3-star PF Jaxson Hayes commits to Texas over Kentucky, Georgetown, others

Just over a week ago, Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller (Oh.) power forward Jaxson Hayes named a top five consisting of Texas, Kentucky, Georgetown, Butler and Xavier.

On Friday, the rising prospect made his college decision, committing to Shaka Smart and the Texas Longhorns over a variety of prominent options, as reported by Evan Daniels of Scout.com.

“I’m heading to the University of Texas,” Hayes told Scout. “It’s just a perfect fit. I really like coach Smart and really love the guys there and the plan they have for me.”

A 6’10, 195-pound big man, Hayes officially visited the Forty Acres on Sept. 8 as part of a month where the activity level in his recruitment exploded.

“After my visit I was thinking about [Texas] a lot and I thought it was just because it was my first official visit,” Hayes said. “After an amount of time, I couldn’t forget about it and I just had this feeling about Texas.”

Despite interest from known names such as Kentucky’s John Calipari and Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, Hayes elected to heath south, providing Smart and his staff with yet another major recruiting coup over national powers.

His pledge gives Texas its third this cycle and bolsters what was already a top-25 recruiting haul, as Hayes joins a pair of four-star in-state prospect Cibolo Steele small forward Gerald Liddell and Austin Westlake small forward Brock Cunningham.

Hayes is ranked as the nation’s No. 229 player, No. 55 power forward and the No. 7 player in Ohio, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.