Texas Longhorns Miss Out on Major In-State Prospect to Georgia Bulldogs

Following his official visits this month, North Shore native Chace Calicut did not wait long to make his decision on where he'll be playing college football next season. And while he is a native of the Lone Star State, he will not be playing for the Texas Longhorns.

The four-star safety, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, announced his commitment to the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, per On3's Hayes Fawcett. Calicut chose the Bulldogs over the Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines, even though he didn't earn an offer from Georgia until this past April.

Yet, even with the offer coming very late in his recruitment process, head coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs did enough to pull the four-star prospect out of Texas.

Texas Longhorns Miss Out on In-State Four-Star

Calicut is ranked as No. 126 overall player, the No. 22 player in Texas, and the No. 10 safety in the 2026 class, according to On3's. He holds offers from numerous high-profile Power Four programs, including Oregon, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Alabama.

"Pushing 6-foot-3, 190 pounds as a back-seven defender who has been projected to a variety of roles. Four-word summary: Huge and functionally athletic, ..." 247Sports' Gabe Brooks writes of Calicut in his scouting report. "Projects to the high-major level as a possible back-seven chameleon whose specific positional home is TBD at this stage. Owns the traits to become an eventual impact defender with NFL Draft potential."

While the 6-3, 190-pounder is listed as a safety throughout the recruiting services, Georgia had a different view of him as a prospect. Georgia's pitch to the North Shore product was for him to make the transition to cornerback in Athens, instead of safety.

That pitch differed from Texas and Michigan, who were very much recruiting Calicut to play safety in college.

While losing out on Calicut certainly stings, especially given that he was a highly ranked in-state prospect, the Longhorns already have two commits in the class at his position. Jake Collett and Yaheim Riley are already pledged to the class. Meanwhile, Hayward Howard Jr. is the only cornerback currently in the class.

Losing out on Calicut doesn't take away from a strong month Texas has had on the recruiting trail. Amid all of the prospects they hosted on official visits, they landed seven commits.

Texas will kick off the 2025 regular season on the road against the defending national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, on Aug. 30.