Kruger, Sooners land 2014 Big Man
August 23, 2012 by OUHoops
Filed under Featured, Latest News, Recruiting
The first signing period for the 2013 doesn’t begin until November, but that hasn’t stopped Lon Kruger from working on the 2014 class.
On Thursday, Kruger and the Sooners landed 2014 Oklahoma City prospect Jacob Hammond. The 6-foot-10 Hammond averaged 12 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game for the home-schooled Oklahoma City Storm as a sophomore last season.
Hammond is from Duncan, Okla. and will play for the OKC Sky home-school team this upcoming year.
OUHoops.com was able to catch up with the Oklahoma standout to get his thoughts on becoming a Sooner.
“It feels great, really great,” said Hammond on his decision.
The talented center has long been on OU’s radar since Kruger took over last year, but had also started to receive heavy interest from Creighton along with interest from Oklahoma State, Tulsa, California, Pepperdine, and others. He has been a frequent visitor to Oklahoma over the past year, and that factored into his decision.
“I feel really connected with them (the coaches). I like the staff, the players, so I think I I’ll fit in real well. I also like the campus.”
Hammond is still a relative newcomer to the game of basketball, only picking it up seriously a few years ago.
“It’s a great feeling because of the progress I have made in the past couple years, you can imagine the player I can be two years from now,” said Hammond on seeing his hard work pay off by his commitment to Oklahoma.
Hammond though knows he still has room to work to reach his full potential.
“Getting bigger in the weight room, footwork and explosiveness,” said Hammond about his priorities between now and suiting up for Oklahoma in 2014.
He also wants to add to his game.
“Right now I’m just a center. I want to work on transitioning to college and being able to play power forward. I want to be able to shoot and not be one-dimensional.”
He is currently ranked as the 2nd-best prospect in Oklahoma by OKHoops.com.
Wichita Falls (Hirschi HS) head coach Donald Hedge had this to say about Hammond after watching him this summer at various OKHoops events over the last year.
“I see a lot of the top young big guys in Texas and there is not a kid in his class that I’ve seen in the DFW area that I would pick over Hammond,” Hedge said. “That kid has a motor and just plays hard all the time. I would love to go to war with him on my side.”
Below are highlights of Hammond in action from OKHoops.com:
