Next Few Months Crucial for Charlie Strong's 2015 Recruiting Class at Texas

The Texas Longhorns are on a three-game winning streak and have a lot of momentum heading into the final game of the season.

But first-year head coach Charlie Strong needs that same amount of momentum as he prepares to enter the most important recruiting months of the year.

The Longhorns' 2015 recruiting class ranks No. 18, according to Rivals.com, but a number of the nation's top-of-the-line recruits remain uncommitted. And now is the most crucial time for Strong to meet with these recruits face-to-face.

One of the many reasons why college football is so entertaining is teams are constantly cycling through new rosters. With players having only four years of eligibility, college coaches find themselves looking to replace key components of their team with every passing season.

That reality makes the task of being a first-year head coach even more difficult. Strong has to focus not only on the current team, but also on building his team for the future.

It is no secret Strong builds his teams around tough, gritty defense. This has been evident as the Longhorns went from being ranked No. 57 in scoring defense in 2013 to No. 20 in 2014.

The Longhorns defense has upperclassmen starting at eight out of the 11 positions. Strong and staff will need to focus in on some of the state and nation’s top defensive prospects to keep his defense moving in the right direction.

Mesquite Poteet linebacker Malik Jefferson and his athlete teammate DeAndre McNeal are only a couple of the talented prospects Strong and his staff are fighting to sign. They are the type of players who can come in and have an immediate impact on a program.

Jefferson is a name many Texas fans have known for many years. He is the No. 1 prospect in the state of Texas and the No. 1 linebacker in the 2015 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.

Although the 5-star prospect has kept fairly tight-lipped about his favorites, some people suspect Jefferson's decision will come down to Texas and Texas A&M. 247Sports has Jefferson slightly leaning toward Texas in its Crystal Ball predictions, but the linebacker does not plan on announcing his commitment until Dec. 19.

Jefferson's teammate McNeal also plans on announcing his commitment that same day.

McNeal took an official visit for the Longhorns' upset win over West Virginia, and it appears the game made an impression on the athlete.

Jefferson has attended two games this season, but he has yet to schedule an official visit. Strong getting or not getting Jefferson to take an official visit could make or break the Longhorns' chances of landing the talented linebacker.

If Strong is able to land even one of those recruits, it will help soften the blow of losing players like Jordan Hicks and Quandre Diggs.

But time is working against the Longhorns head coach. Strong and staff are entering the race late on many of the elite 2015 recruits, considering most of the top prospects have been recruited by head coaches around the nation for multiple years.

Strong understands the importance of quickly establishing relationships with these players, and his staff has been on the road recruiting during the bye week.

"Our guys are out recruiting right now," Strong said Monday. "We have some coaches out and we've been targeting a lot of guys, but it's all about making a decision if they want to come here. But we'll be fine in recruiting."

While Strong will have to make up for lost time with recruits, one thing he will have working in his favor is momentum, which can make or break recruiting.

When the Longhorns started the season 3-5, it appeared as if they would be watching bowl games from their couches. This was something Strong was not going to tolerate.

"I told our coaching staff, we're sitting here at 3-5, and we should not be pleased with where we are. I said at the University of Texas that should never happen," said Strong. "Our record of going out and getting five losses, we're not comfortable with that at all. That will never happen within this program again."

Many players credited Strong's message to the team following the shutout against Kansas State as something that ignited a fire under the Longhorns. And the result was seen on the field.

Texas finally started playing like a team, won three straight games and became bowl-eligible.

Recruits went from seeing a frustrated Strong in postgame press conferences to seeing viral videos of him crowd-surfing in his players' arms. This sort of momentum can go a long way in convincing some of the nation's elite to be a part of your program. But it will be up to the coaches to relay the message firsthand.

"There's only a few guys left that have not committed that we're still targeting," Strong said. "We'll continue to recruit them hard and see if we can get the right ones in here to add to the program. We need more players to come and jump on board and help us get it back to where we need to get it back to."

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Taylor Gaspar is Bleacher Report's featured columnist covering the Texas Longhorns. Follow Taylor on Twitter: @Taylor_Gaspar.