Football or baseball? Elite DFW athlete doesn't have to pick if he goes to Texas

Mansfield Legacy four-star athlete Jalen Catalon is a ways away from figuring out where he'll end up going to college.

If he chooses to head to Austin, he'll have the option of playing both football and baseball for the Longhorns.

"I have talked with the Texas baseball staff," Catalon told Mike Craven of the Austin American-Statesman. "They said I can play if I want. We'll see how things go. Texas will be in my top five and I'll definitely be taking a trip to Austin for an official visit. It really feels like home each time I go."

Catalon (5-foot-9, 180 pounds) recently took an unofficial visit to Texas where he met with football coaches and attended a UT baseball game.

Texas is in the mix for Catalon along with the likes of Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Stanford and more. He also has offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Texas, Penn State, Rice, SMU, Southern Miss, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech and Wisconsin.

Catalon is rated as the No. 156 player in the country, No. 9 safety and No. 22 player in Texas, according to 247Sports.

A quarterback and safety for Legacy, Catalon was the Star-Telegram's Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore, Associated Press Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year and District 10-5A Defensive Player of the Year.

This past season, Catalon had over 1,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards and accounted for 28 TDs, while also racking up 101 tackles and three interceptions.

This story was originally published April 11, 2018 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Football or baseball? Elite DFW athlete doesn't have to pick if he goes to Texas."