At the end of this week, Monshun Sales will make the call that’s been hanging over his recruitment for months. The five-star wide receiver has set his commitment date for July 17, and with the finish line here, the picture has narrowed to two schools: Indiana and Texas.
Indiana has the obvious selling point. It’s the home-state option, and the Hoosiers are coming off a National Championship.
But that alone doesn’t make this an open-and-shut case. When the full recruiting picture is laid out, Texas looks like the cleaner fit for Sales.
The first edge for the Longhorns is the track record. Over the last six years, Texas has sent six wide receivers into the NFL Draft, and four of them came off the board in the third round or earlier. Since Steve Sarkisian took over, that list includes first-round picks Xavier Worthy and Matthew Golden.
Texas WRs taken in the NFL Draft since 2020
Matthew Golden - Round 1, Pick 23, 2025 NFL Draft
Xavier Worthy - Round 1, Pick 28, 2024 NFL Draft
Adonai Mitchell - Round 2, Pick 52, 2024 NFL Draft
Jordan Whittington - Round 6, Pick 213, 2024 NFL Draft
Devin Duvernay - Round 3, Pick 92, 2020 NFL Draft
Collin Johnson - Round 5, Pick 165, 2020 NFL Draft
Indiana’s résumé at the position doesn’t come close. The Hoosiers have had seven wide receivers drafted since the turn of the century, and only two have been selected since Curt Cignetti became head coach. On pure receiver development, Texas is already well ahead.
The second major factor is the quarterback pipeline. Sarkisian has stocked the Texas roster with blue-chip passers, and that matters for a receiver looking at the long view. Arch Manning is the starter now, with KJ Lacey, a four-star quarterback from the class of 2025, and Dia Bell, the No. 4 quarterback in the class of 2026, behind him.
Current Texas Longhorns quarterback room
Arch Manning - five-star recruit, No. 1 overall prospect in class of 2023
KJ Lacey - four-star recruit, No. 18 quarterback in class of 2025
Dia Bell - five-star recruit, No. 4 quarterback in class of 2026
MJ Morris, three-star transfer portal recruit
Luke Dunham, unrated quarterback in class of 2025
Texas has also already landed commitments from Neimann Lawrence, the No. 6 quarterback in the class of 2028, and three-star quarterback Ty Knutson from the class of 2027. That kind of steady quarterback influx gives the Longhorns a clear advantage for any receiver who wants a high-end passer throwing him the ball year after year.
Indiana’s recent success came with Fernando Mendoza arriving through the transfer portal and leading the Hoosiers to the National Championship. But that setup is built on a different kind of uncertainty, and the source of that success is not something the Hoosiers can count on forever.
For Sales, that’s the real decision. If he chooses Texas, he’s putting himself in position to catch passes from blue-chip quarterbacks for the foreseeable future.
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Manning has remained Texas starter and kept adding endorsement deals, yet the broader picture around his brand changed as the season unfolded and the team took losses. Texas still has him lined up to open the 2026 season against Texas State, and the attention around him figures to stay intense even if the dollar value attached to his name is no longer where it once was. [Read more 🡒]