The #6 ranked recruit coming out of high school last spring Aaron Shackell has announced his commitment to Texas. Shackell entered the transfer portal at the beginning of April.
“After much thought and consideration, I’ve decided I will continue my athletic and academic careers at the University of Texas. Hook ‘em!”
Shackell spent the fall semester at Cal and then headed back home to Carmel, Indiana for an Olympic Redshirt in the spring semester. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
His biggest meet in the fall was midseason as he swam a personal best time by 0.84 seconds in the 200 butterfly with a 1:43.40. He also swam a 4:22.77 in the 500 free and a 1:36.76 in the 200 free.
Since returning home during the winter break, Shackell swam numerous LCM best times at the end of March at Indianapolis Sectionals. His best times included a 49.46 in the 100 free and a 1:46.35 in the 200 free. His old best times were a 49.52 in the 100 and a 1:47.07 in the 200. As of today, May 5th, his 200 freestyle time from Indianapolis Sectionals is the #3 time for the US men so far this season.
In June 2023, Shackell competed at US Summer Nationals. There he was highlighted by a 6th place finish in the 400 freestyle and a 9th place finish in the 200 butterfly. He also finished 13th in the 200 free and 25th in prelims of the 100 butterfly.
Shackell’s best SCY times are:
- 200 free: 1:32.85
- 500 free: 4:15.35
- 200 fly: 1:43.40
Shackell’s best SCY time in the 200 free would have earned him an NCAA invite this year as it took a 1:32.93 in the event to earn an individual invite. It took a 4:14.90 in the 500 free and a 1:42.10 in the 200 fly.
Shackell was the #6 ranked recruit of last fall’s incoming freshman class. With the addition of Shackell, Texas now has three of the the top 20 ranked recruits from the class of 2023 as the team already included #2 Will Modglin and #5 Nate Germonprez.
The Texas men are loading up their roster this upcoming season and will be under Bob Bowman after Bowman was hired on April 1st from Arizona State. Also joining the roster is World Champion Hubert Kos and David Johnston is expected to return from his Olympic Redshirt season. The team also returns Coby Carrozza for his fifth year. The team finished 7th at 2024 NCAAs and had seven individual qualifiers.
It was originally announced that Shackell would take his redshirt while training with his club team, Carmel Swim Club, and that he would return to Cal this fall. Shackell’s younger siblings are both committed to Cal. Alex Shackell, the #1 recruit for the girls class of 2025, committed last September. Andrew Shackell is committed to the Cal men for 2025.
How do you graduate in 4 years if you change schools? Some change more than one time. Swimming isn’t everything and most people can’t make a good living at it. Should you put priority on books rather than water?
Grade inflation at colleges is rampant. It isn’t that hard. Getting in is the hard part …
So true!
It is likely he took local community college courses while he was home. While this would not help with this major necessarily (there’s some requirement about taking “x” number of major courses at the University), it would certainly help with the general education requirement. It’s also likely that he will spend the summers at Texas training, so he will be able to take one or two courses then.
True however you most likely have to pay out of your pocket for an extra year of college.
As I have indicated in a number of posts under different circumstances, UT men’s swimming may NOT have to wait 2 years to pop back into the Top 3. Bowman is obviously the magic sauce that’s causing things to move – and I don’t mean Kos!
No duh
Captain obvious has arrived
Texas hooked him. He now wants Texas to hook others. It appears he wants to be where everyone at the moment appears to want to go.
Should have never made him do that 100 kick on his birthday.
Cal is so mid
Preach
Hope I am wrong, but, sadly, he will never see the NCAA roster at Texas. Too many Alpha males thinking they are God’s gift to swimming. Bowman is a good coach, but NCAAs only take 17. Alex won’t make it. Cal is a better choice.
What a subtle diss of Cal.
What?
Of all the many idiotic takes that appear on this site, this is number one, at least for today…
I would rather be PART of a winning team than the STAR of a losing team.
Go figure!
You are so toxic my man
Pretty much every NBA player would take a championship over an MVP award… so is he really?
looking at the sum of his posts… 100%
Quick to judge without knowing the individuals
This looks like a really bad take considering he just punched his ticket to Paris.
Welcome to The Forty! We’re glad you’ve chosen to be a Longhorn.
My guess is this is a classic case of grass greener on the other side. I’ve never met his parents, but I knew of them in the club scene here and I hear they are kind of “those” Swim Parents who think their kids should always be going faster all the time and if they aren’t, it’s the coaches fault. From what I have seen, Cal trains like mad men all year long and waits to go fast at the end of the year when it counts. If that was the case then maybe he (or his parents) just couldn’t get used to not swimming as fast as he wanted to midseason. It would’ve been interesting to see what he… Read more »
Heard something similar ..
I actually laughed at loud reading this total nonsense comment.
I find it hard to believe that even the most swim-parenty swim parents would encourage a transfer after only a few months.
I’m sure he has his reasons which we’ll probably never know.
I’m sad we’ll never see him at NCAAs as a Bear but I hope he has success on his new team.
His parents swam for Dave and Dave and are a part of why all 3 Shackells committed to Cal in the first place. Seems unlikely that they would have been the driving force on this.
With how Cal treats their freshman he probably just wouldn’t make the Conference roster if he stuck it out and the 4:22/1:36 he went at midseason would have been his best swims. Wouldn’t be in a prime position to make an Olympic team like he is now
Gotta believe that the three months of solid training he had at Cal provided him a strong foundation for the success he’s having now. Wish him the best!