To say Luke Nevill came from nowhere is understatement - a big understatement. The 7-foot, 230 center at Kell HS in Marietta, Georgia has been in the United States for five months as class of 2004 foreign exchange student from Perth, Australia. And just now, colleges from every shape and size are starting to take notice.

“I come from Perth, which is basically the most out of the way place in the world,” Nevill said. Now he is playing at a school that is only two years in existence and will not be eligible to play in the state playoffs, thus making it even more difficult to been seen against high level competition.

Although Nevill isn’t a household name but he has been offered a full ride scholarship from Utah and has been evaluated at Kell HS by the likes of the Utes, New Hampshire, Mercer and UT-Chattanooga (who have seen the Longhorn twice) – all schools with ties to Australia. Furman has expressed interest.

On Thursday, North Carolina has made a call to Nevill’s host family. Arizona is supposed to be getting involved soon too, according to Nevill, his host family and coach in Australia.

Clearly, the recruitment process in it’s infant stages right now for the big man from down under but with a lack of true centers left on the 2004 recruiting board, the offers could come pouring in come March after Kell HS finishes their second varsity season.

And like his recruitment, Nevill is still in the early stages of his young career as a player. During the summer he led the Australian Junior National team in field goal percentage scoring on 44 of 66 shots (60%) over seven games. Last night he scored 28 points (14-23 FG, 0-1 FT) and pulled eight rebounds in his U.S. home opener.

Nevill has solid post skills and has an above average shot and is comfortable facing the basket. He’s fairly crafty with his footwork and has a knack for getting to the rack. As a defender and as an aggressor there is clear room for improvement.

Longhorn head coach Mike Baumgarten said his new senior is still getting used to the way basketball is being played at the high school level in America.

“He’s the only kid I’ve ever coached that averages 20 and 10 and yet I yell at every time he runs down the court,” Baumgarten said. “So yeah, he’s still learning. But I truly believe he could average 30 and 20 once we get him acclimated to the U.S. style of play.

“Two to three years down the road, I think we’ll be talking about a pretty good college player.”

Rick Majerus and his staff at Utah think so too. The Utes’ star freshman Andrew Bogut, an Australian, and Nevill are both familiar with each other from their playing days with the Aussie Junior National teams. Bogut mentioned his homeland friend to the staff and recommended that they evaluate the class of 2004 prospect. They did and offered soon after.

According to Jan Skees, Nevill’s host mother, he didn’t sign with Utah early because of uncertainty in his bright future.

“They wanted him to sign early but I would hate for him to be pressured into a situation like that. Luke has never been to Utah. I mean, he’s never seen snow for goodness sakes,” Skees said. “I just felt uncomfortable about the whole situation being so early in the process.

But his head coach said the offer might have been too good to wait on.

“I’m not really sure he knows how big that offer is,” Baumgarten said. “Schools like that don’t wait around for very long. They can have 15 offers on the table and whoever snatches it up the fastest gets it. I don’t think he realizes that. But to be fair, once we get seen by more people, I think Luke will get a lot more attention by the bigger schools.”

That is perfectly fine with Nevill. He said that was the reason why he came to the U.S. He makes no secrets about his future on the hardwood.

“I want to go to a good college where I can develop and bulk up to gain strength so I can perform better in the post,” Nevill said. “I want to play most of my season and than look at what kind of options I have as far as colleges are concerned.”

Stay tuned to RivalsHoops as we continue to bring news about Nevill and other prospects. For questions or comments on Nevill or this story, Justin Young can be reached at ygsports@yahoo.com.