Texas basketball closing in on 5-Star OU C target Daimion Collins

The 2021 Texas basketball recruiting class could be possibly closing in on a commitment from the highly touted 5-Star Atlanta C Daimion Collins.

Head coach Shaka Smart hit a hot streak on the trail of late for both the 2020 and 2021 Texas basketball recruiting classes of late. It all started when he landed a commitment from the highly touted local Vandegrift High School product and five-star power forward Greg Brown. As the sole signee in the Longhorn men’s hoops 2020 recruiting class to this point, Brown was a huge get for Smart. And he was a much-needed one at that.

Landing that aforementioned commitment from Brown turned around a long hiatus on the recruiting trail for the Texas men’s hoops program in terms of landing any prospects. But after landing the pledge from Brown, Smart started to dig even deeper and do some brilliant work to find his first two commitments of the 2021 class.

Next up was landing a commitment from the unheralded Grace Christian School 6-foot-9 and 190 pound power forward Keeyan Itejere. The North Carolina native Itejere was the initial commit in the 2021 class, and he could soon rise up in the recruiting rankings since he’s getting more exposure on the national scene at this point.

Then Smart rounded out his work in terms of landing commitments for his 2021 class of late with the twitchy and fast rising three-star Assumption point guard Emarion Ellis. The 6-foot-5 Iowa native Ellis was one of the most underrated gets in recent memory for the Longhorns on the hoops recruiting trail.

But the next commitment in line for the Longhorns has the potential to be the headlining name that they need in the 2021 class. The elite five-star 6-foot-8 and 190 pound Atlanta center Daimion Collins is firmly on Texas’ radar, and seems to be trending in the direction of the Forty Acres right now.

The Atlanta, TX, native and rising high school senior Collins is getting a lot of attention from schools around the Big 12 and the state of Texas. He currently holds offers from just over a dozen schools. The highlighting schools on his offer sheet includes the Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Arkansas Razorbacks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Houston Cougars, Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State Cowboys, SMU Mustangs, USC Trojans, and Texas A&M Aggies.

But the Longhorns and Sooners appear to be the two front runners to land the commitment of Collins at this point in time. And the 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions does give a light edge to the Longhorns over the Sooners in terms of total number of expert picks for him to commit to Texas. The Rivals FutureCast has a clean split in the analyst and publisher picks between Oklahoma and the rest of the competition to land the commitment of Collins.

The total number of lead experts from 247Sports that pick Collins to choose Texas over Oklahoma is two, out of a possible three. But there is one other expert picking him to choose Oklahoma. All experts totaled together, Oklahoma and Texas have a clean split in the picks for where Collins will commit to.

Moreover, Collins ranks as the nation’s No. 22 2021 high school prospect, No. 5 center, and No. 2 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). He’s about the most highly coveted 2021 high school prospect that Texas has a realistic shot at landing right now.

Fourth-year Texas assistant coach Jai Lucas is the one that is particularly going after Collins. He’ll still be battling hard with the likes of Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Alabama, Arkansas, etc.

Texas originally sent out their scholarship offer to Collins on April 13, 2020. He received an offer from the Georgia Bulldogs that same day. Since then, the only offer he received came from head coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks.

Getting a headliner in the 2021 class, like that of Collins, would be such a huge get for the Longhorns. He would also make it three straight recruiting classes where Smart and the Longhorns landed a five-star commit from a big man.