Texas basketball commit Emarion Ellis ranked top prospect out of Iowa

The 2021 Texas basketball recruiting class now holds the top ranked prospect for this cycle out of Iowa with 4-Star CG Emarion Ellis.

The fortunes for the Texas basketball program on the recruiting trail of late were nothing short of spectacular. The extremely lengthy hiatus that the Texas men’s hoops program had on the recruiting trail finally came to an end back in spring of this year. And a lot of this credit has to go to head coach Shaka Smart, who’s taken a lot of scrutiny over the last 18 months.

Texas now has to translate those positive results from the recruiting trail for this hoops team to the hardwood in actual game action. Turning that success on the trail to success in the win column is the main thing that eluded Smart since landing on the Forty Acres five years ago.

One of the most underrated and impressive commitments that Smart and the Longhorns landed for the 2021 class of late is four-star Assumption guard Emarion Ellis. When Texas originally landed the commitment from Ellis back on July 28, he didn’t have a 247Sports Composite ranking at the time.

But after the latest composite rankings update, Ellis has catapulted up really far compared to where he was at six weeks ago. This 6-foot-5 and 175 pound combo guard and Iowa native now ranks as the nation’s No. 156 2021 high school prospect, No. 16 combo guard, and top overall prospect out of Iowa (247Sports Composite).

In the Top247, Ellis ranks as the nation’s No. 106 high school prospect, No. 8 combo guard, and the top overall prospect out of Iowa. No matter which way you spin it in the composite or Top247 rankings, Ellis slots at the top prospect for this cycle out of the state of Iowa.

The Rivals recruiting ranking for Ellis slots him as the nation’s No. 94 high school prospect and the No. 24 shooting guard (Rivals classifies at as a two-guard instead of a combo guard). The rising star of Ellis did not match up with the offer sheet he held prior to committing to Texas.

That is largely why Smart should be lauded so much on getting on Ellis when he did. The only other schools that he had on his offer sheet when he committed to Texas were the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Bryant Bulldogs, and the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers. He also had reported scout looks from the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones.

It is truly a wonder that the top rated prospect out of Iowa didn’t even receive a scholarship offer from either of the two major schools in that state. This was a great job getting on Ellis by Smart when he did.

According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 15 in the nation and remains behind the Baylor Bears in the Big 12. Texas has four commits now in the 2021 class, with the highest rated being four-star IMG Academy shooting guard Tamar Bates.