Oregon State Lands Commitment From Chicago Point Guard 

August 4, 2008

6:30 P.M. CST

Illinois Prep Bulls-eye has learned through reliable sources that Oregon State University has received a verbal commitment from 5'8 class of 2010 point guard Ahmad Starks from Whitney Young High School in Chicago.  Starks had previously taken an unofficial visit to the Corvallis campus and in addition to Oregon State had also received  scholarship offers from Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago as well as considerable interest from other schools.

Starks has performed splendidly on the AAU circuit this spring and summer with the Illinois Warriors 16-Under team and was impressive when we watched him at both the King James Shooting Stars Classic in Akron, OH and the NIKE Peach Jam in North Augusta, SC. 

While he may be small, Starks has a huge heart and plays hard every moment he is on the floor.  He does not get rattled, plays under control and with the utmost confidence.  He wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line and is not afraid to pull up and take the big shot when it matters most. 

Above everything else, Starks has consistently proven that he can convert shots from beyond the arc and that he is especially adept at responding in crunch time.  He also has tremendous quickness and outstanding playmaking capability, which is why he is most effective with the ball in his hands.  To top everything off, Starks also gets it done in the classroom, as he is a quality student.

Stark's commitment confirms everything that we have said with respect to how much Beavers head coach Craig Robinson and assistants Nate Pomeday and Doug Stewart are making the Chicago area a top recruiting priority.  In addition to Starks, the Beavers have also extended scholarship offers in the class of 2010 to 6'3 Lenzelle Smith from Zion-Benton High School in Zion, IL and 6'9 Paul Bunch from North Lawndale High School in Chicago.  As for the 2009 class, they have offered 6'4 shooting guard extraordinaire Matt Vogrich from Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, IL; 6'8 Angus Brandt from Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, IL (via Australia) and are showing heavy interest in both 6'3 David Brown from Hononegah High School in Rockton, IL and 6'2 Darius Smith from Marshall High School in Chicago.

Starks plays for a loaded high school team at Whitney Young which features numerous other D1 prospects including 6'2 Chris Colvin, 6'3 Marcus Jordan and 6'7 Stanford Brown from the class of 2009; 6'2 Anthony Johnson from the class of 2010 and 6'5 Sam Thompson from the class of 2011.

Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to recruiting and high school basketball in Illinois.