RRR: 2010 Auburn-Decommit Heath Houston Commits to VCU!

districtballer

districtballer

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With the news of Kasey Wilson's decommitment 2 weeks ago, the VCU staff got to working hard to replace him. The hard work paid off. With just a 2 week turnaround VCU got great news yesterday when 6'8, 240 pound PF Heath Houston gave his commitment to Shaka Smart and the VCU coaching staff. Houston was a part of Auburn's #6 rated national class for 2010 (#2 in the SEC behind Kentucky) and signed with Jeff Lebo in the fall over offers from Cincinnati, Winthrop, and Tulane. With Jeff Lebo's firing this spring, Houston decommitted after Tony Barbee took the reins at Auburn. He was named 2nd team All-State in Georgia at the 4A classification. Interestingly enough we are trading a Georgia player (Issiah Grayson) for another one hailing from the same state. Houston ultimately chose the Rams over ECU where Jeff Lebo (the coach he signed with at Auburn) was really after him to become a Pirate. Clemson out of the ACC and fellow CAA-member Drexel were battling for Houston's services as well. Houston is a 2010 commit who will join Juvonte Reddic, Reco McCarter, Toby Veal, Rob Brandenberg, and DJ Haley. The Fab Five have now become the Super Six.

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Former Auburn-signee and VCU's newest 2010 recruit Heath Houston

Houston has a college-ready body at 6'8, 240 pounds and is a face-up 4 who is pretty skilled and has a nice jumper out to 20 feet. He's yet another lefty who will be a great on-the-ball defender in the press for the Rams. He is not highly-rated by recruiting services (83 ESPN grade, Scout 2 star, unranked by Rivals), but his offers do speak for themselves. He has a high-major body and has shown flashes of high-major ability during his high school career. While he may not be an impact player in the SEC, he is more than good enough at the CAA level. He will be a steady 4-year player for the Rams who won't be flashy, but will get the job done. He is also a fairly good athlete (though not as explosive as Toby Veal) who will give us even more frontcourt depth with Jamie Skeen, Toby Veal, Juvonte Reddic, and DJ Haley.

VCU's Coaching Staff is recruiting at a very high level with well-regarded players and building for a bright future. Just when we thought the 2010 class couldn't get any better, we get a SEC decommit to cap off the class! Awesome stuff from Shaka and crew! Ladies and Gentlemen, I officially present the full VCU 2010 recruiting class: Reco McCarter, Juvonte Reddic, Toby Veal, Rob Brandenberg, DJ Haley, and Heath Houston! GO RAMS!

Read the original post at:

http://theramrecruitingreport.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-auburn-decommit-heath-houston.html
 
Another aside, Heath is a very bright young man. He planned on majoring in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn. He will pursue a career in Mechanical Engineering at VCU. Looks like DJ and Heath are going to be in the same field! :lol:

Here's what Jeff Lebo had to say about Heath in Auburn's fall signing press release:

"Heath Houston is a very strong inside player," said Lebo. "He is kind of an undersized player who can play the four and the three for us. He is big, strong, has a tremendous upside and is explosive around the basket area."
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http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111809aaa.html

Here's what ESPN's Mike LaPlante had to say about Houston's signing with Auburn:

Auburn landed its first commitment in the class of 2010 when power forward Heath Houston picked the Tigers on Friday, according to multiple sources. He chose Auburn over Winthrop and Cincinnati.

ESPN.com Recruiting Coordinator Mike LaPlante likes this recruit for head coach Jeff Lebo and his staff.

"This is a great get for coach Lebo; to go in to Atlanta and pluck a good one away from the Georgia schools," said LaPlante. "Heath is a big time sleeper with tremendous upside.

"He's improved his skill level and is more confident playing with his face to the basket, but he needs to develop a dominant attitude in the post before gravitating to the perimeter."

"He has a quick bounce of the floor and finished a few plays on the break with an explosive jam."

"He's a good shot blocker and rebounder when he puts his mind to it and I like his potential, but would like to see more consistency."
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http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recr...hool?schoolId=2&page=briefingroom&season=2010
 
Awesome name... welcome Heath!

So he's not really replacing Wilson, as he was 2011, but instead we're just getting one more for this year.
 
ShoeSh1ne said:
Awesome name... welcome Heath!

So he's not really replacing Wilson, as he was 2011, but instead we're just getting one more for this year.
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He's replacing Wilson as far as his position and that's who we went after in response to Kasey's decommitment. He's 2010 and will be taking Issiah Grayson's scholarship to do it.
 
I don't know anything about the young man, so I'll wait and see if more info comes out and I'll trust the coaching staff on this one. I thought we would be better off sitting on Grayson's scholarship for 2011.

All that being said, if this is true welcome to VCU!

districtballer said:
Houston was a part of Auburn's #6 rated national class for 2010 (#2 in the SEC behind Kentucky) and signed with Jeff Lebo in the fall over offers from Cincinnati, Winthrop, and Tulane.
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districtballer said:
He is not highly-rated by recruiting services (83 ESPN grade, Scout 2 star, unranked by Rivals), but his offers do speak for themselves.
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This is great news for the Rams. I heard he had an excellent visit last weekend and I'm glad the staff was able to seal the deal. I'm sure Larry going at #15 did not hurt the cause any. He had not only commited to Auburn but had also signed an LOI so he had to secure his release after the firing of Lebo. I know that Jeff really coveted him and wanted him to be one of his major building blocks at ECU.

Bob Gibbons who is easily one of the premier scouting gurus out there had Heath ranked #181 when he signed with Auburn. To put this in perspective he had Hippolyte Tsafack who signed with Memphis ranked #198 and Jonathan Graham who signed with Penn State #200. I mention these two prospects because both are about the same size and we recruited both at the PF slot. Hoop Scoop and some of the other services had him very highly regarded as well. Securing a decommit from an SEC school whose recruiting class was ranked #6 in the nation is quite a feat.

The thumbnails on this kid all say he is a very good bouncey athlete who is very tough around the basket. He is also considered a very good shot blocker and rebounder as well as defender. Perhaps what surprises me most is that he is said to have a good shot out to 20. He is your classic face-up Power Forward as DB pointed out. Heath has started since the 9th grade and had a 3.3 GPA his Junior year. Two engineering majors in one class -Wow!

This signing continues a very significant trend with respect to VCU's recruiting. ALL of the kids we signed could have gone higher. This is often how you judge a recruiting class early on before actually seeing how the kids perform in real time at the D-I level. This certainly bodes well for the future of this program.
 
In terms of using the scholarship now as opposed to holding it for 2011 a couple of points may be in order. I understand that the staff believed Heath was just too good to pass on if we had a shot at him. Also it is so very difficult to secure bigs at the Mid-Major level that when the opportunity presents itself you must pounce on it. Frankly, I would rather use the scholarship on a big four year guy vs. a transfer assuming of course that he is a baller.

Although this is a rather large recruiting class frequently when you see mids make a run in the tournament they have five or six guys that have played together for several years. This can be the great equalizer and can often lead to putting a very special team on the floor for a couple of years.
 
Ram it home said:
we gotta pull out a redshirt or two. Too much talent to see it leave at the same time.
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Right on I could see us having 1 or even 2 redshirts given how big this class is.
 
districtballer said:
Ram it home said:
we gotta pull out a redshirt or two. Too much talent to see it leave at the same time.
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Right on I could see us having 1 or even 2 redshirts given how big this class is.
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I would say rob certainly (too many guards) and maybe DJ
 
Great news. You never have too many 6'8" guys who can play.
 
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