Local 2021 TE Lake McRee grew up a Texas fan, but will evaluate all options

Lake McRee’s stock on the recruiting trail has soared throughout the offseason.

After capping a 2018 campaign that saw him tally 17 receptions for 272 yards and two touchdowns with just one offer, from Tulsa, the 2021 Lake Travis tight end now owns 15 scholarship options. Texas, USC, Texas A&M, TCU, North Carolina, Baylor, and Arkansas are among the more most recognizable programs in pursuit of the 6’5, 217-pound McRee, and of that bunch, the Longhorns, Trojans, Horned Frogs, and Aggies are already leaving a notable impression, he told BON’s Wescott Eberts.

Texas, TCU, and Texas A&M garnering significant interest from a top-tier in-state prospect is far from a surprise, but why did USC come to mind?

“It’s a great campus. The coaches are really nice,” McRee said after noting that he has an uncle in the Los Angeles area. “Obviously the weather is nice all the time and they’re a really good football program.”

However, despite the high praise for a Trojans program that Texas played in each of the previous two seasons, the Horns should feel quite confident about their odds at this early stage in McRee’s recruitment. Such confidence should come largely because the local product admittedly grew up as a Longhorns fan.

On April 25, just days after his first offseason trip to Texas for the spring game, McCree earned the opportunity to take his talents to his favorite program.

“It was actually a surprise to me. I didn’t see it coming,” McRee said. “My coach just told me to call [Texas tight ends coach Derek Warehime] when I got home from school and I did, and he offered me.”

Though the two haven’t been in contact too long, McRee already describes his relationship with Warehime as “really good,” and added that he’s “real easy to talk to.”

Warehime is far from the only one McRee can talk to about the Texas program.

After camping with the Horns earlier this month, McRee returned over the weekend for Texas’ Heat Wave pool party event, and while on campus, he talked with former Lake Travis Tight end Cade Brewer, who made it clear that he wants him to follow his footsteps to the Forty Acres.

“I think I’d fit in pretty well,” McRee said of how he would mesh with the tight ends in the Longhorns offense, noting that the offenses are similar, as first-year Lake Travis offensive coordinator Will Stein spent the previous three seasons as a quality control coach at Texas. “It would be an easy transition.”

Furthermore to that end, the transition could be made even easier given that McRee’s current quarterback, Hudson Card, is a headliner of the Horns’ 2020 class and will be acclimated on the Forty Acres by the time McRee would potentially arrive.

“That would definitely be awesome,” McRee said of possibly continuing to play with Card in college.

Though there’s reason to believe that Cavalier combo will continue on it burnt orange and white, as evident with each of his Crystal Ball picks projecting him to pick Texas, it’s far from a guarantee.

McRee admitted that his love for the Longhorns will play a role in his recruitment, but nevertheless, he wants to be as open as possible with the process and evaluate each of his options.

“I’m obviously going to do what’s best for me,” he said.

In any case, don’t expect a decision to come at any point in the foreseeable future, as he’s aiming to take each of his five official visits before bringing his recruitment to a close. More immediately, McRee isn’t sure what the rest of the summer holds, but he will be making the short trek to Fort Worth in the coming weeks to camp with TCU on July 26.