Texas Longhorns football pulled in a major commitment on Saturday, securing 4-star offensive tackle Payton Kirkland to add to Steve Sarkisian's 2023 recruiting class.

Kirkland is from Florida and comes in at No. 274 on the 247Sports Composite for his class. He's the 25th-ranked offensive tackle. While some thought he would be going to Miami, Michigan or Oklahoma, it wound up being Texas football.

Of course, that means the opportunity to protect No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning in the future. Kirkland is excited about that possibility:

With Manning leading the way, Texas' 2023 recruiting class ranks fourth in the country behind Ohio State, Notre Dame and Georgia, per 247Sports. The class has 20 commits, with Manning being the single 5-star recruit and Kirkland ranking as one of the 13 4-star recruits.

Sarkisian is trying to bring Texas football back to glory after a lengthy run of mediocrity. Since losing in the BCS National Championship Game under Mack Brown to end the 2009 season, the Longhorns have reached double-digit wins in a season just once. That came in the 2018 season under Tom Herman, who had moderate success but didn't do enough to keep his job past the 2021 season. Herman replaced Charlie Strong, who lasted just three seasons after Brown's departure.

Sarkisian's first season with Texas didn't go well, with the Longhorns putting up a 5-7 record and failing to reach a bowl game. But Sarkisian is doing work on the recruiting trail to make sure Texas football will be back on the map soon. The expectations will be high for Arch Manning, but there's plenty of talent coming in around him as well.