2026 OL JJ Mays Talks Flood, Texas

I stopped by Pflugerville Weiss earlier this morning to catch up with what I believe will be a top target for Texas in the 2026 cycle – Jerald 'JJ' Mays.

This was my first time seeing Mays in person and I was thoroughly impressed. He stands right now around 275 pounds, but has plenty of room to go in his 6-foot-4 frame and has already begun gaining weight since the offseason. He mentioned this morning he hopes to get up to 290 pounds by the beginning of next season.

By all accounts, Mays is an interior guy at the next level. Plenty of schools project him as a guard while several have pitched center. Interestingly, he will be play left tackle next fall, but he has experience everywhere on the offensive line and even mentioned he enjoys playing center.

Mays wants to study computer science wherever he ends up and both of his parents are engineers – safe to say he is a smart kid. The coaching staff at Weiss mentioned that immediately upon my arrival as well.

But to Texas. Mays was most recently on campus for the January 20 Junior Day a month ago but has been firmly on the radar for Kyle Flood dating back to the summer of 2023 when he camped on campus. Early on, Coach Flood has made quite the impression on Mays.

"I got to Coach Flood at the end of the (Junior Day)," Mays told me this morning. "I really like it there in general. It is in a really nice area and it is always very welcoming. I have always really liked up there at Texas.  I love Coach Flood and the way that he coaches, he is so quick and efficient with it, and he is always an energetic person."

Mays also mentioned being invited to a spring practice and hopes to make the quick trip to the 40 Acres some time in March. 

"I feel like they are going to keep going on this upward path," Mays said about the Texas program. "Especially with all of the (recruits) that they have been gaining – I check on 247Sports a lot – they have a really good recruiting class. I think they are going to be really high up next year."

It is safe to say Mays is firmly on the radar of a number of programs in the region. He holds offers from Baylor, Houston, Texas State, UTSA and SMU at the moment and the SEC programs are lurking closely behind. Mays will be visiting Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M this spring and into the summer with Ole Miss and Kansas State also on the docket.

Still a long ways to go, but Texas will be heavily involved here and will get him back on campus in the near future.