One of Kentucky basketball’s top recruiting targets joins a rival SEC school
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- Former Kentucky basketball recruit Marcus Spears Jr. has committed to Texas.
- Spears is also shifting from the 2027 recruiting class to the 2026 recruiting group.
- Spears had been ranked by 247Sports as the top player in the 2027 recruiting class.
The options for Kentucky basketball to potentially fill its 15th and final roster spot for the 2026-27 season are starting to dwindle.
On Thursday morning, the Cats officially missed out on Serbian teenage star Nikola Kusturica when he committed to UCLA. Kusturica, a 6-foot-8 wing, picked the Bruins following a college courtship that at one point featured Kentucky as the rumored favorite to land his services.
Just a few hours later, Kentucky also officially lost out on the prospect who had been the top player in the 2027 recruiting class.
Marcus Spears Jr., a left-handed, 6-foot-9 power forward, committed to Texas Thursday afternoon. Spears is a son of former football star Marcus Spears, a defensive end who spent nine seasons in the NFL and was a four-year college standout at LSU. Spears’ mother, Aiysha, is also an accomplished athlete who played two seasons in the WNBA after being the seventh overall pick in that league’s 2003 draft.
Kentucky had been involved in Spears’ recruitment for almost a year. The 17-year-old was offered by the Cats last summer and was the fourth player from the 2027 recruiting group to earn a UK offer.
While plenty had changed since that offer was extended — for instance, former Kentucky associate head coach Alvin Brooks III led UK’s initial recruitment of Spears — the Cats kept Spears near the top of their recruiting board. This spring, Kentucky was one of several schools that traveled to North Texas to conduct an in-person recruiting visit with Spears.
The Cats also flexed their connections to the Spears family through assistant coach Mo Williams, whose relationship with the elder Spears dates back to his own time as a prep basketball star in Louisiana.
In May, Marcus Spears spoke to the Herald-Leader about his son’s college recruitment and had positive things to say about UK.
“I’ve had this conversation with my son. Everything that has happened at Kentucky doesn’t have anything to do with you,” Marcus Spears said. “... What it’s about is, you’re going to have a great environment. We all know how much Kentucky basketball means, but it’s really going to be about that staff and how you feel about them, and the things that they say about what the plan is for you, the plan is to win, more importantly.”
Spears said his son should actually be a member of the 2028 recruiting class, based on his age.
While Kentucky has the roster space for one more player on its 2026-27 team, Spears will be playing for a rival SEC school later this year.
Scuttlebutt surrounding a potential reclassification decision for Spears peaked Wednesday night, when 247Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham reported Texas was the favorite to land Spears, who is now expected to play college basketball for two seasons before becoming eligible for the 2028 NBA draft. That’s the same situation Kusturica finds himself in at UCLA.
The Longhorns had a family connection in their favor with Spears, too. Spears’ older sister, Cari, was an All-American as a freshman on the Texas volleyball team this past season.
Spears’ reclassification decision came while college coaches and NBA personnel are all in Las Vegas. That’s the location of NBA Summer League activities and this weekend’s stop on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit, where Spears had played with Drive Nation. Spears averaged 20.9 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game on the Nike circuit this year.
Additionally, the UK basketball program is currently on an offseason summer trip in Las Vegas.
College coaches are allowed to watch prospects play at AAU basketball events, such as the EYBL, from Thursday through Sunday as part of a recruiting evaluation period.
Texas boasts a strong 2026 recruiting class ahead of Sean Miller’s second season as head coach. The Longhorns are fresh off a trip to the Sweet 16 in Miller’s first season in charge after reaching the NCAA Tournament as a First Four team.
Texas’ 2026 recruiting class is now headlined by Spears and also includes five-star combo guard Austin Goosby, four-star small forward Bo Ogden, four-star combo guard Joe Sterling, point guard Mantas Laurencikas of Lithuania and unranked center Coleman Elkins.
Miller’s program also cleaned up in the transfer portal this offseason. 247Sports ranks Texas’ incoming portal class — which features Auburn small forward Elyjah Freeman, TCU power forward David Punch, Tennessee shooting guard Amari Evans, Colorado point guard Isaiah Johnson and Saint Mary’s combo guard Mikey Lewis — as the fourth-best class in the nation. Texas also retained star center Matas Vokietaitis, who averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this past season.
Kentucky’s only scheduled game against Texas during the 2026-27 season will be on the road in Austin at the Moody Center. In February 2025, Kentucky lost by four points at Texas during Pope’s first season as the UK coach. This past season, the Cats beat the Longhorns by five points in January at Rupp Arena.
With Spears now off the board and part of the 2026 recruiting class, Kentucky has 20 scholarship offers out to current members of the 2027 recruiting group. The Cats already have an early 2027 commitment from five-star small forward Ryan Hampton, who is the highest-ranked high school player to ever commit to play for Pope in college.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 3:27 PM.
