The NIL era of College Football recruiting has become the Wild West, as some elite recruits can now be bought if a program goes all-in. Every recruiting cycle there are crazy stories headlined by last cycles storyline when the 4th richest man in the world Larry Ellison helped the Michigan Wolverines land Bryce Underwood behind a massive NIL deal.
When Colleges were able to start paying their players and recruits, the program everyone looked at as a potential monster was Texas. The Longhorns have a wealthy booster pool to pull from which made it nearly impossible for other programs to compete with the offers they can make. While some programs shy away from the NIL topic, Texas has embraced it parking Lamborghinis on their field for recruiting visits.
The Lambos are Out in Austin 🤘🏎️
— Orangebloods.com (@orangebloods_) June 14, 2025
(Video Via @ElijahBobarnes1’s Instagram) pic.twitter.com/aIoUrc1qz4
While the Texas Longhorns can do what most programs can't they have a rival brewing in their own state in the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This offseason, Texas Tech leaned into the NIL world for the first time using their resources to bring in one of the best transfer portal classes in the Country. Everyone started to just wait for the Red Raiders to use their tactics on the traditional recruiting trail as it could shock other programs.
On the 4th of July, the Texas Longhorns got a taste of their own medicine as Texas Tech was able to go from outside of 5-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo's Top 4 to landing his commitment in the matter of days.
For Texas Tech, this is one of the biggest recruiting wins in the history of the program, and it only gets sweeter for the Red Raiders fanbase as Texas is the school they beat out. According to On3's Industry Recruiting Rankings, Felix Ojo is the 6th best player in the Country, the 3rd ranked offensive tackle in the class, and the top player out of Texas.
The Texas Longhorns were supposed to be that force that could simply outspend anyone in their path to land any recruit they truly wanted. Instead, Texas Tech pulls off a heist and Texas fans have to be wondering if this year could be the start of a trend. If Texas Tech is able to win this season behind their loaded transfer class, the Red Raiders could start to recruit like this on a yearly basis which would be alarming.