'No Better Place!' 2025 Texas QB Commit KJ Lacey Opens Up About Longhorns Commitment at Elite 11 Finals

Class of 2025 4-star QB KJ Lacey is loving the recruiting from Texas this summer, and hopes to help out head coach Steve Sarkisian in making the team even better.

Saraland's KJ Lacey passes against Mountain Brook during the AHSAA Class 6A State Football Championship Game at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Friday December 2, 2022. Ms04 / Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY

Despite the commitment of On3’s No. 4 quarterback in the 2026 class Dia Bell, 2025 Texas commit KJ Lacey is not thinking about other colleges to represent as he takes on the Elite 11 Finals.

“I don’t think there’s a better place to be in the country than Texas right now,” Lacey told Longhorns Country Publisher Matt Galatzan. “My official visit is right after this ends on the 21st, there’s a couple of big-name targets out there that we want to get, I’ll have fun with that also.”

Lacey is one of the finalists in the Elite 11 competition, a yearly high school quarterback competition hosted at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Lacey was one of the premier passers in a group of 20 of the best-rising senior quarterbacks in the nation. The competition has included the likes of Vince Young, Sam Ehlinger, and more recently Quinn Ewers.

When asked about Bell, Lacey instantly noted his friendship with the 2026 commit.

“We played on the same seven-on-seven team, that’s how I got to know him,” Lacey said. “We just kinda clicked, we’re homeboys now. After he went on his first visit at Texas he said they were his number one right now, I was like ‘I already told you how it would be when you go up there’.”

Lacey added that there is no one recruiting the quarterback position better than Texas, and shared his love for head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback coach AJ Milwee.

“When you go there you feel like a home, (there are) family vibes,” Lacey said. “On top of that, it’s not just what they show you there but what you can be when you get there. They’ll develop you to be the best.”

Jan 1, 2024; New Orleans, LA, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian arrives ahead of the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semifinals against the Washington Huskie in the 2024 Sugar Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman-USA TODAY Sports / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman-USA

Lacey is a big recruiter himself, helping to push for a wide receiver class that could include three of On3’s top four receivers in the class of 2025. Jaime Ffrench, the No. 19 player in the nation, has already gotten familiar with Lacey.

“I was out here messing around with Ffrench the whole time,” Lacey said. “I have him and Kaliq (Lockett) on the official visit this week.”

With hopes of signing Ffrench, Lockett and No. 1 receiver in the nation Dakorien Moore, Lacey has a lot of helping out to do as the quarterback of the future for the Longhorns when he visits this weekend.