Placement of SEC logo on uniforms during visit photoshoots sends critical message to recruits
The smallest details can send the largest messages, and a tiny aspect of Liberty transfer wide receiver CJ Daniels‘ visit to Austin said plenty about how Texas plans to market its future conference to potential prospects.
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Daniels, who is one of a number of portal wideouts the Longhorns are recruiting, visited Texas with his mother Natalie Beavers. The visit featured talks with the coaches and the customary photoshoot with a Texas uniform on. What stood out about Daniels’ uniform was the presence of a large, burnt orange SEC patch on the right shoulder.
This isn’t the first time the Longhorns have promoted their upcoming transition into the Southeastern Conference. During a number of recruiting events held on campus since the 2021 announcement, the SEC logo was prominently featured within the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center.
But this is the first time the patch has been affixed to the jersey, at least in a situation the public has seen. Not only does it mark the upcoming transition, but it makes concrete the sales pitch Texas coaches have given to high school and portal prospects in recent months. Any recruit that Steve Sarkisian and his assistants are talking to will play the entirety of their careers in the SEC.
That was a reality that drew 2025 Saraland (Ala.) quarterback KJ Lacey to commit to the Longhorns last summer. That reality was seen again Monday when Lacey reposted a video from July that marked when Longhorn coaches could have more unfettered contact with prospects like Lacey who were entering their junior year.
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Major College Football Playoff implications
Portal prospects like Daniels were the first to see this physical preview of what’s to come in the 2024 season. In just 12 days, a host of top-tier 2025 and 2026 prospects will travel to Austin to visit Sarkisian’s program as part of the Longhorns’ first major junior day of the year. While recently passed NCAA rules forbid prospects from taking pictures in uniform on unofficial visit events like junior days, prospects like UT commits Anthony Williams, Emaree Winston, and Brandon Brown will see SEC logos everywhere, including on the jerseys they intend to wear in just over a year. Eventually, the logo will be on Campbell-Williams Field.
And when official visits crank up in the spring, the SEC patch will be just as prominent as the TEXAS across the chest and the Nike swoosh on the opposite shoulder when recruits can don the uniform they might wear during their college careers.
Those decorations represent three powerful influences in one place.
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Only one of them is new, as seen during Daniels’ visit. But it’s presence will be ubiquitous to the target audience of high-level recruits ahead of the Longhorns’ official entrance to the SEC on July 1.
