If the kid himself is to be believed, which I'm more inclined to do given his distain for the recruiting circus, he recently told Sam Spiegelman that he decided on a school "about a month-plus ago" and currently feels even more confident in that decision. If CTJ and certain 9.95'ers are to believed, this isn't an NIL-focused recruitment, such that one wouldn't expect this to be a last minute bag battle with schools jockeying for position down to the wire.
With that backdrop, what schools other than Texas were under serious consideration about a month ago? OU and tOSU were squarely in the top group, but last I checked neither have since moved their campus closer to Lafayette, and OU hasn't skyrocketed up the USNWR rankings. A&M was viewed as a blip on the edge of the radar, largely written off in the "just a hat on the table" category with LSU. If this was a NIL-focused recruitment, the alleged A&M "resurgence" would mean a lot more.
The only school that checks the "location" and "academic" boxes AND was in the contending group when McKinley said he made his decision? Texas.
All of the last-minute 9.95'er reporting is noise for clicks.