Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner would like to have secured his first commitment for the 2018 signing class by this point, but said there’s nothing that can be done about it.
“It’s not that we’re behind,” Pastner said Thursday between watching games at various AAU tournaments in Las Vegas. “You can’t force a kid to commit.”
Pastner and assistant coach Tavaras Hardy have been in Las Vegas this week watching prospects who are rising seniors, as well as younger grades, both to evaluate and indicate their interest. They attended one game late Thursday afternoon together, where two 2018 targets — three-star small forward Jericole Hellems (247 Sports) from St. Louis and three-star point guard Xavier Johnson (ESPN) from Arlington, Va. —both played.
Pastner landed his first commitment of the 2017 class — point guard Jose Alvarado — in September of last year. He is hopeful that, having had more time to develop relationships with targets in the 2018 class, that the class will be more fruitful than the 2017 class.
Pastner, who will have three scholarships to offer for the 2018 class, does acknowledge that it has a cost not to have a commitment secured as he and his staff evaluate prospects at AAU tournaments.
“What it does, you’re not so spread thin chasing guys or going to see guys,” he said. “Secondly, you can also spend time on younger kids.”
In the ACC, 10 schools have at least one commitment for the 2018 class, according to the Verbal Commits website. Tech is in pretty decent company with Boston College, Duke, Miami and Virginia, although three of the four are far more established than Tech is.
