2027 four-star LB Taven Epps commits to Texas

The elite linebacker prospect is the first pledge in the 2027 class for the Longhorns.

In the wake of several important visit weekends prior to the summer official visit season for the 2026 recruiting class, the Texas Longhorns picked up their first pledge in the 2027 class with Sunday’s commitment by Tustin (Calif.) linebacker Taven Epps.

The 6’4.5, 225-pounder started to trend towards the Longhorns after taking an unofficial visit to the Forty Acres in late March following another visit last fall for the SEC opener against Mississippi State. Epps chose Texas over more than 30 other offers, including Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, and Washington.

There’s still a long way to go in the recruitment of Epps and Texas doesn’t typically push for pledges at this point in a cycle, but he’s such an elite prospect that the staff was surely happy to accept the commitment of Epps, who is a consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 52 player nationally and the No. 2 linebacker, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Epps has an extremely intriguing athletic profile because he has experience playing basketball and keeps moving closer to the line of scrimmage as a high school football player, moving from safety as a freshman to linebacker as a sophomore with a frame that could eventually allow him to play off the edge. He’s already a physical downhill presence heading into his junior season with some real flashes of violence to his game. Wherever Epps ends up playing on the field, his versatility, physicality, and athleticism should remain big-time assets.