Texas Basketball: Terry has ‘amazing relationship’ with No. 1 2024 recruit

There is a clear-cut top target for new Texas basketball head coach Rodney Terry and his staff in the 2024 recruiting class. The nation’s top-ranked recruit in the 2024 class, elite Dallas Lake Highlands (TX) shooting guard/small forward Tre Johnson is the top priority for Terry and his staff.

If there was any doubt regarding how much Terry and the Longhorns prioritized Johnson early this offseason, look at the first coach visit the newly-hired Texas head coach made this week. Terry visited to see Johnson at Lake Highlands High School on March 29.

And given that Terry was officially announced as Texas’ new full-time men’s hoops head coach on March 28, that is a pretty quick turnaround to make the trip to see Johnson.

Johnson spoke on the visit with Terry in a piece with Gerry Hamilton of Inside Texas this weekend (paid content).

New Texas basketball head coach Rodney Terry has a great relationship with No. 1 2024 recruit Tre Johnson

First and foremost, Johnson clarified where Texas stands in his recruitment after Terry got the full-time job earlier in the week. He also made it clear that he is still feeling the love from Terry and the Longhorns this spring.

"“He told me he still wanted me to come. It means a lot that I was his first stop before he went anywhere else after he got the job.”"

Moreover, one of the most telling parts of the statements we got from Johnson in this piece from IT had to do with his relationship with Terry.

"“It’s an amazing relationship. We talk about every other day.”"

Terry has one of the best and most longstanding relationships of any school in this recruitment. He was the leading recruiter for Texas dating back more than a year at this point.

In terms of Texas’ standing in this recruitment, I think Terry getting the full-time job is the best thing that could happen for the Longhorns. Not only does Terry already have great relationships with Johnson and the people in his camp, but he also led Texas to a magical postseason run that ended in the Elite Eight last weekend.

Johnson has also got to see campus twice since last summer. The first trip Johnson made to the Forty Acres was an unofficial visit on June 17, 2022. And then he made a return trip that was an official visit on Sep. 17.

Some of the other top schools to watch in this recruitment are the Kentucky Wildcats and Baylor Bears. He has also visited Baylor twice, with the first trip to Waco coming all the way back in the summer of 2021. Johnson officially visited Baylor on Oct. 1, 2022.

The only other official visit Johnson made was to see Kentucky on Jan. 28, 2023.

It sounds like visits could also be in the works this offseason to see the Kansas Jayhawks and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Per On3, Johnson is looking at a summer decision timeline, since he “would like to make a decision before EYBL’s Peach Jam”. Peach Jam is set to take place from July 3-9, thus giving a few more months before Johnson could arrive at a decision.

He named relationships and other personnel in each respective recruiting class from the high school ranks and the transfer portal as some of the biggest factors in his decision.