Texas Basketball: Predicting the first commit of 2022

Ron Holland, PF

An early 2023 prospect to watch for Beard and the Longhorns that should hold major priority for this Longhorns recruiting class is the elite five-star Duncanville power forward Ron Holland. This 6-foot-8 and 195-pound in-state product had one of the earlier offers to go out to him from Beard and the Longhorns staff for the 2023 class.

Holland received his offer from Texas back on May 4, 2021. That was very shortly after Beard was hired to replace Shaka Smart as the next Texas head coach. This should show Holland just how committed Texas would be to building something truly special around him in the 2023 class.

His talent should be able to tell that story on its own. But it’s good for Texas to put as much attention and energy as they can at this moment into the recruitment of Holland.

It sounds like Holland already made it a priority to visit Texas among a few other schools that have already sent an offer his way. A few of the other schools he’s looked to visit are the Texas Tech Red Raiders, SMU Mustangs, Memphis Tigers, and TCU Horned Frogs, among a couple of others.

But the one that seems to be sticking out in the race to land a commitment from Holland right now is Memphis. If there had to be a favorite named right now for Holland, it looks to be the Tigers. Yet, it’s still too early to tell who an actual frontrunner would be in this recruitment.

Texas still sits in a pretty good position with Holland. This coaching staff would be playing the long game if they want to get a commitment out of him. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Texas tries to make Holland their top priority in-state for the 2023 class. That could mean a good while before Texas gets its first men’s hoops commitment of 2022.