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Eagle-96 · November 20, 2002

Tech gets a really early pledge

Greenville basketball player commits to Tech – in 10th grade

11/20/2002

By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News

All Greenville sophomore Justin Wilkerson wanted to do was secure his college future.

The 16-year-old with size-17 shoes may have walked into history in the process.

Wilkerson, a 6-8 forward, orally committed to Texas Tech on Monday, even though he won't be able to join the Red Raiders basketball team until the fall of 2005. Recruiting experts say it's the first time a Texas high school player committed as a sophomore.

Oral commitments are non-binding. Wilkerson cannot sign a national letter of intent until November 2004, when he will be a senior at Greenville. Wilkerson said Tech coach Bob Knight has promised a full scholarship even if the sophomore gets hurt in high school.

Wilkerson can wait, though. He's more preoccupied with sophomore English and borrowing the family car since receiving his driver's license this summer. Wilkerson's birthday was in March, but he was too busy playing basketball to get a license then.

"This is a done deal," Wilkerson said. "Coach Knight was real excited. He said congratulations, and that this will help our team and our recruiting and all kinds of other good stuff. He's just real excited. He's more excited than I am by the way he sounded."

Knight is no stranger to dealing with younger players. While at Indiana, Knight offered guard Damon Bailey a scholarship when Bailey was in eighth grade. Bailey became an All-Big Ten and third-team All-American as a Hoosier.

Wilkerson has averaged 19.5 points and 16 rebounds in Greenville's first two games this season. He averaged 16.1 points and eight rebounds as a freshman on the varsity. Wilkerson also had 100 blocks and sank 40 3-pointers.

Greenville coach Rusty Harden said Wilkerson resembles former Tech center Andy Ellis, a player who could post up, rebound, play solid defense and step out and hit the occasional 3-pointer.

"He fits ideally in a way they play," Harden said. "But I don't know if he's through growing or not."

Knight first saw Wilkerson at the Great American Shoot-Out tournament in Denton this summer. Soon after, Wilkerson's mailbox started filling up with Tech information along with that of Baylor, Illinois and Tulsa.

Wilkerson said it was so early in the recruiting process that he had not developed a top-five list. Turns out, he didn't need one.

Mike Kunstadt, editor of Texas Hoops, has been tracking Texas basketball recruiting since 1988. During that time, no other player has committed this early, he said. Only a small number of juniors are beginning to commit early.

"Texas is just awesome with the talent in this state," said Kunstadt, who also organizes the Denton tournament. "The young kids today, they're not like young kids were 15 to 20 years ago. There's just no comparison in their game."

Wilkerson's commitment also gives Tech a better recruiting foothold in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Knight has wanted to reach into the talent-rich area since arriving at Tech in March 2001. Kunstadt said Tech's area recruiting efforts should improve once players see how Knight's program grows.

GMG!!!!

Beat SMS!!!!