The Texas Basketball program received their third pledge of the 2019 class on Thursday when Top-20 national player Will Baker announced his commitment to the Longhorns. Baker, a 7-0, 235 lb. center from Westlake High School in Austin, chose the Longhorns over UCLA, Georgetown and Stanford. He is ranked as the No. 7 center in the nation and the No. 2 player in Texas according to the 247 Composite Rankings.
Baker trimmed his list to Texas and UCLA on Sunday before deciding to pull the trigger on his hometown college, joining 4-star commits Donovan Williams (Elkins High School – Missouri City, TX) and Kai Jones (Brewster Academy – Wolfeboro, NH). His pledge makes him the first 5-star commit for Shaka Smart since Mo Bamba in 2017 and Jarrett Allen in 2016. Both Bamba and Allen left after one year with Texas for the NBA.