Devonnte Holland, a 2016 power forward from Martinsville High School, made his announcement last week and Radford came out on the winning side of things.
Holland announced over Twitter last Tuesday that he had decided to commit to Radford, saying:
“I have officially committed to Radford University #GoHIGHLANDERS.”
Once Phenom Hoops heard about his commitment, we quickly were able to get in touch with the under-the-radar forward from Virginia on why Radford was the place for him.
“I chose Radford because I feel that the coaching staff will take great care of me on and off the court,” he said. “I’ll be close to home and I’ll play right away. I called Coach Jones Tuesday night around 7:20 PM and told him me and my family have thought a lot about Radford and that I would love to commit today. I felt that it was the right decision for me and I’m very excited to be a part of the Highlander family.”
Holland mentioned later that the coaching staff was so excited to hear the news that they started screaming “DEVONNTE HOLLAND IS COMING TO RADFORD.”
Holland and the staff have high expectations early on in his career and are going to hopefully put him in a place that he could flourish as a player, even as a freshman. “They said that I can be an All-Freshman and I’ll come in and be an instant impact both defensively and offensively.”
The fact that the coaching staff have such high hopes for Holland early on, along with the fact that they can help him develop his game a lot more and that he liked the campus, Radford just seemed like the place he was meant to be at and it doesn’t seem like he will be looking back.
Now that he has made his decision, he can start focusing on his senior season at Martinsville, as they come back from a VHSL Group 2A Championship last March. Martinsville returns several key players, including Holland, that went 23-7 overall last season.
Last season, Holland simply dominated and put out tremendous numbers to be named the 2015 Timesland player of the year, averaging 20.2 points per game, 16.8 rebounds, and 4.4 blocks.
Radford has landed the past two Timesland player of the years now, also landing Caleb Tanner last year.