Right now, the most popular, among the Texas fan base, 2015 hoops prospect is
Tevin Mack . The big news that broke yesterday that the four-star, Rivals150 small forward/wing will be taking an unofficial visit to Texas this weekend.
Obviously, that’s huge news for the Longhorns, who have always remained in good position for the coveted scorer, but have really had to go to battle recently against the likes of Georgia and Kansas. Mack used all five of his official visits already before originally committing to Shaka Smart at VCU, so the fact that he’s traveling to Texas on their own dime can be nothing but a good sign.
Earlier today, we caught up with the South Carolina native, who indicated that the message from Smart and the Texas staff has never changed despite the move – Texas wants the 6-6 prospect to come in and play right away. So why is Mack making the trip to Texas?
“I want to get a feel for the campus life and see how the players interact with coaches and each other. I’ll be there for the weekend. I’ve never been to Austin before, but I heard it’s a nice city with some good BBQ,” he said with a laugh.
When Smart won Mack’s signature the first time, it was a real battle. A lot of people believed the No. 61 prospect overall in the Rivals150 would sign with Georgia. Mack’s brother played under current Georgia head coach Mark Fox while Fox was at Nevada. But the efforts of Smart and point man Mike Morrell won out. Mack explained why.
“The way Shaka plays fits how I play really well. He allows his guys freedom on offense and they get after it on defense,” he said. “And the way he treats his guys was a factor as well.”
Now, the wing scorer is weighing a number of factors when making another commitment after being released from his signed Letter of Intent to VCU.
“Factors I’m weighing most are playing time, system, style, and league and competition,” he stated.
Although Mack told us he doesn’t have a true timetable for making a decision, I joked with him to rate on a scale of 1-10 how ready he is for all of this to be over, with 10 being “I’m sick of this and want to end it as soon as possible.”
“I’d say about an eight or nine,” he replied. There has been speculation that Mack will make a decision soon after the Texas visit, but Mack, obviously, didn’t indicate that.
When Mack was first released from his LOI to VCU, multiple sources told us that the Longhorns were the heavy favorite to land the 6-6 scorer. Since then, the process has stalled some as Texas has really had to go to battle against Kansas, after it entered the race late and Georgia, who, like Smart and his staff, has been after Mack for years. A source on the Kansas side indicated that when Bill Self offered Mack, he made it clear that Kansas “desperately” needed him. Interestingly, Kansas, just this week, offered 2015 guard LeGerald Vick after he reclassified from the 2016 class. Kansas was feeling good about its chances before the Texas visit was scheduled. During the earlier portion of his recruitment, Mack did visit Georgia officially.
So now, we’ll have to wait and see. But Texas getting Mack – it’s pretty clear there is a serious bond there between Mack and the Texas coaching staff, and that he’s really into the style the Longhorns will run – on campus on his own dime is a chance for it to close. (McComas)
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As the recruiting news has come in hot and heavy during the always-busy summer recruiting and evaluation period, the Longhorns have showed interest in and offered a lot of hoops prospects. Here are some of the names to really keep an eye on right now in each class:
2015
Seems like Texas is in wait-and-see mode regarding Mack. Texas did watch former VCU signee Jordan Murphy, a three-star big man from San Antonio, recently but that was in a game against Jarrett Allen. It’s possible that Texas could make a move on Murphy down the road, but that’s unclear at this time. Currently, Texas has two open scholarships for the 2015 class.
2016
The obvious targets:
PG De’Aaron Fox (five-star from Houston)
C Jarrett Allen (five-star from St. Stephens in Austin)
C Marques Bolden (highly-rated four-star from DeSoto)
SG Terrance Feguson (five-star home school/Prime U in Dallas area)
All Texas prospects. There’s zero doubt that Texas is definitely interested in, and is heavily recruiting these players. Fox is tough to get a read on at this stage, but Texas has generated a lot of momentum recently, which included an unofficial visit. Texas is in good shape with Allen, and it feels like Bolden is going to be a Kansas-Texas battle with Duke, who has yet to offer but is close, lurking in the distance. As for Ferguson, he recently started considering Texas again after Smart was hired and immediately reached out. That one is tough to read as well, and will include Kansas, Oklahoma State, Baylor, and others as big-time competition.
Texas has definite interest in, and has offered these guys as well:
SG Markelle Fultz
PG Alterique Gilbert
SF Braxton Blackwell
PG Devearl Ramsey
C Aric Holman
PF Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier
SF Kameron McGusty
Gilbert was recently offered, and Texas is pushing to try to get him on campus.
In our update posted earlier today, the four-star point guard indicated he still wants to take some visits this month, but has yet to schedule them. Texas is one of the possible destinations, and is part of his top five. Some people believe UConn, who he’s visited already, is the team to beat.
We covered Montgomery-DeLaurier this week, and Texas was one of the three schools he mentioned that was showing him the most attention along with Virginia Tech and Princeton. Texas was one of the first BCS-level programs to offer McGusty, who is taking it slow as the offers continue to pour in. Blackwell and Holman were two very early offers, and players the Texas staff had a previous relationship with.olHo
A couple more 2016 names Texas has watched and is showing interest in:
PG Quentin Goodin
SF Jonathan Isaac
Isaac is blowing up, and Texas has watched him multiple times. Wouldn’t surprise me if an offer comes in the near future. Goodin is a really, really talented point guard that a lot of programs have showed a ton of interest in, but the offers haven’t rolled in yet. (McComas)