C.J. Hawkins talks South Florida basketball offer
Class of 2022 forward C.J. Hawkins saw his basketball recruitment grow last week when he picked up an offer from South Florida. It was an offer Hawkins was hoping to receive for some time.
“I knew it was gonna come eventually,” said Hawkins. “I trusted the process, you know. I had been talking to USF for a while. So, I mean, I just stuck with it and knew that probably at some point it would happen.”
Bulls’ assistant coach Scott Wagers contacted Hawkins, who also holds an offer from the USF football program, to make the offer.
“Basically, he said that I could play basketball as well while on the football scholarship and that he really liked my motor and how I would fit into the basketball program.”
The USF coaching staff has been monitoring Hawkins for almost two years and invited him to its 2019 Elite Camp. At that time, BullsInsider.com caught up with Hawkins and asked him what an offer from the Bulls would mean to him.
“I would love it, I mean, that’s the home team,” he said. “I’ve drove past USF a thousand times and been to a few games.”
The 6-foot-7, 225-pounder also holds basketball offers from IUPUI and Western Michigan. Meanwhile, Hawkins’ football recruitment has exploded following his first season on the gridiron since the seventh grade. Offers from Florida State, Arizona State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Michigan State, Connecticut and UCF have recently come in since mid-January.
USF, who offered the wide receiver in December, is the only school to offer Hawkins in both basketball and football.
“I talk to coach [Xavier] Dye the most,” said Hawkins about the USF football staff. “He's been pretty consistent with me. He’s a cool dude. He just wants me to seriously consider USF. He said, he's gonna make a hard choice for me to leave Tampa.”
We asked Hawkins how the football offers have affected his recruitment and how it has him thinking about his future.
“It's been great. It's truly a blessing to have a lot of opportunities. I'm extremely happy about it. I thank God for it and I just gotta keep working. Because, honestly, it'd be it would be a dream to play both [sports] at a school.”
Hawkins then added, “I would be open to possibly just playing football, or playing football and basketball. I’m just keeping my options open right now.”