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Hairston |
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
It was the 2006-07 school year when Josh Hairston entered the Fredericksburg-area basketball scene.
He played three years at Courtland High School, where he was named a Free Lance-Star All-Area performer twice and the co-player of the year as a junior.
Last season, he led the Cougars to the Group AA, Division 4 state championship.
Hairston, a 6-foot-9 forward, is spending his final year of high school at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md.
He said it seems like he's been in high school forever, and that's why he was elated to sign a national letter of intent to play for Duke University on Monday in the Montrose Christian library.
"To be honest, signing that letter felt so good because I knew that was the last step," Hairston said in a telephone interview this week. "I knew my next step was stepping on Duke's campus and putting that Duke jersey on. These last four years have been good, but I'm ready to move on and take that next step in life."
Hairston is part of a three-man recruiting class that Duke announced yesterday.
He joins two point guards in Kyrie Irving (Elizabeth, N.J.) and Tyler Thornton (Washington).
He said he's disappointed the nation's No. 1 player in his class, Harrison Barnes, chose rival North Carolina over Duke and others in a fierce recruiting battle.
"It's disappointing to lose him, especially to UNC," Hairston said. "But Harrison's a good player. I'm not going to knock his game. I wish him the best of luck."
Even without Barnes in the mix, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski spoke highly of his class in a statement released yesterday.
"Josh, Kyrie and Tyler will be tremendous additions to our program on and off the court," Krzyzewski said. "They are outstanding young men, terrific students and talented basketball players. We are excited about their respective futures in our program and look forward to watching them continue to grow and develop."
Hairston said he's certainly developing at Montrose Christian. He said transferring there is "probably one of the best decisions I've made in my life."
Hairston has grown an inch since he left Courtland, and Montrose Christian's weight training program has added 15 pounds of muscle to his frame.
He said Krzyzewski has mentioned he'll play a multi-dimensional role similar to the one Duke star Kyle Singler plays now.
"I've already started to develop as a player," Hairston said. "My jump shot is looking real good, my ball-handling is getting better. I can't say I'm strictly a post player or strictly an outside player. I can do both, depending on who's guarding me."
COLEMAN INELIGIBLE
Louisa High School senior Justin Coleman's status isn't as clear as Hairston's.
Louisa's appeal to have Coleman play for the Lions was denied earlier this week by the Virginia High School League, head coach Preston Gordon said.
Coleman, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound swingman, is still enrolled at Louisa, but said he plans to transfer to Huntington (W.Va.) Prep school soon.
"I wanted to finish my high school career [at Louisa]," Coleman said. "But I've got to do what I've got to do in order to play."
Coleman was ruled ineligible because of the VHSL's transfer rule that states a student-athlete isn't eligible to play for a year unless he or she transfers because of a family move.
Coleman enrolled at Christian Life Center in Humble, Texas, briefly this school year before he returned to Louisa.
Gordon said the appeal was in limbo because it took several attempts for the VHSL to confirm whether or not Coleman actually enrolled at Christian Life Center when he was in Texas.
Gordon said when it was discovered Coleman did enroll "that was the straw that broke the camel's back."
Coleman is rated a four-star recruit by recruiting service Rivals.com. He has scholarship offers from several major Division I schools. He said he's narrowed his list to Kansas, Kentucky and Connecticut.
Coleman played for Louisa as a freshman and was academically ineligible as a sophomore. He transferred to Henrico High for his junior year, where he played the second semester. Coleman said he regrets ever leaving Louisa.
Gordon said it's "disappointing" that Coleman can't play for his hometown school, but he respects the VHSL's decision.
"I was kind of pulling for the kid because of the situation he was in," Gordon said. "He's a good kid at heart and one heck of a basketball player. He just had too many people that have pulled at him and tried to feed him too much information."
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
Email: tcoghill@freelancestar.com
