Saraland junior quarterback K.J. Lacey announced Saturday that he has committed to the University of Texas, choosing the Longhorns over in-state powers Auburn and Alabama during a visit to the Austin campus.
“Hook ’em 1000% committed,” Lacey wrote on Twitter, recounting how he answered recruiters who questioned the decision. “They asked me, ‘Why Texas?’ I say, ‘Why not Texas?'”
The commitment came just days after the four-star prospect, who turned 16 in January, trimmed his list of suitors to nine schools: Auburn, Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Oregon and Oklahoma.
Lacey, listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, put together a standout junior season at Saraland, completing 64% of his passes for 3,177 yards, 40 touchdowns and only five interceptions — numbers that led all of Class 6A. He enters his senior year ranked No. 47 nationally in the ESPN Junior 300 for the 2025 class and rated the No. 5 quarterback nationally by the 247Sports Composite. His pledge makes him the first commitment in Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s 2025 recruiting class and adds another highly regarded quarterback to a Longhorns program that also landed the commitment of All-American Arch Manning, who signed in December.
Saraland head coach Jeff Kelly said the decision didn’t come as a surprise, crediting Texas quarterbacks coach A.J. Milwee with building a genuine relationship with Lacey over months of recruiting.
“I think the University of Texas and specifically coach Milwee did an amazing job of recruiting him and making him a priority,” Kelly said. “He came down and spent some time with K.J. in the spring and watched him practice. He did an outstanding job of building a relationship with him. Also, coach Sarkisian, with his reputation of recruiting and developing quarterbacks and putting them in a great situation to be successful, was a draw for K.J. … I’m excited for K.J. He’s a thoughtful and methodical guy and I’m proud of him.”
Lacey’s national profile rose sharply after Saraland won the Class 6A state championship last December, a run that put his talent in front of a wider audience of college recruiters.
“You could see it coming when you look at his ability and what he did last year,” Kelly said. “The guys who make those decisions understand his potential. … K.J. at his best has got one of the quickest releases I’ve ever seen. Between the time he makes the decision to throw the ball to it leaving his hand, it’s next-level fast.”
David Morris, founder of the QB Country training program who has worked with Lacey, said in December that the young quarterback has the tools to become one of the best to ever come out of Alabama.
“He can throw it as good as a lot of guys in college right now,” Morris said. “His arm is NFL (caliber) right now in terms of pure arm strength. He is 100 percent can’t miss. He’s as good as this state has ever seen and he’s not done developing. He’s ahead of his years from an anticipation and a pure arm standpoint. … He’s not even a once-in-a-decade player. I’ve been doing this since 2004 and, at this age, there’s never been one like him.”
Kelly said the presence of Manning, a fellow elite quarterback prospect who will likely still be at Texas when Lacey arrives on campus in January 2025, wasn’t a deciding factor.
“When you go to a place like Texas, there are good players there every year and you have to compete with all of them,” Kelly said. “I don’t think (Manning) enters into the equation a whole lot. K.J. is confident in who he is as a player and regardless of who is out there, he’s going to go out and do his thing.”
Lacey’s decision effectively closes the door on a long list of other Power 5 programs that had offered him a scholarship, including Notre Dame, Miami, Florida State, Pitt, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, TCU, Colorado, West Virginia and Michigan State. The commitment adds Saraland to the short list of South Alabama high schools to produce a nationally ranked quarterback recruit, continuing a run of strong football success for the Spartans following their 2022 state title.