Kent State picks up point guard

The Kent State student newspaper, The Daily Kent Stater, reported yesterday that first year head coach Stan Heath has picked up his first recruit for the 2002-03 recruiting season.

Heath, who spent the previous five seasons as an assistant at Michigan State, used his Michigan connections to bring in DeAndre Haynes, a 6-1, 175 point guard from Detroit Northwestern High School. Haynes averaged 23.5 points last season as a junior.

Southwestern coach Derrick Owens told reporter Dustin Dow:

"DeAndre did it all for us. He was the only player who worked hard and actually played basketball. I would have him out of position a lot because he could play all the positions, one through five." Haynes made his decision shortly after an unofficial visit to the Northeastern Ohio school. He will take an official visit there within a couple weeks.

Haynes, who also competes in cross-country, this summer played for The Family Organization AAU program.

KSU won out in the recuiting race over Detroit Mercy. Detroit Head Coach Perry Watson used to coach at Southwestern.

Haynes is the second player Heath has brought in for the 2002-03 season. This summer, Matt Jakeway, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard from Flushing, MI, transferred to Kent State from Austin Peay. Last season, Jakeway started 22 of 32 games, averaging 7.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per outing. He led the Ohio Valley Conference with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.43-to-1. Jakeway, and shot a team-best 44 percent (47-of-108) from three-point range.