2020 RECRUITINGDeja KellyNov 3,
2014"
Deja Kelly has been recruited to play basketball for the University of Texas women's team ... in 2020. The San Antonio seventh grader gave a verbal commitment to women's basketball coach Karen Aston on Saturday, October 18 during the Texas vs. Iowa State football game.
Though she's only 13, the recruiting process isn't new for Kelly.
Multiple colleges have been scoping her out since she was 11. While the verbal commitment does not legally bind Kelly to UT, no one is concerned about her dedication to the team. Her
father, Darren Kelly, played for the UT men's basketball team from 1999 until 2001, and her mother confirms that Kelly's desire is to be a Longhorn.
"I know kids change their minds on a daily basis," Theresa Nunn, tells ESPN. "But this is something she's been pretty concrete with for the past five or six years."
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Nicole Raney, Austin Culture Map, 2 Nov 2014***************Nov 18,
2019"
Deja Kelly announced over Twitter on Monday that she has
committed to North Carolina. The 5-foot-8 guard, listed as the No. 17 player in the class of 2020, originally committed to Texas in seventh grade. But half a decade and a high school career passed, and Kelly decommitted in October. She had
interest in Texas A&M, Duke, Minnesota, Notre Dame and Oregon, according to ESPN.
Finally,
in late July, the final school reached out to Kelly: North Carolina.Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart convinced her Chapel Hill was the place she could contend and grow as a college athlete.
"She told me her plans for me, her vision to help build UNC into a national title team," Kelly told ESPN.
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Excerpts from Logan Newman, USA Today, 18 Nov 2019