Texas Basketball: 2022 class off to hot start with 5-Star PG Arterio Morris
A huge day for new head coach Chris Beard spanned beyond just the NCAA Transfer Portal on July 17. This big day for hoops on the Forty Acres also saw the 2022 Texas basketball recruiting class get off and running in a massive way. Texas was really prioritizing the elite five-star iSchool Entrepreneurial Academy point guard Arterio Morris since Beard was first hired as the head coach back on April 1.
And that constant pursuit of Morris looks to have paid dividends now for Beard and the Longhorns in a big way. On July 17, Texas reportedly landed a commitment to get the 2022 class off the ground, with the Dallas, TX, native Morris giving his pledge this weekend.
This is the first 2022 commit for Beard and the Longhorns. And it is the first ranked prospect that Beard got a commitment from since he flipped the former Texas Tech Red Raiders commit and four-star John Paul II forward Jaylon Tyson to Texas.
In the span of 5 minutes, Chris Beard and Texas just landed one of the best transfers in Marcus Carr and one of the best high school seniors in Arterio Morris.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) July 17, 2021
What also made this such a big day for Beard and the Longhorns was getting a commitment out of the transfer portal from the likes of the former Minnesota Golden Gophers and Pitt Panthers point guard Marcus Carr. Texas looks to now be taken care of at the point guard position for next season, and well into the future by landing commitments from Carr and Morris on the same day.
Morris means a lot to the Longhorns program with his commitment. This is the first five-star commit that Beard landed as the Longhorns head coach. And it is a potential building block moving forward for what could be a very special 2022 class.
The 2022 Texas basketball recruiting class off to great start landing 5-Star PG Arterio Morris
Texas had new assistant coach Jerrance Howard as the primary recruiter after Morris. Howard and the Longhorns got the commitment of Morris over competing offers from the Arkansas Razorbacks, Memphis Tigers, Kansas Jayhawks, and Oregon Ducks, among others.
It looked like Memphis was going to be the stiffest competition that Texas faced in the race to land Morris. But the Longhorns won this one out in the end, and the 2022 class is better for it.
Morris is actually a former commit of Memphis. But he opened up his recruitment back in January. The only official visit he took since his decommitment from Memphis came with Texas back on June 14. And that official visit with Beard and the Longhorns last month looks to be what sealed the deal with Morris.
There’s so much to like about what Morris brings to the table for the Longhorns. He’s an insanely quick point guard with a bona fide two-way skill set. Morris will need more polish in his game, but he’s got one more season of high school ball to improve in that department.
Morris can break down defenders in no time off-the-dribble and is also improving his catch-and-shoot game of late. He’s got good footwork and agility and can get to the rim by driving the lane in the blink of an eye.
If there is one area of Morris’ game that he will also need to improve before he arrives on the Forty Acres, it is with his pull-up shooting and overall shot selection. There are occasional mishaps that Morris has with his decision-making that leads to untimely turnovers. But that is something that is fairly common among younger point guards.
The 6-foot-3 and 190-pound Morris is definitely one of the most potent talents among all high school prospects in this 2022 recruiting cycle. He ranks as the nation’s No. 31 2022 high school prospect, No. 6 point guard, and No. 3 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks him as the nation’s No. 21 high school prospect, No. 4 point guard, and No. 4 prospect out of Texas.
Full projected rotation with the return of Courtney Ramey. dark. Next
According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2022 Texas hoops recruiting class will now rank at No. 17 in the nation and in the third spot in the Big 12 behind the Jayhawks and Iowa State Cyclones. A good portion of the focus on the recruiting trail now for the Longhorns 2022 class will turn to adding five-star iSchool Entrepreneurial Academy shooting guard Keyonte George to the mix with Morris.