Almost as soon as her college recruitment had began to take off, it has come to an end. Mesa Mountain View High School’s ultra-talented and superb 5-foot-10 junior guard prospect Armani Hawkins shocked the girl's high school recruiting world on Thursday morning when it was announced that she had given an early verbal pledge to the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils were the first college program to offer Hawkins a scholarship, and now they will look to be the last as head coach Charlie Turner-Thorne and her women's basketball staff reeled in one of the nation's elite prospects.
Armani Hawkins will now join her sister, former Mountain View HS star guard Arnecia Hawkins, on the Sun Devils' roster. Arnecia will enter her sophomore season this fall at Arizona State.
Armani recently saw her college recruitment begin to soar, after receiving a Top 20 national ranking among the nation's 2015 class by ESPN. Armani Hawkins is currently the top-rated underclassman girls prospect in the state of Arizona by our Arizona Preps' staff. I have had Hawkins rated as my top overall prospect in Arizona’s talented 2015 class, since I first saw her take the floor two years ago in a Southwest Showcase event held in Chandler. Many college coaches around the country were just beginning to take notice of the talented guard prospect.
Hawkins chose to commit to Arizona State after receiving scholarship offers from Arizona, Northern Arizona, Grand Canyon, UNLV and West Virginia. She was also receiving strong interest from USC, Oregon State, Washington and Georgia Tech, with many more schools looking to get involved in the near future.
"She really likes the ASU coaching staff," said Dana Hawkins, Armani's father. "Having the opportunity to compete in front of friends and family, and playing with her sister weighed heavily on her decision."
Armani played for her father this past spring and summer on his club team, Arizona Blue Star. She will plan to sign with the Sun Devils in the fall of 2014, during her senior season.
Armani is on pace to have a big breakout junior season this year, after leading the Toros in scoring last season – averaging 14.5 points per/game for a team that finished with an 18-10 overall record in the Division-I Class. While Mountain View was projected as one of the state’s elite teams last season, the Toros was suffer a big blowout loss to Division-I state runner-up Pinnacle High School last season in the state playoffs.
Armani Hawkins and the Mountain View team will be looking for some payback this high school season - looking to win it all.
Congratulations to Armani on this big commitment and to the Hawkins' family on another daughter reaching the division-I ranks.
