By ADAM ZAGORIA
DeShawn Harris-Smith, the 6-foot-5, 208-pound small forward from Paul VI Catholic (VA) and Team Takeover, is headed to Maryland.
Ranked the No. 6 small forward in the Class of 2023 per 247Sports.com, he chose the Terps over Villanova, Xavier, Penn State, and Indiana.
“I will be going to the University of Maryland,” Smith told ZAGSBLOG ahead of his public announcement.
“It was the best opportunity I had to play as a freshman, I’ll get a trampoline head start on my college career. I really trusted coach [Kevin] Willard, he reminds me of [Paul VI] coach [Glenn] Farello, he’s a player’s coach. He really cares about development and really cares about the players and getting the players where they need to go. And he definitely wants to take care of his hometown guys like he did at Seton Hall, so I feel like him recruiting all DMV in the ’23 class, he’s really trying to take care of his DMV guys. So I feel like staying home and being close to my family.”
Harris-Smith visited Maryland earlier this month.
“DeShawn can guard multiple positions and excels at getting downhill and attacking the rim,” Farello said. “He’s a playmaker on both ends of the floor and has a mentality of doing whatever it takes to help his team win. He’s one of the best do ever play at PVI.”
Harris-Smith is the third Class of 2023 recruit for Willard and his staff, joining small forwards Jahnathan Lamothe and Jamie Kaiser.
“[Willard] and coach Farello believe I can play point guard at the next level, be a complete combo guard,” Harris-Smith said. “With me and Jahn in the backcourt, I feel like we can do that. I can make plays for him and Jamie, they’re both great shooters, so I feel I can play the point guard role.
“And on the defensive end, I feel I can switch 1-4. I can play a lot of roles defensively and guard a lot of people. I feel I’m mostly going to play the 1 and the 2 [on offense] and also make plays for myself.”
If I need to win a game today, there may not be another wing in the EYBL I would take before Deshawn Harris-Smith.
— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) August 10, 2022
Elite competitor & motor.
Gets downhill, defends, rebounds, draws contact, & even passes.@thatdogdeshawn I @TTOBasketball I @PVIHoops
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Willard had a reputation at Seton Hall of developing three- and four-star level talent and developing them into pros like Myles Powell, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jared Rhoden.
Now he’s looking to follow a similar blueprint at Maryland.
“I feel like he definitely did a great job already with me, Jamie and Jahn, we got three of the best players in the DMV and I feel like he’s going to continue doing that, especially the way I feel that me, Jamie and Jahn will have great college careers and people will want to follow in our footsteps.”
Harris-Smith said the goal is to help Maryland compete for another NCAA championship.
“That’s definitely something I want to do,” he said. “I’ve been a winner my whole high school career so I feel I’m going to take that on to the next level and then just having a chip on our shoulder. We are all hometown kids so we definitely want to see our area win that and there’s no better place to win than the people that believed in you first.
“When I get to the next level, I feel I’m going to have fans all throughout the country but it started here, it started in the DMV, so I definitely want to win for them.”
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