Five-star Texas signee Austin Goosby is the latest Dallas-area boys basketball star to leave a UIL school and head to a prep school. Unlike others before him, he is staying close to home.
On Tuesday, Melissa coach Stephen Friar confirmed reports from multiple national media outlets that Goosby is leaving Melissa and transferring to Dynamic Prep, an Irving-based academy that six-time NBA All-Star Jermaine O’Neal started in 2022. Dynamic Prep, which already had six of the top 26 recruits in Texas in the Class of 2026, is ranked No. 3 in the latest ESPN national rankings this week.
“It’s a huge loss,” Friar said. “Not only is it huge because it’s a nationally top 20 talented player, but he is a great part of the community, great kid. It’s huge for the culture, but at the same time, we get a chance to band together and move on with the guys we currently have.”
Related
The 6-5 Goosby is rated the fifth-best combo guard and 25th-best overall player in the nation by 247Sports, and he is the No. 2-ranked recruit in Texas. He had offers from Duke, BYU, Baylor and UCLA, among others, before signing with UT.
High School Sports
Goosby was a first-team all-area selection as a junior after averaging 20 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists, and he was a varsity starter for Melissa since he was a freshman. At Dynamic Prep he will team up with five-star junior forward Marcus Spears Jr.. rated the third-best recruit in the country in the Class of 2027.
“We know he has a great opportunity,” Friar said. “He is a special kid, so I look forward to him doing special things. We are always going to support him.”
Dynamic Prep added another prominent transfer this offseason when four-star Texas Tech signee DaKari Spear left The Colony. Spear is the sixth-ranked recruit in Texas, and he and Goosby joined a Dynamic Prep team that was the runner-up at last season’s Chipotle Nationals.
One of the first superstars to leave a Dallas-area UIL school for a prep school was Cade Cunningham — now an All-Star guard for the Detroit Pistons — who transferred from Arlington Bowie to Montverde Academy in Florida in 2018. Washington Wizards rookie Tre Johnson left state champion Lake Highlands in 2023 to play his senior year at Link Academy in Missouri.
Link Academy also brought in Jordan Walsh (now with the Boston Celtics) from Oak Cliff Faith Family and Ja’Kobe Walter (now with the Toronto Raptors) from McKinney a couple of years apart. The Mavericks’ P.J. Washington was at Frisco Lone Star as a freshman before leaving for Findlay Prep in Nevada.
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.