SMU lost a local recruiting battle as North Crowley safety Elijajuan Houston picked Arizona State over the Mustangs and UCLA.
SMU football had a clean shot at keeping Elijajuan Houston close to home. Instead, the North Crowley safety is headed west.
Houston, a three-star 2027 defensive back from Fort Worth, committed to Arizona State over SMU and UCLA, giving the Sun Devils another Texas win and leaving the Mustangs with a frustrating miss in their own backyard.
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For a program trying to stack local talent as it grows its ACC profile, losing a productive DFW defender like Houston stings.
The 5-11 safety is ranked as the No. 589 overall player and No. 57 safety in the 2027 class by the 247Sports Composite.
That doesn’t scream five-star headline, but Houston’s film and production say he’s exactly the kind of player SMU can’t afford to let slip away too often.
As a junior, Houston stuffed the stat sheet with 72 tackles, four tackles for loss, four interceptions, 14 passes defended and three forced fumbles.
He was already making noise as a sophomore, helping North Crowley win the Texas 6A Division I state championship.
In 16 games that season, Houston posted 40 tackles, three interceptions, one pick-six, 10 passes defended and a forced fumble.
That’s why this one hurts.
SMU has done plenty of good work recruiting Texas, but Arizona State assistant Bryan Carrington has made a living turning the “Texas 2 Tempe” pipeline into something real.
Houston is now part of that push, joining a growing list of Texas defensive backs who’ve landed with the Sun Devils.
For SMU, the message is obvious. The Mustangs don’t just need to recruit Dallas-Fort Worth. They need to own more of it.
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Houston was a local, productive, battle-tested safety from a powerhouse program. Arizona State walked into Texas and won him anyway.
That’s a recruiting loss SMU will want to answer quickly.
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