St. James 2015 PG Justin Robinson picks Virginia Tech. #DMVhoops— Marcus Helton (@MarcusHelton) October 12, 2014
Justin Robinson, a 6-1 point guard from Manassas, Virginia (Saint James School), made a verbal commitment to Buzz Williams and Virginia Tech. The class of 2015 prospect picked the Hokies over Providence and UNLV today, his 17th birthday.
Justin Robinson emerged as one of the top point guards in the 2015 class this spring. Robinson is a high IQ PG who can navigate an offense.— Alex Kline (@TheRecruitScoop) October 12, 2014
Exciting get for Virginia Tech in Justin Robinson. Team-first guy who knows how to lead & make others better. Can facilitate & score.— Corey Pegram (@CoreyPegram) October 12, 2014
ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals.com rate Robinson as a 3-star prospect. ESPN Insider's scouting report summarizes Robinson's strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths: Robinson is a jack of trades point guard who is a solid floor general. He is battled tested and experienced against high levels of competition. The southpaw has shown the versatility and flexibility to play as a pass-first type distributor but also has enough individual offense to make plays for himself and others when necessary. He gets his team organized for each possession, plays strong with the ball along the perimeter, consistently looks to feed his big on the post, and can also find shooters in drive and kick action. He's most comfortable attacking in the open floor but can also negotiate a ball-screen in the half-court. He goes right into contact and gets himself to the free-throw line as a result, knocks down open shots from the three-point line, and has a high I.Q. Defensively, his quick feet and strong core make him valuable pressuring the ball while he's also very alert on the weak-side, quick to rotate and ready to take charges.
Weaknesses: While he is typically a steady decision maker, he can be guilty of both being too nonchalant with the ball at times as well as dropping his eyes when electing to attack at full speed. Consequently, his assist to turnover ratio is sometimes less than ideal. As a shooter he depends on room and rhythm and is also more consistent off the catch than the dribble. He lacks the dynamic quickness to be able to make plays on demand and so he isn't able to bail his team out in late shot-block situations as well as some other high level guards.
Robinson's AAU stats are courtesy of CollegeBasketballTalk.
He joins fellow three-star commit Kerry Blackshear, a 6-foot-8 power forward, Virginia Tech's Class of 2015.
Robinson played with Boo Williams this summer, appearing in 22 games in the Nike EYBL. On the grassroots circuit he averaged 6.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 15.7 minutes per game.
Comments
Great pickup! Buzz doing big things.
John Wall always gets a leg from me.
YAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!
The fact that they just beat the cousins makes this even better
Another Manassas kid. We're taking overrrr!
If you can survive going to Manassas Mall you can survive anything. Probably a resilient kid, I like our chances.
Reminds me of Kenny Anderson, here's hoping he has that type of career!
He looks good. If he wants to be PG, he needs to learn to finish with the right hand too. Overall, a solid pickup.
Anderson never really used his right hand but I agree, best to be able to use both.
yes, i love that i am now able to get excited about basketball season as well.
welcome to Hokie Nation!
You know I really like how this staff is identifying players they want and then going out and getting them.
great news for Buzz & the hokies. Buzz must be dancing right now. justing seems like a great future game manager for the hokies.
outstanding!
Great news for all involved! Thus far, Buzz has secured a 4-slot & a point gurad. Evidently he's also after a 2G & a 3. All these guys are being recruited by Power 5 conference teams, so it's not like we're competing against UNC-W for them. All indicators say Buzz loves grinders, and these guys both seem to fit that category.
It just goes to show that all the hand wringing over Buzz not hiring 'a locally based assistant with Mid-Atlantic ties' was overblown. Seems like Buzz's personal ties with Boo Williams have paid handsomely, proving again that hiring quality people nationally exceeds hiring less just because they're local. Buzz knows what he's doing, his resume proves that!
All in, baby!
Buzz did bring with him a staff member with significant Mid Atlantic ties in Jeff Reynolds, the Director of Basketball Operations, who coached at eight schools in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina prior to working for Buzz. This get was primarily through the Boo Williams connection but dont underestimate how important Reynolds will be with opening doors, especially in southern Virginia and North Carolina. One of Reynolds primary responsibilities is setting up the recruiting areas for the staff and opening connections with high school and other coaches. He will play a large role on how this staff does in recruiting.
I did see that Buzz was listed as the recruiter for both players. Any idea if that is just a pro forma, or exactly who lead the recruiting? I had heard it was Buzz at the point.
I know that Buzz was the primary on Robinson, with Chew as the secondary. As for Blackshear, I am not sure. Most of the posts about Tech with him just said that the "staff was in to visit". I am pretty sure that Chew is the primary on Freeman, so that may give us a better idea if he commits to Tech.
Rob,
What does this mean for scholarships, and if there is space, what are our chances at Chris Clarke? I know Buzz had an in home visit with him last month. Do you know anything? I know he is a Boo Williams guy as well
The way it looks now, we shouldnt have any scholarships remaining but the staff may be counting on others leaving after this first season or have another way to bring these players in. If we are maxed out and they dont have any more to give than unfortunately that would mean Clarke, Freeman and Williamson would be on the outside looking in. Not sure what the case is here.
Is Johnston back to walk-on status?
I believe that Johnston probably still holds a scholarship unless Buzz changed up which walk on had a scholarship this year. There are currently 14 players listed on the roster, so with 13 scholarships, two of the three walkons may be holding scholarships this season between Johnston, Beyer, and Donlon.
Question?
In the video still picture, anybody know who the fellow in the back sporting the VT tshirt is?
I believe it is Coach Chew.
I know it's just the Crystal Ball, but there has been like 10 predictions for Chris Clarke to VT in this past 5-6 hours. Hopefully they are hearing something.
Clarke would be a great get for a number of reasons. Of course, being a 4-star is a big factor, but also being ranked the top player in the state is a very nice playing card for Buzz to show just how ready we are to battle anybody in hoops. A top 75 player by all accounts would be a great addition to the roster!
12 in the past 21 hours
I don't like to look at the CB as stone etched truth, but like to follow it more for trends. 12 predictions in the last 24 hours to one school when there haven't been more than 1 or 2 predictions per day since March is a trend that you cannot look away from. Its starting to look like Buzz might have just secured commit #3 in what is turning out to be yet another highly rated recruiting class.
Clarke would be the absolute turning point for the 2015 recruiting, Tech is rated 30th as a recruiting class so far but his addition would probably move us to a top 20. Watching video clips of him he appears to have so much potential, would be a great fit in Buzz system.
247 Article posted 2 hours ago
RT article on Buzz's plans for offensive strategy. Key words to remember for the future, which have always been a fundamental point of emphasis for all of Buzz's teams - paint touch. Also, Buzz historically has focused on spacing as a key for his teams.
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/va_tech/no-smashmouth-basketball-...