{"id":367261,"date":"2026-07-09T19:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367261\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T19:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:57:13","slug":"top-recruit-marcus-spears-jr-reclassifies-commits-to-texas-basketball-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367261\/","title":{"rendered":"Top recruit Marcus Spears Jr. reclassifies, commits to Texas basketball for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas coach Sean Miller landed another elite recruit in Marcus Spears Jr. Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

July 9, 2026 Updated 3:45 pm EDT<\/p>\n

Marcus Spears Jr., the top-ranked men\u2019s basketball recruit for the Class of 2027, reclassified to the Class of 2026 on Thursday and announced on social media that he has committed to Texas. That means the five-star forward will suit up for the Longhorns this upcoming season, probably as a starter for a preseason top-five team.<\/p>\n

Spears, who turned 17 in April and is the son of former NFL defensive end and current ESPN analyst Marcus Spears, will have to spend two seasons in college before he is eligible for the 2028 NBA Draft (players must be a year removed from high school and turn 19 in the calendar year of their draft to be selected).<\/p>\n

Texas was already one of the biggest winners of this college basketball offseason. Still, after the Longhorns\u2019 latest addition, coach Sean Miller\u2019s team should be considered a true national title front-runner.<\/p>\n

The Athletic ranked Texas No. 7 in its most recent offseason top 25<\/a> after the Longhorns added four top-100\u00a0transfers and two top-50 high school recruits.<\/p>\n

However, with Spears now in the fold, The Athletic\u2019s CJ Moore said he would move Miller\u2019s team into his top five, given the Longhorns have one of the most stacked rosters in the sport.<\/p>\n

At 6 foot 9 and 210 pounds, Spears could slot in immediately as one of Texas\u2019 starters, adding even more size to a team that should be among college basketball\u2019s biggest next season. However, Texas is deep enough, especially in the frontcourt, that Spears also won\u2019t be forced into a role he isn\u2019t ready for.<\/p>\n

Spears becomes the latest top prospect in a growing trend of up-and-comers entering college basketball early, which means they must play multiple seasons before becoming draft-eligible. Top international signees Nikola Kusturica (UCLA) and Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje (Duke), both of whom are early contenders to go No. 1 in the 2028 NBA Draft, also will have to play at least two college seasons before going pro.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Jul 9, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas coach Sean Miller landed another elite recruit in Marcus Spears Jr. Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4862,27,29,537,28],"class_list":["post-367261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}