Hawkins talks USF commitment

Posted Oct 28, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Oct 28, 2011 at 05:16 PM

I’m a little late getting this up, but I was able to catch up with Huntington Prep (W. Va.) guard JaVontae Hawkins, the newest member of USF men’s basketball coach Stan Heath’s 2012-13 recruiting class.

Hawkins, regarded as a Top 100 national recruit by both CBSSports.com and ESPN.com, gave a verbal pledge to the Bulls on Monday after spending the weekend in Tampa with his parents while on an official visit to USF’s campus.

“We just loved it from the start. Just seeing the campus, hanging out with the players, the coaches, getting a great feel for it,” said Hawkins, adding the athletic-academic combination was just what he was looking for, feeling USF would help prepare him for life after basketball. “When it all boils down, I feel like I made the right decision for me and my family.”

Hawkins said he was also strongly considering West Virginia, Iowa, Arizona State, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt, but the relationship he formed with the Bulls staff over the last 18 months, in particular with Heath, helped push USF to the top.

“Coach Heath is just a great guy. He’s a Michigan guy, like me,” said Hawkins, who is from Flint, Mich. “Me and him always had such a close relationship.”

Huntington Prep coach Rob Fulford described the 6-foot-5 Hawkins as a tremendous athlete who knows how to score, and Hawkins said he thought his game fit in well with what the Bulls like to do on the court.

“I’m an athletic guy,” Hawkins said. “I can get up and down the floor. I like to do all the dirty work. I’m always going to play my hardest, play good defense. I’m going to attack the basket and get my teammates involved. Overall, I’m just trying to win. That’s the type of player I am.”

Hawkins is the third member of what has shaped up as arguably Heath’s best recruiting class during his tenure with USF. The group also includes junior college prospects Waverly Austin, a 6-foot-11 center from Palm Beach State, and 6-foot-5 guard Musa Abdul-Aleem of Georgia Perimeter College.

All three players plan to sign with the Bulls during the early period, which begins Nov. 9.