Texas football nabs elusive 4-Star QB commit KJ Lacey from SEC country

Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian landed their first commitment in the 2025 recruiting class in the midst of the weekend of the Elite Camp on the 40. Texas snagged a commitment from the highly touted and elusive four-star Saraland (AL) quarterback KJ Lacey to start off the 2025 class on a high note.

Lacey announced via social media on the afternoon of June 3 that he committed to Texas over offers from the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, and Tennessee Volunteers, among many other highly-regarded Power Five schools.

This commitment from Lacey comes in the midst of his first unofficial visit to Texas of 2023 during the Texas Elite Camp, namely for rising targets in the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes.

Landing Lacey did come as a bit of a surprise for Sark, quarterbacks coach AJ Milwee, and the Longhorns in the 2025 class. Lacey wasn’t figured to be a Texas lean coming into the weekend as other big-time programs such as Alabama, Florida State, and the Ole Miss Rebels were really prioritizing this recruitment.

Texas football adds the elusive and talented 4-Star 2025 QB KJ Lacey

This is huge for Sark and the Longhorns to be able to nab a quarterback commit as talented and highly-sought after out of the state of Alabama as Lacey. Texas was able to go into SEC country to be able to snag Lacey one year before the Longhorns make the move to leave the Big 12 in 2024.

Not only will Lacey be able to help the Longhorns recruit other top skill targets in the 2025 class now that he is committed to Texas, but he also continues to solidify the QB room on the 40 well into the future. Texas has added a lot of talent at the QB position between the 2023, 2024, and 2025 recruiting classes.

Landing Lacey should also be able to help the Longhorns find a lot of success on the trail recruiting more key targets in the next couple of cycles out of SEC territory.

Lacey’s skill set and fit at Texas

What Texas is getting in the 6-foot-1 and 180-pound Lacey is a quarterback with a sneaky-good arm and a lot of athleticism for someone that is traditionally seen as more of a pocket passer. While Lacey does have the athleticism and straight-line speed to be able to be more of a dual-threat style quarterback, his film shows that he likes to make plays with his arm first.

Lacey is a quarterback that really blew a lot of people away in terms of his ability on the field and what he put up statistically during his sophomore season at Saraland in 2022. He registered more than 3,100 passing yards, 40 passing touchdowns, just five interceptions, and four rushing scores while leading Saraland to a 6A state championship in Alabama last fall (per MaxPreps).

From witnessing him a couple of times in-person during the recruiting camp/combine and 7v7 circuit in the last 18 months, I have come away impressed with Lacey’s anticipation and mechanics throwing from the pocket. Lacey has good throwing motion and excellent footwork, even when pressure is coming at him in the pocket.

Another aspect of Lacey’s game that I have consistently come away impressed with is his anticipation and timing with his top wideout targets in the passing game. Lacey has good chemistry with a lot of his top targets at Saraland High School, including the No. 1 ranked wide receiver in the nation in the 2025 class Ryan Williams.

Lacey’s timing and anticipation, combined with his arm strength gives him the ability to hit his wideouts accurately in the intermediate and deep passing game. Texas will be able to stretch the field in a big way with how good Lacey’s deep ball is.

And the fact that Lacey is such a natural thrower of the football in the short and intermediate passing game means that he can really open up the playbook in Sark’s offense.

What makes Lacey so good at spreading the ball all over the field to his targets in the passing game with ease is the ability to throw off-platform and from so many different arm angles. We included a video above in a tweet that shows Lacey making a nice throw to his wideout behind the line of scrimmage with space to make something happen after the catch while coming under pressure in the pocket.

It’s that type of anticipation and arm talent that will make Lacey so good in Sark’s offense. He’s really good at getting the ball to his skill guys to let them make things happen after the catch in space, which is a key concept in Sark’s offensive philosophy.

It’s worth noting that I don’t think size will be a limitation for Lacey. Usually, Sark does like to go after bigger quarterback prospects on the recruiting trail. But Lacey is at least two inches shorter from his latest measurement than the next-shortest quarterback that Sark has recruited to Texas.

• Maalik Murphy: 6-foot-5
• Trey Owens: 6-foot-4
• Arch Manning: 6-foot-4
• Quinn Ewers: 6-foot-3

Lacey’s ability to quickly process pressure looks and find outlets in the passing game should put to bed any doubts that creep into people’s minds when looking at his smaller height compared to the other quarterbacks in this room for Texas.

Charles Power recently stated that Lacey is a “playmaker” that can “make all the throws” from the pocket.

"“He can make all the throws, on or off platform, and possesses a savvy ability to maneuver in-and-out of the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield.”"

The ability to make all the throws while still being able to thrive when he has to get the job done off-schedule on certain plays is a similar characteristic of Lacey’s game to that of Arch Manning. I’m not saying that Lacey is Arch in terms of the caliber of quarterback recruit that he is, but the underrated athleticism and ability to make impressive throws in the face of pressure is something that both quarterbacks have shown on film consistently during their high school careers.

Lacey still has time to develop

While there are a lot of aspects of Lacey’s game that Texas fans should be very excited about, there is still room for him to grow as he’s just entering his junior year at Saraland High School. Lacey will still probably grow a little bit in terms of height and muscle mass. He’s already grown a couple of inches since his recruitment first started to become publicized last offseason.

Lacey could get bigger, stronger, and faster before he arrives on the Forty Acres in a couple of years.

I would also expect Lacey to be able to have some time to develop in the first couple of years of his collegiate career. He won’t be arriving on campus with the expectations of being an impact starting quarterback from Day 1.

Texas will have Arch in his third season in college in 2025, and 2024 QB commit Trey Owens could also be involved in the starting competition a few years down the road along with Lacey. Not having that pressure to be the guy in the quarterback room right away should help Lacey be more patient with his development early in his collegiate career.

Lacey is one of just two quarterbacks that Sark and the Longhorns have offered in the 2025 class thus far. And it looks like Sark already has his guy to build around at the quarterback position with a lot of skill talent in the 2025 class.