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Longhorn football coach Steve Sarkisian puts a bow on spring football and looks to the fall on tis week’s On Second Thought podcast.
When he heads off to college in a year or so, Yaheim Riley won’t have to travel far.
That was one the reasons why Riley chose to commit to the Texas football team. A three-star safety from Austin’s Anderson High School, Riley announced earlier this month that he will join the Longhorns’ 2026 recruiting class.
Riley is currently one of eight members in UT’s 2026 class, which currently ranks 26th nationally.
While recently working at a football camp put on by local products Sedrick Alexander, Latreveon McCutchin and Micah Gifford, Riley talked with reporters about his decision to play at Texas. He was previously committed to Houston, and he reportedly had offers from schools like Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
“There’s nothing wrong with just staying at the crib,” Riley said. “I just moved here, and this city’s good. I’ve been here for two, three years, and I just like the environment. Then I just like (UT assistant coach Duane) Akina, I like the coaching staff up there too.”
According to a Spectrum News report, Riley grew up in Florida and has thus adopted the “Miami” nickname since his move to Texas. After playing at LBJ the past two seasons, Riley will suit up at Anderson this fall.
LBJ assistant coach Roderick Green wrote on social media that “Texas is definitely getting a playmaker! He can cover like a corner and come downhill (with) bad intentions! One of the best open field tacklers in high school football!”
But how would the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Riley describe his game?
“(Texas is) getting a hard hitter, a hard worker,” Riley said. “I love to work. If I ain’t working, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Yaheim Riley is a rare Austin ISD recruit for Texas
Even though the Austin school district and Texas share an area code, a recruiting pipeline between the two entities doesn’t exist. Over the past decade, Austin High quarterback Charles Wright (2021), wide receiver Cayleb Jones (2012) and offensive lineman Mark Buchanan (2008) and LBJ tight end D.J. Grant (2008) have been the only Austin ISD products signed out of high school by Texas.
But Texas is coming off a season in which Andrew Mukuba, an LBJ graduate who started his college career at Clemson, starred in the secondary and developed into a second-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Eagles. Riley is hoping that he can also help change the narrative about the talent that exists in the city.
“Austin’s got a lot of slept-on talent,” Riley said. “I just say don’t sleep on the talent, there’s a lot of good people in Austin. I just will say just even though they might not look the part, just give them a chance. It’s a lot of good talent out here.”
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