Quentin Grimes, the 6-foot-5 1/2, 195-pound point guard from College Park High School (TX), committed to and signed with Kansas on Wednesday.
Grimes will join point guard Devon Dotson to give coach Bill Self his backcourt of the future.
Grimes also visited Texas (Sept. 22), Kentucky (Sept. 29) and Marquette (Oct. 20).
“I will be attending the University of Kansas,” Grimes said in a phone interview. “I chose them because they have a winning tradition. They won 13 Big 12 championship straight, they have one national championship and hopefully I can help bring them another one. And I’ll be playing for a Hall of Fame coach in Bill Self. He lets their guards run the show. He plays multiple guards out there at one time, just really letting them have a lot of freedom out there and run the show.”
Quentin Grimes hit the gas on that drive ? @qdotgrimes #adidasNations pic.twitter.com/qd66UHSXVS
— Overtime (@overtime) August 7, 2017
Grimes averaged 28.1 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game his junior year at College Park High School in 2016-17. His sophomore year he averaged 16.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest.
“We feel Quentin Grimes is as good as guard as there is in high school basketball,” Self said. “He’s got great size. He’s got point guard vision. He can really handle the ball. He reminds me of a guy that I coached at Illinois, Deron Williams, but probably a better scorer than Deron at this stage.”
Grimes played his AAU basketball for Basketball University in Houston for coach Rhossi Carron.
“We think Quentin will be an impact guy for us and be one of the premier guards in the country early in his career,” Self said. “Jerrance (Howard) was the point man with him and we’ve seen him play a lot, not only through his AAU program but also with his high school team. He’s one of the more complete players that we will have recruited in our time here. I anticipate the transition from high school to college pretty seamless for him.”
No. 4 Kansas beat No. 5 Kentucky, 65-61, Tuesday night in the Champions Classic in Chicago. The Jayhawks utilized a four-guard lineup and Grimes finds that appealing.
“I’ll be the main guy offensively,” he said. “Playing with Devon, he can be more of a true point guard. I’m more of a scoring guard so he can definitely find ways to get me the ball and let me attack. And if someone’s open, I can get it to the open man.
Grimes joins Dotson and frontcourt players Silvio de Sousa and David McCormack in Kansas’ 2018 class, now ranked No. 1 in 2018 by 247Sports.com. De Sousa may enroll early at the semester break.
“We are very excited about this class,” Self said. “The four we’ve signed are high IQ basketball guys that understand how to play with other good players.”
Grimes is also working on Zion Williamson and Romeo Langford to join him. Both may end up signing in the spring.
“They’re trying to get either Zion or Romeo so I’ll be on them pretty hard once they find out I’ve committed,” he said.
2017-18 Kansas Men’s Basketball Signees
Silvio De Sousa – F, 6-9, 245, Luanda, Angola (IMG Academy [Fla.])
Devon Dotson – G, 6-2, 175, Charlotte, N.C. (Providence Day School)
Quentin Grimes – G, 6-5, 195, The Woodlands, Texas (College Park High School)
David McCormack – F/C, 6-10, 285, Norfolk, Va. (Oak Hill Academy)
Photo: Adidas
