The Red River Shootout has extended from the playing field to a quasi extension of the recruiting trail.
This past February, Du’Vonta Lampkin became a member of Texas’ 2015 recruiting class by signing his National Letter of Intent with the football program. However, an academic situation involving a non-English language requirement will lead the defensive lineman to seek out another college option.
From the Cypress Creek Mirror:Texas has a foreign language requirement Lampkin hasn’t met - in this case Spanish - that other schools don’t have.
Lampkin said he would’ve had the chance to fully meet that requirement in summer school and then enroll in August. However, citing previous experience, Lampkin said he didn’t want to risk failing to meet the requirement in the summer and subsequently have to enroll at a junior college.
“If I take that summer school class now for Spanish and it doesn’t go well, then I end up in a junior college,” he said. “That’s not the route I really want to take.”
Lampkin himself took to Twitter to apologize to Longhorn fans as well as stress that he had the grades to make the cut at UT were it not for the foreign language requirement.
Thank you Longhorn nation pic.twitter.com/QcGEPjye85
— 8️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ (@DeeChilllin) May 30, 2015
Just to say i have a qualifying GPA and a 1520 SAT score! Grades wasnt the issue.
— 8️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ (@DeeChilllin) May 30, 2015
The best part of the whole situation? Lampkin’s preferred landing spot.
“If anything, I may land at Oklahoma,” Lampkin told his hometown paper. “I’m very comfortable with their coaching staff. So, as soon as everything dials down, I’m going to contact [OU head coach Bob] Stoops and see if they have any scholarships available for me.”
Lampkin hopes to know within a week or so if OU is a possibility.
A three-star member of UT’s most recent recruiting class, Lampkin was rated as the No. 23 defensive tackle in the nation. He was also rated as the No. 48 player at any position in the state of Texas.
In addition to UT and OU, Lampkin had offers from, among others, Arizona State, Baylor, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and TCU.
Because Lampkin did not attend classes at UT, there’s a very good chance that, regardless of where he ends up, he’d be eligible to play immediately in 2015. The Mirror also wrote that “since Lampkin did sign a Letter of Intent to Texas, there may be some process with the NCAA in order to be released from that letter and join another program.”
(Photo credit: Rivals.com)