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Deja Kelly has looked many years into her basketball future -- and it is as a Texas Longhorn.
The 13-year-old seventh-grader from San Antonio's Luna Middle School committed to the University of Texas last month, according to reports.
Kelly's father, Darren Kelly, played for the Longhorns from 1999 to 2001. The 5-foot-8 teen, also a guard, reportedly accepted an offer from Texas during the Longhorns' football victory over Iowa State on Oct. 18.
“It was my dream school, because my dad went there," she told the San Antonio Express-News. "I've been putting in the work."
A photo of Deja in a Longhorns jersey with Texas coach Karen Aston and associate coach Travis Mays circulated on Twitter last month.
Young athletes who are years away from being eligible have been recruited by colleges from time to time; Kelly even has a male counterpart in the San Antonio area, quarterback Zadock Dinkelmann, who committed to LSU in February while still in junior high, the San Antonio Express-News noted.
But in all these cases, the agreements are verbal and non-binding. Deja cannot sign a letter of intent until November 2019, the paper wrote.
Still, "We are confident about the decision," Kelly's mom, Theresa Nunn, told ESPNW.
But Deja''s father told NBC's "Today" he would have preferred for Deja to have gone further through the recruiting process.
Asked if she might change her mind about Texas, the young teen, who began playing at age 3, told the outlet, "I don't think so."
H/T Today
