Football: Four-star BYU recruit says he'll decide soon
Hamani Stevens, the four-star recruit (Scout.com and Rivals.com) from California's Hemet High School, rated as the top offensive center in the country, looked around the room after a dinner for recruits in Provo on Saturday night when it suddenly dawned on him.
"I guess I was the only one there that wasn't committed to BYU," he said. "It was pretty tempting. I mean, all the coaches would come up to me and say, 'what about you?' It was kind of wild, but still fun."
All-conference offensive lineman Ray Feinga was his host in Provo, he said.
Stevens, 6-foot-4, 290, was one of four uncommitted recruits when the weekend began in Provo, but on Saturday BYU got oral commitments from Florida receiver O'Neill Chambers, California linebacker Uona Kaveinga (another four-star recruit) and California defensive tackle Solomone Kafu.
Chambers and Kaveinga are considered huge gets for the Cougars, while Kafu could turn out to be a major find as well, considering he was somewhat unknown due to a foot injury that caused him to miss his entire junior season.
With all the committing going on, Stevens said it was difficult to not pull the trigger, but he stayed true to a promise he has made to himself to not commit until he is totally sure.
"I will probably make my decision either at the end of this week or middle of next week -- probably some time in the next two weeks," he said.
The two-way lineman said Oregon coaches are visiting his home on Wednesday, BYU (coach Mark Weber and coach Brandon Doman) is visiting on Thursday and Arizona State is visiting a week from Tuesday.
Asked whether he had pared it down to those three schools, he said, "Yeah, mostly."
Asked whether UCLA, the school he committed to last spring before coach Karl Dorrell was fired, was out of the picture now, he said, "Yeah, a little bit. Since the coaching change I think I have gotten only [a few] calls from them. I am kind of looking at them a little, but not really, though."
Stevens has used up his five NCAA allotted official visits, having also tripped to Colorado and Michigan State. He has been to UCLA unofficially (paid his own way) several times, he said.
He noted that the BYU visit was "different" than the other four.
"Just in the way that they approach you," he said. "A lot of other schools like to sweeten things up and try to tell you things you want to hear. BYU just gives you the facts. They say, 'here it is, take it or leave it. The offer is on the table, if you want it, come get it.'"
Although BYU is seemingly at its scholarship limit, or maybe even beyond it, Stevens said he was not given a deadline to commit.
"They just told me, 'Whenever you are ready to make the decision, we will stand by you,'" he said.
"I guess I was the only one there that wasn't committed to BYU," he said. "It was pretty tempting. I mean, all the coaches would come up to me and say, 'what about you?' It was kind of wild, but still fun."
All-conference offensive lineman Ray Feinga was his host in Provo, he said.
Stevens, 6-foot-4, 290, was one of four uncommitted recruits when the weekend began in Provo, but on Saturday BYU got oral commitments from Florida receiver O'Neill Chambers, California linebacker Uona Kaveinga (another four-star recruit) and California defensive tackle Solomone Kafu.
Chambers and Kaveinga are considered huge gets for the Cougars, while Kafu could turn out to be a major find as well, considering he was somewhat unknown due to a foot injury that caused him to miss his entire junior season.
With all the committing going on, Stevens said it was difficult to not pull the trigger, but he stayed true to a promise he has made to himself to not commit until he is totally sure.
"I will probably make my decision either at the end of this week or middle of next week -- probably some time in the next two weeks," he said.
The two-way lineman said Oregon coaches are visiting his home on Wednesday, BYU (coach Mark Weber and coach Brandon Doman) is visiting on Thursday and Arizona State is visiting a week from Tuesday.
Asked whether he had pared it down to those three schools, he said, "Yeah, mostly."
Asked whether UCLA, the school he committed to last spring before coach Karl Dorrell was fired, was out of the picture now, he said, "Yeah, a little bit. Since the coaching change I think I have gotten only [a few] calls from them. I am kind of looking at them a little, but not really, though."
Stevens has used up his five NCAA allotted official visits, having also tripped to Colorado and Michigan State. He has been to UCLA unofficially (paid his own way) several times, he said.
He noted that the BYU visit was "different" than the other four.
"Just in the way that they approach you," he said. "A lot of other schools like to sweeten things up and try to tell you things you want to hear. BYU just gives you the facts. They say, 'here it is, take it or leave it. The offer is on the table, if you want it, come get it.'"
Although BYU is seemingly at its scholarship limit, or maybe even beyond it, Stevens said he was not given a deadline to commit.
"They just told me, 'Whenever you are ready to make the decision, we will stand by you,'" he said.
2 Comments:
I like the sound of this guy. I lke the sound of how BYU treates these guys.
If Stevens is reading this:
I live in Oregon. It's wet and not really a nice place to live (okay, I'm lying about the nice place to live part, but it's not for everyone). And as for Arizona, it is, well, just a big, hot desert. BYU is the promised land. Can't go wrong there...
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