Great news for Stan Heath and the USF Basketball tonight, as they pick of a verbal commitment from JUCO All-American C Waverly Austin. Greg Auman of the St. Pete Times was first with the news of Austin's commitment, who chose the Bulls over offers from Kansas and Missouri.
You guys might remember that Austin originally signed with USF out of high school back in 2009, but did not qualify academically and was forced to go the JUCO route. The 6'11" post had a monster freshman year for Palm Beach State in nearby Lake Worth, FL, averaging 18.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks a game for the Panthers.
While there were some major schools like Kansas and North Carolina after Waverly's services, Austin appreciated that USF kept in contact with him even after he didn't qualify in 2009,
"When I didn’t qualify, they still never gave up. They still contacted me a lot, showed me a lot of love. Basically, they remained loyal to me, so I’m doing the same for them."
Adam Adkins has a good interview with Austin at the link above, who was at the UTEP game tonight on an official visit.
Getting Austin's commitment was extremely important, with only Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and Jordan Omogbehin as the only posts on the roster for next year. Austin should start from day one and will be an impact player for the Bulls in the Big East.
Austin will have two years of eligibility left once he enrolls at USF next season. The Bulls have two scholarships remaining after the commitments of Austin and wing Musa Abdul-Aleem in the class of 2011-2012, most likely on another post and a wing player.
Welcome back to USF Waverly!