Arch Manning's potential successor, Dia Bell, sends clear message as Steve Sarkisian's Texas secures commitment from five-star EDGE

Five-star edge rusher Richard Wesley committed to Texas' 2026 class on Sunday. The Sierra Canyon (Los Angeles) standout chose Steve Sarkisian's Longhorns over USC, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Oregon.

“This for you Mom❤️10000% commited🤘🏾," Wesley told On3's Hayes Fawcett following his commitment.

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The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Wesley now becomes the third five-star commit in Texas' 2026 class, joining quarterback Dia Bell and athlete Jermaine Bishop Jr.

Bell, who is seen as a perfect successor for Longhorns QB Arch Manning, welcomed Wesley with a post on X, writing:

"👀 The block is hot! Welcome home @Richard23Wesley 🤘🏽 #HookEm #AllGas26."

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Bell has been committed to the Longhorns for nearly a year and has never sparked a flip rumor. Earlier this week, he earned MVP honors at the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Wesley had previously committed to Oregon on May 10 but reopened his recruitment on May 28. As a junior in the 2024 season, he recorded 44 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and nine sacks.

Wesley was originally part of the 2027 class, but he reclassified to 2026 this spring and is now ranked No. 24 overall in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

Richard Wesley opens up about choosing Steve Sarkisian's Texas

After landing the program’s first No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 (per ESPN), Texas is poised to keep building momentum with its 2026 class. Steve Sarkisian now has 15 verbal commitments, most of whom are four-star recruits.

Richard Wesley's commitment to Texas came after an official visit to Austin last weekend, which strengthened his belief that Texas was the right fit.

"I'm going to get the best of both worlds at Texas," Wesley told 247Sports. "One of the points that stood out to me the most was their education and, from an academics standpoint, it's a great school with a lot of different subjects to major in.

"We know about the football and we know about the SEC, but with football not being forever, I thought it gave me the best combination moving forward. I'm super happy to be committed."

Wesley is set to enroll in Steve Sarkisian’s program in January.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

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Edited by R. Elahi