Texas lands No. 1 safety in 2026 recruiting class

Days after routing Michigan and climbing to No. 2 in the AP poll, Texas continued its run of late-summer recruiting momentum Thursday afternoon as the Longhorns landed a commitment from four-star safety Zelus Hicks, ESPN’s No. 1 safety in the class of 2026.

Hicks, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound defensive back from Georgia’s Carrollton High School, is the No. 19 prospect in the ESPN Junior 300. He is Texas’ third ESPN 300 pledge in the 2026 cycle, joining No. 2 pocket passer Dia Bell and four-star wide receiver Chris Stewart. Hicks held nearly 40 Division I offers and picked the Longhorns over Georgia, Ohio State and USC.

Hicks’ commitment comes as Texas holds its highest ranking in the AP poll since 2009 and arrives as the latest recruiting victory for Steve Sarkisian & Co. in recent weeks.

The Longhorns recorded a scorching month of August in the 2025 class, landing pledges from five-star defender Jonah Williams (No. 8 in the ESPN 300), top wide receivers Jaime Ffrench (No. 17) and Kaliq Lockett (No. 23) and four-star offensive tackle Nicolai Brooks (No. 129) in the span of 24 days. Texas added another ESPN 300 prospect Saturday when four-star defensive tackle Myron Charles (No. 166) flipped his commitment from Florida State to the Longhorns. As of Thursday, Texas’ 2025 class sits at No. 7 in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle.

In Hicks, the Longhorns now have a defensive cornerstone in the 2026 class. A rangy, physical safety, he totaled 67 tackles with a pair of sacks in his sophomore season at Parkview High School in Lilburn, Georgia, last fall. Hicks transferred to Georgia high school football powerhouse Carrollton ahead of his junior season this fall, joining the program led by five-star quarterback Julian Lewis, ESPN’s No. 2 overall prospect in the 2025 class.

Upon his commitment, Hicks stands as Texas’ second-ranked prospect in 2026. Bell, ESPN’s eighth-ranked 2026 prospect and the son of former NBA shooting guard Raja Bell, committed to the Longhorns in June. Stewart, the 6-foot, 180-pound pass catcher from Pearland, Texas, is ESPN’s 34th-ranked wide receiver in the cycle.