Pitts-Young Heading D2 on Full Ride
Portland (ME) High School and MB Nation guard Jayvon Pitts-Young made a verbal commitment to American International College earlier this week and signed a National Letter of Intent on Friday.
Pitts-Young received a full athletic scholarship and will arrive on AIC’s Springfield campus later this month for the beginning of his freshman year.
The five-foot-eleven guard has seen his profile increase significantly within the last year. It all started just prior to the evaluation period of 2013 when AAU teammate Dustin Cole went down with an illness that caused him to miss the month, leaving a void that Pitts-Young immediately stepped up to fill.
“Before that I was playing the 5 and really just a role player,” Pitts-Young told the New England Recruiting Report, “but I had to step-up, learn to play the guard position, and lead the team.”
He made an immediate splash, standing out at the Hoop Mountain Camp and making a quick adjustment to his natural point guard position during the rest of the month.
He followed that up with a strong senior season at Portland and was named a semi-finalist for the state’s prestigious Mr. Basketball award in the process.
Pitts-Young returned to the AAU circuit this spring and summer hoping to earn that elusive scholarship offer while simultaneously planning a post-graduate year.
On July 11th, the first day he saw action during this year’s evaluation period, he received that offer from AIC. He visited the next week, played out the rest of the month, and then came to a quick decision in the days that followed the end of the period.
“The coaches were great guys and it wasn’t too far away from home,” Pitts-Young said. “It’s not fancy, just comfy. I just loved the people I’d be around.”
With his goal now accomplished, Pitts-Young looks back on the last thirteen months fondly, noting that the process “wasn’t just on the court.”
He also added a significant amount of muscle to his frame and worked hard to earn a qualifying score on the SAT, something which he was quick to credit former AAU teammate Reuben Moses for helping him with.
“Reuben did really well on the test and is going to Duke next year. We got together every day and he helped me study,” Pitts-Young said of Moses. “I offered him money but he didn’t want it. That’s just the way he is.”
Pitts-Young, a notably articulate and humble young man, was also quick to credit his coaches.
“Wood and Coach Lesure both worked with me and never gave up on me,” he said. “Wood told me not to allow myself to fail and I just kind of stuck to that and kept pushing and it all worked out.”
Reuben Moses
Jayvon Pitts-Young
Dustin Cole