Thursday, April 30th is a day to circle on the calendar for Gators hoops fans as that is the day their top recruit in the class of 2021 Kowacie Reeves Jr. will make his college decision. According to the composite recruiting ranking he’s the 67th ranked player in the country, though a few services have him in the top 35 and it’s likely the outlets that have him lower will soon be raising him up.
Two weeks ago, Reeves Jr. announced his final list of schools that included Florida, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Stanford, and Tennessee, though when stating that Thursday would be decision day he narrowed down the list to only Florida, Georgia Tech, and Stanford. This trio speaks to his dedication to the classroom where he excels as well as the court, one of his positive traits as a prospective student athlete.
At 6’6” Reeves Jr. is a special player with a tremendously diverse skill set. Whether used with the ball in his hands as a play initiator where he can use a vast array of dribble moves or as a floor spacer where he can demonstrate an immaculate shooting stroke he’ll fit wherever a coach wants him in the offense and you can see why Florida’s staff is so high on him as that kind of versatility has been lacking on the perimeter recently. The thing that most points to how elite he is as a prospect is when you talk to different scouts who have watched him play throughout the years. You see, some scouts that you talk to will describe him as one of the most athletic players in the class and will show you film of him flying above the rim and then using that athleticism to lock down defensively on the other end. Then, you talk to other scouts and they describe him as one of the best shooters in the class who they project to be a 40% three-point shooter in college. When you put together his athletic gifts and his shooting ability you can see why he has the chance to be a special player.
According to my sources, the Gators are going to receive amazing news on Thursday and that makes sense. Florida was the first team to ever offer him all the way back in May of 2018 and he has kept the tweet announcing the offer pinned to the top of his account ever since. Not only were the Gators the first to offer him but they’ve kept on him constantly ever since and that momentum is a big reason that many people think he’ll be wearing orange and blue.
It’s not a typical team for Florida to be battling for a recruit but the school to keep an eye out for here is Stanford. Academics are clearly a high priority for Reeves Jr. and while the Cardinal haven’t been overly relevant recently their recruiting has recently taken a big upswing. They have the 14th overall class in 2020 and already have a top 30 player committed for 2021 so landing Reeves Jr. wouldn’t be completely out of sorts here.
Georgia Tech has home state advantage but the basketball situation is a little bit shaky. They do project to be better in the upcoming season but they’ve gotten slapped around in the ACC in recent history and with the 57th ranked class in 2020 and no commits in the 2021 class there isn’t any big names or noted talent for Reeves Jr. to join.
Considering the Gators have recruited him for so long it would be great for the Gators to land Kowacie Reeves Jr. He fits exactly what the team needs from both a skill, versatility, and personality standpoint and with so many hours invested in recruiting him over the last two year it would be rather heartbreaking to miss out. He didn’t say the exact time on Thursday when he’ll be making his announcement but keep an eye out for who is expected to be the first Gator in the class of 2021.