Mansfield (Texas) Lake Ridge defensive end Braylen Jackson and SMU have built a strong relationship for months, and on Monday, the Mustangs got one step closer in landing him in their 2021 class.

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Jackson announced his top three schools early Monday morning, and SMU, Arizona State and Colorado made the cut. Jackson has north of 25 offers total, many of those being from Power 5 schools.

A 6-4, 270-pound, three-star, strong-side defensive end, Jackson was a second-team all-District 7-6A selection last season. He visited SMU during a junior day late January and has kept a strong relationship with the majority of the SMU coaching staff, led by defensive line coach Randall Joyner.

"SMU is a great program, and they have a great coaching staff," Jackson told The HillTopics earlier this year."I love their campus."

SMU was the second school to offer Jackson. Arizona State was the first school to offer.

If the Mustangs are able to land him, Jackson will join a defensive line class that already includes Flower Mound's Stone Eby, Pasadena Sam Rayburn's Je'lin Samuels and Dallas Parish Episcopal's Jayden Jones.