Florida Lands Five-Star Wing Scottie Lewis
Florida head coach Mike White added another elite talent to its 2019 recruiting class on Tuesday when five-star Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) wing Scottie Lewis committed to the Gators. Lewis’ commitment comes the day after Montverde Academy four-star prospect Omar Payne verbally committed to Florida.
The No. 13 ranked prospect in the Rivals150, Lewis chose the Gators over a final list of schools that also included Duke, Harvard, St. John’s, Stanford and Villanova. Lewis also held offers from Kansas, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Notre Dame and others. In the end Lewis narrowed his choices to Florida and SEC rival Kentucky.
The 6-foot-5 180-pounder took an official visit to Florida the weekend of September 7. That was followed by an in-school visit by Coach White and assistant coach Darris Nichols who traveled to the Garden State to visit with Lewis on September 11. Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who owns a home in New Jersey, also visited Lewis at his school following the Kentucky official visit.
Last season Lewis averaged 16.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists for Ranney who finished 29-4 and made it to the New Jersey Non-Public B Championship game.
Lewis joins fellow five-star combo guard Tre Mann, the No. 23 ranked prospect in the Rivals150, Payne and Ranney School teammate Alex Klatsky in Florida’s 2019 recruiting class.
With the addition of Lewis, Florida currently has the No. 2 ranked recruiting class in the Nation, behind only USC and ahead of both Kentucky and Louisville.
GatorsTerritory.com spoke with fourth year Ranney School head coach Tahj Holden and Team Rio head coach Mike Rice for their thoughts on what Florida fans can expect from Lewis.
IN THE WORDS OF HIS COACHES
“Scottie is an incredible kid, first and foremost, he’s a special basketball player as well,” Coach Holden said. “What Florida would be getting is an incredible kid with a huge heart and from a basketball standpoint he is one of the most versatile player I’ve come across in my time as a player and a coach. He can defend one through five, offensively his skill set has caught up to his athleticism and he still has some room to grow there. So they’re getting a kid who still has got some room to get better. He’s still developing, he’s still getting better so the sky is truly the limit for him.”
“First, he is a tremendous person,” Coach Rice said. “He is someone who cares if you are doing things the right way. He is a dynamic athlete. He almost cares more about the defensive side than the offensive side. He takes pride in stopping people. He is an electric players in open court. Scottie’s best quality is his unselfishness. He’ll get near the basket to score and pass to a teammate to get them involved. Sometimes I tell him I want to see him jump over a guy and score himself but he is so unselfish. As he becomes more consistent with his jump shot he will be very difficult to guard.”
Note: Stats provided by Jay Gomes of NJHoops.com