Four-star Jones headed to ACC
All it took was one visit and four-star prospect Dequan Jones to see what he needed to see. The 6-foot-6 athlete from Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler High School is off the board.
Jones verbally committed to Miami on Sunday after seeing the ACC school on his first, and only, official visit of the season. The family atmosphere of the school and the team was a huge selling point.
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"As soon as I stepped off the plane, I knew that was where I wanted to go," Jones said. "It's just one big family.
"After I was only there for a day, I just felt like it was home. There was a lot of chemistry with the teams. You could have had an All-American on the team but you wouldn't know it. They all got along and they were all on the same page."
Jones also considered Florida State, Cincinnati, Oregon and Oklahoma. He had plans to visit Florida State next weekend but says he saw enough at Miami to end his recruitment.
"I thought that maybe I should go on some more visits but I just didn't see anything getting better than that," Jones said. "And that's not to knock the other schools recruiting me because they are all great and offered me a scholarship. But I just didn't see me finding a better fit than that."
Jones, the No. 66 ranked player in the class of 2008, is one of the most explosive athletes in the country. He said head coach Frank Haith said he hopes to utilize his natural ability as a freshman and beyond.
"He sees me for what I am. He said he wants to play me at my natural position and keep me doing what I've always been doing," Jones said. "I'm going to playing on the perimeter and being a two or a three and he said he wants to make me a better player.
"I see myself having a huge impact. I know I have to work at it and go there with the right attitude. But I see myself going there and working hard and making improvements with my game."
Jones joins Harrisburgh, Pa., native Quincy Roberts in Miami's 2008 recruiting class.