As we continue making our way through the Longhorns freshman class, we’ve come to maybe the most interesting player of the group. Richard Wesley joins the Longhorns at the age of 16 and he won’t turn 17 until after the season has started.

Wesley is one of the increasing high school players “reclassifying” to an earlier graduation year to start their college career earlier. It’s not an overall uncommon thing but it’s more uncommon to see it at the edge rusher position. That being said, Wesley might just be that special.

Visit catcross.org for more information.

Highschool Stats: 123 total tackles, 40 TFLs, 27 sacks, 5 INTs, 4 FFs in three seasons

Wesley is already on campus in Austin and I have to imagine the goal is to start putting on weight. Wesley sits at 240-250lbs which is solid weight, but likely wants to get him closer to Jamarion Carlton’s size(270-280lbs). That being said, he has the frame to add the weight and if he can do it while keeping his pass rushing ability, he can be special for the Longhorns. 

Discussion now about five-star edge Richard Wesley reclassifying from the 2027 class and being a few weeks away from enrolling at Texas as a 16-year old who is 6'4, 245 pounds.

— Wescott Eberts (@SBN_Wescott) December 3, 2025

There are two people in this class I believe will suit up early and often for the Longhorns and that’s Jermaine Bishop Jr. and Tyler Atkinson. Beyond those, I see Wesley as someone that could flash late in the 2026 season like Justus Terry and head into 2027 ready to take over. His ability is off the charts but I think it’s fair to expect this project to take a bit more time than some others in this class. 

Texas 5-star EDGE commit Richard Wesley having tremendous senior season . 14 tackles, 8 TFL’s and 5 sacks thus far. @ontexasfootballhttps://t.co/2cJmYuYUtC

— Gerry Hamilton (@GHamiltonOTF) September 24, 2025

As much as I say it’ll likely take time for Wesley, there’s a world where we get to see him early in the non-Ohio State out of conference games. He has a strong pass rush package and has truly elite length that should give him a leg up in run defense. With the new redshirt rules, there doesn’t need to be a major worry about losing his redshirt heading into 2027 so they can hopefully let him lose some against Texas State. 

Look at What Recent Texas Commit Richie Wesley is Doing to Dudes 👀🤘
pic.twitter.com/xcyWtLnEva

— Orangebloods.com (@orangebloods_) June 24, 2025

I expect us to see 5-10 plays in 2026 from Wesley that gets Longhorns fans excited for his future. In 2027, I fully expect him to get starting reps across from Lance Jackson at the other edge position. It’ll take some time, as it should for a 16-year old, but this could be as special a player Sarkisian picked up in this class. 

Wesley is the more longterm, higher ceiling edge the Longhorns signed. Jamarion Carlton might not have the ceiling Wesley does but I could see him getting on the field earlier. We will talk about the 6’5”, 275lbs edge-setter tomorrow and why he might be the steal of the class.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Fresh Faces on the Forty: Wesley is young but uniquely talented

Read full story at source