No. 3 recruit Evan Mobley to join family at USC: ‘A generational talent’
TEMECULA, Calif. (BVM) – While most of the buzz surrounding high school hoops in the Golden State has revolved around Sierra Canyon and Bronny James, perhaps the most decorated prep basketball player in the country has lurked approximately 80 miles south.
Evan Mobley catches no one by surprise. How could he?
The Rancho Christian star stands 7-feet tall, boasts a 7-foot-5 wingspan, is the No. 1-ranked center in the Class of 2020 by 247Sports and ESPN currently has him as the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
“Evan Mobley is an incredibly coordinated, skilled and gifted athlete for a player of any size, let alone a seven-footer,” St. John Bosco High School head coach Matt Dunn said in a Gatorade press release. “He’s incredibly efficient on offense and he changes the game defensively more than any kid we’ve played. He can quite literally do everything in the game.”
Mobley returned for his senior season with the Eagles as the reigning Gatorade California Boys Basketball Player of the Year and repeated as the award’s winner this year. His jaw-dropping senior season, in which he averaged 20.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 5.2 blocks and 4.6 assists per game, led to him being named the Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year, given every year to the top player from the pool of McDonald’s All-Americans
Those gaudy numbers combined with his God-given height and freakish athleticism is why a coach on his AAU team called Mobley a mixture of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant.
Now that’s a scary comparison.
Evan Mobley is just DIFFERENT 😳 @evan_mobley7 pic.twitter.com/3Iubg2qSZI
— Overtime (@overtime) September 28, 2019
“I’ve called him a generational talent, and here’s why,” Etop Udo-Ema, who coached Mobley on the Compton Magic AAU team, told The Undefeated. “He’s got a mixture of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant in his game, and he’s a great defensive player who can change the course of any game. I’ve been coaching for 30 years and I’ve seen pretty much every top player that has been through Southern California, and if he develops, he can be better than any of them.
“Once he gets bigger and stronger, there is no ceiling for this kid.”
Mobley — who has been ranked at the top of his class since his sophomore year — helped hand Sierra Canyon its first loss of the season on Dec. 30, and will likely slay bigger stars during his time at USC.
The consensus five-star committed to the Trojans back in August, and will join family in Los Angeles. Mobley’s older brother, Isaiah, is a rising sophomore power forward on the team and their father, Eric, is an assistant coach on the USC men’s basketball staff.
Mobley will be the first No. 1 hoops recruit to suit up for the Trojans, but all indications point to his time at USC being a one-year pit-stop on his way to the NBA.
USC commit Evan Mobley is a cheat code 👀 pic.twitter.com/ofktyQ6aDk
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) October 3, 2019
