Top recruit Myles Turner commits to Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Myles Turner (Bedford, Texas) has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball next season at The University of Texas, the school announced Thursday. The addition of Turner gives the Longhorns a three-man recruiting class for the 2014-15 season that includes incoming freshman forward Jordan Barnett and junior transfer center Shaquille Cleare.

“We are really excited to welcome Myles to our basketball family,” Barnes said. “We’ve come to know Myles and his family very well during the recruiting process. As pleased as we are to get to work with him on the basketball court in the near future, we’re more excited because of the type of person that Myles is. He’s really just getting started in terms of his basketball development.”

“In looking at the entire class, we needed size and athleticism on the wing and we needed to continue to improve our skill set and depth in the frontcourt,” Barnes continued. “Most importantly, we needed to find individuals who fit our program and the culture and chemistry that our returning players worked so hard to develop last year. We’re not looking to be a really good team for just one year. We’re looking to be a consistently good program for a long period of time.”

Turner (6-11, 225), a forward from Euless Trinity High School who played under head coach Mark Villines, was tabbed the No. 2 overall prospect in the nation by ESPN, No. 4 by 247Sports and No. 9 by Rivals.com. He competed recently in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game and also was selected to participate in the Jordan Brand Classic and as a member of the U.S. team at the Nike Hoop Summit. Turner averaged 18.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 6.8 blocks per game as a senior while leading Trinity to a 24-7 overall record, including a 13-1 mark in District 6-5A.

2014-15 Texas Basketball Recruiting Class

Name                          Yr         Pos      Ht        Wt       Hometown (Previous School)

Jordan Barnett            Fr.        F          6-7       190      St. Louis, Mo. (Christian Brothers College HS)

Shaquille Cleare          Jr.        C          6-9       285      Andros, Bahamas (The Village School [Texas])

Myles Turner              Fr.        F          6-11     225      Bedford, Texas (Euless Trinity HS)

Content Provided by UT Athletic Department