Evans makes pledge to UVa

By Whitey Reid

Published: July 18, 2008

Members of the Virginia men’s basketball coaching staff have been careful not to make too many comparisons between high school point guard Jontel Evans and former Wahoo star Sean Singletary.

After all, no teenage player needs that kind of pressure before they even set foot on a college campus.

However, there are at least two similarities between the pair that are hard to ignore — strength and toughness.

They’re qualities that Singletary showed in spades, and ones that Virginia is looking forward to seeing Evans bring with him to Charlottesville.

On Friday, the Hampton native gave his verbal commitment to play for UVa beginning in 2009.

The 5-foot-11 Bethel High star, who is heading into his senior year, picked Virginia over a host of schools, including Marquette, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

“Jontel was most impressed with the academic support that UVa offers,” said Bethel High coach Craig Brehon. “He was also tremendously impressed with coach [Dave] Leitao’s vision for Virginia basketball and Jontel being a part of the program.”

Like Singletary, Evans was also a big-time football player in high school — he ran for over 1,500 yards and scored 27 touchdowns as a running back this past season.

Evans, who plays on Boo Williams’ AAU team, had several scholarship offers to play football before recently making the decision to focus on basketball in college.

“Jontel is tremendously strong for a young kid,” Brehon said. “Being a football player, he’s used to contact.

“I think the similarities between [Singletary and Evans] is that they can change direction and go from A to B and can break defenses down and create offense for themselves and their teammates.

“Jontel can really lock down on you and just create havoc on the defensive end of the floor, which in some cases can translate into offense for you. He’s just a game-changer on both ends of the floor.”

After the addition of Evans, Virginia has one remaining scholarship for its Class of 2009. UVa’s top target remains 5-star big man Ryan Kelly, who hails from Raleigh, N.C. The Cavaliers are also in hot pursuit of forward Tristan Spurlock, a Maryland native.

Virginia, which already has redshirt freshman Sammy Zeglinski, junior Calvin Baker and incoming freshman Sylven Landesberg in the fold, would appear to be set at point guard for the immediate future.

Brehon, who said Evans has completely ruled out trying to be a two-sport athlete, believes UVa is getting a special player.

“I’ve had quite a few All-Americans and all-state players come through Bethel…he’s a tremendously hard worker. I never once had to get on him about being ready to compete in practice or games. He shows up ready to play every time he steps on the floor. Dave Leitao got a great one in this kid.”