quotes every day about having a good work ethic and waking up with a positive attitude, and I just absorb those things. I love it when coaches want to see me be the best version of myself.

On what he saw on his official visit to Texas:

It was the connections. Being from Georgia, I always felt like I was in the box. Now I just wanted to step outside the box and expand my life, meet new people, socialize and do whatever God leads me to do. Just walk the path, take it step by step.

How it feels to get this out of the way:

It feels good. I’m ready to get to work, work with the guys, get a championship back and not worry about anything anymore.

The advice he would give to younger players going through the recruiting process is:

Really surround yourself with positive people because that’s really important. I really believe that you are who you hang out with. When you’re around negative people, you kind of take on characteristics of negative people. Surround yourself with positive people, wake up with a positive attitude, pray, work towards your goal every day and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, that you won’t do it. No matter what shape you’re in, just train and get ready. Life will strike, you want to attack it. Never let life attack you, you want to attack life and just be the attacker.

If he would have told the coaches before his announcement today:

It’s a surprise. I kind of kept everything closed this week. I wanted to take the stress away and tried to talk to a lot of trainers every day. I wanted to take that stress away, so I just turned it off all week, which made it a big surprise for everyone.