Kansas will make its recruiting pitch to a pair of Kansas City-area basketball players this weekend.
Jeff Hawkins, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Kansas City Sumner, and Jamar Howard, a 6-5 guard/forward from Shawnee Mission Miege, head to Lawrence today for the start of their official KU campus visits.
They’ll attend Saturday’s KU-Kansas State football game.
“It’s very exciting for Jeff,” Hawkins’ mom, Addy, said Thursday. “To be recruited by coach Williams is an honor. It’s been a great experience.
“I can’t think of any person who wouldn’t like (KU coach) Roy Williams. He’s a fine example of a human being open and honest. He told us, ‘I know of no other way to be than brutally honest.”‘
So Williams isn’t hiding the fact his No. 1 point guard prospect is Aaron Miles of Portland, Ore. The 6-foot Miles will visit KU for Late Night With Roy Williams a week from today and choose either KU, Oregon, UCLA or Arizona.
Hawkins, who averaged 17.7 points and 3.5 steals a game last season, has visited Indiana State and is also considering Wyoming, Wichita State and Long Beach State.
Howard, an athletic player who averaged 19.9 points a game last season, is also considering Iowa, Creighton, Wichita State, Bradley, Indiana State and others.
If KU does not offer scholarship, there’s a chance both players could sign in April, with other major colleges likely to get involved. At one point, UCLA appeared interested in Howard.
KU has already received an oral commitment from Kansan Wayne Simien, a 6-8 forward from Leavenworth High.
Hawkins, Howard and Simien all play for the Kansas City 76ers AAU team, which two summers ago won the 16 and under AAU national title and this year placed sixth at 18-under nationals.
“Wayne is about the best big man I saw all summer,” Hawkins said of Simien. “Jamar doesn’t even have to practice. He’s so athletic he just goes out there and takes over. It’d be a dream to play in college with Wayne and Jamar.”
Of Hawkins, Simien said: “He’s really good, probably another one of those guys who slip through the cracks. He is like the general on the court. He runs the show. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders and handles it well.”
Of Howard, Simien said: “Jamar jumps out of the gym. He’s fast and is always hustling. He’s one of the best athletes I saw all summer.”
Josh Childress, a 6-5 swingman from Lakewood, Calif., tells rivals100hoops.com he was to meet with KU coach Roy Williams on Thursday night. Childress will visit KU on Oct. 13-14 with fellow Californian Jamal Sampson (6-11 center), plus Oregon guards Miles and Michael Lee. Childress visited Stanford last weekend.
Chuck Hayes, a 6-6 forward from Modesto, Calif., will visit St. Louis this weekend, Kentucky on Oct. 13-14 and Pepperdine later this month.
Hayes, who has already visited KU and UTEP, says the Jayhawks lead for his services.
“I loved Kansas a lot,” Hayes told Insider’s Report. “The academics, coach Williams, the players, the support they have.”
