Predicting Texas basketball’s next 2023 commit after 5-Star AJ Johnson

Malik Presley, SF

Another one of the recent wing offers for the Longhorns is the underrated 6-foot-6 and 170-pound three-star San Marcos small forward Malik Presley. This quickly improving in-state recruit saw his stock start to explode during the summer of 2021. And then he started to garner some attention on the recruiting trail again this past summer.

Texas was one of the more recent schools to offer Presley. The offer from the Longhorns came Presley’s way in June 2022.

But the traction was there pretty quickly between Texas and Presley. Texas was able to get Presley to campus for an official visit on Oct. 15.

He also took an official visit to see the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sep. 24 after he received an offer from them a few weeks prior to the trip.

Moreover, a report from 247Sports back in early September saw Presley mention Texas and Arizona State as the two programs he is “focusing on” at this point of his recruitment. And that statement held up given those is the only two schools he’s taken official visits to see thus far.

Presley seems to like a lot of what Arizona State offers as a school and a basketball program. But the proximity to home that Texas could offer Presley is a real selling point for Beard and his staff.

It also sounds like Presley is impressed by what Beard and his staff are building on the Forty Acres right now. And I’d imagine the impression that Texas has made on Presley in terms of the direction of the program has only continued to get better since the start of the season, especially after the dominant win over the No. 2 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs at home on Nov. 16.

If I had to pick one non-blue-chip recruit to watch for the Longhorns in the 2023 class after landing a commitment from Johnson, Presley is the most obvious selection.