With just two players signed in the Class of 2019 and the potential need for as many as four more, the Kansas basketball coaching staff continues to pound the pavement in search of future Jayhawks and new names are turning up every week.
The newest name on KU’s radar is that of 4-star prospect Harlond Beverly, a 6-foot-4, 170-pound shooting guard from Montverde (Fla.) Academy who recently received a scholarship offer from the Jayhawks.
Ranked No. 59 overall in the 2019 class and up 14 spots from his previous mark of No. 73 in the last round of Rivals.com rankings, Beverly is an interesting prospect for a couple of reasons.
No. 1, the mere fact that Kansas continues to look at guards even though the only two players currently signed in the 2019 class play that position is an indication that there could be some validity to the idea that Quentin Grimes, K.J. Lawson [could join Charlie Moore in moving on this offseason.][1]
No. 2, the program for which Beverly currently plays is also noteworthy given the fact that he’s a current teammate of another KU target, 5-star forward Precious Achiuwa, who is expected to make his decision sometime in late May. There’s not always a connection when a program like Kansas recruits teammates from the same school, but there’s no doubt that Achiuwa, who made an official visit to KU a few weeks ago, definitely could give Beverly some more feedback on what KU’s all about and what his visit was like.
Before we go any further, we should probably get to the most important part of this whole thing — who the heck is Harlond Beverly to begin with?
Good question.
Originally from Farmington Hills, Mich., (just outside of Detroit), the shooting guard who starts and wears No. 10 at Montverde helped lead the Eagles to a 21-2 record during the 2018-19 regular season.
Montverde is currently preparing to make a run at a national title at the 8-team GEICO High School National Championship Tournament, April 4-6 in New York City.
In addition to several double-digit outings, Beverly won Game MVP honors back in December after a 57-50 victory over Paul VI at the Takeover Event in Washington D.C., where he led all scorers with 20 points, on 9-of-9 shooting, and added 4 steals in Montverde’s victory.
According to Rivals.com recruiting analyst Corey Evans, Beverly is unlikely to make a decision until making his official visits and, as of today, the shooting guard already has visited Indiana, unofficially, and plans to visit Georgia, which would leave him with plenty of official visits still to take if he so chooses.
According to Shay Wildeboor of JayhawkSlant.com, Beverly is closing in on 20 offers from Division I programs, a fact that both inspires him beam with pride and makes the decision that much harder.
According to reports, Baylor and Xavier were the first to show serious interest in Detroit native, who left home to play his senior season at Montverde and bolstered his stock tremendously. Georgia, Miami (Fla.), Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Michigan State, Ohio State and, of course, Kansas, are some of the other programs in the mix for Beverly as we approach April.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2019/mar/30/sophomore-guard-charlie-moore-transfer-ku/
