2026 center Josh Irving commits to Texas A&M basketball

Four-star center Josh Irving‍ has announced his commitment to Texas A&M basketball.

The top-60 prospect picked the Aggies over Kentucky and Louisville.

The 6-foot-11 center from Pasadena, Calif, is the No. 7 overall player in the Golden State, the No. 4 center and the No. 51 overall player in the class of 2026.

I first saw Irving play here in Bryan at the PRO 16 AAU tournament, where he impressed both Bucky McMillan and Mitch Cole to earn his official offer from A&M at the end of that event.

This was right after Irving received one of his first big-time offers from Kansas as a fringe top 100 player, and now he has moved up into the top 60 across all the major recruiting sites. The high-riser has flown up the recruiting rankings this summer and has had all the top programs fighting for his talent.

Irving impressed with his natural 3-point shooting despite being nearly seven feet tall. A lethal stretch five like him should be the perfect fit in McMillan’s system. The athleticism, vision and passing skills are unique for a player of his size, and he’s continuing to develop those traditional big man skills as an effective rim-runner, shot-blocker and lob threat.

Irving was this staff’s top priority at center in this class, and the Aggies were leading this recruitment for most of the fall with Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats. Irving got an in-home visit in the middle of September as the A&M staff tried to pull away from their SEC foe. Late surges from Kansas, Louisville and USC added more official visits to Irving’s schedule, but this staff always felt good about their chances if they could get Irving to campus for his official visit while he was still uncommitted. After visiting the Cards and the Jayhawks in September, McMillan got Irving to Aggieland during the weekend of the Auburn football game. After taking one more visit to Kentucky, Irving narrowed his focus to A&M, Kentucky and Louisville. In an intense battle with Pope and Pat Kelsey, McMillan closed the deal.

This is another massive recruiting win for Bucky Ball and A&M, as McMillan & Co. continue to prove they are legit heavyweights on the national recruiting scene.

Irving joins top-50 guard Neiko Mundey‍ in McMillan’s first recruiting class. They now have two top-60 players committed in the same class for the first time since 2015, when Cole, Kyle Keller and Billy Kennedy put together a top-five recruiting class.

Welcome to the new era of A&M basketball recruiting.