By ARI ROSENFELD
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A.J. Hoggard, the Class of 2020 guard from Huntington Prep (WV) and the PSA Cardinals, has had a successful grassroots campaign so far this spring, helping lead PSA to a berth in July’s Peach Jam and recently making the Top 30 Cream of the Crop game at the prestigious Pangos All-American Camp.
To cap off his early offseason schedule, Hoggard is playing at the University of Virginia as part of the NBPA Top 100 Camp, which this year is open to college coaches for the first time.
“The spring’s gone really well, as a team and individually. I feel like I’m playing well and my teammates are as well,” Hoggard said after his first night of games in Charlottesville. “I’ve been working on everything pretty much, just tightening up everything. Getting better, quicker, stronger, consistent jump shot, and all the intangibles.”
After suiting up last spring and summer for Philly-based Team Final, the Coatesville, PA native made the jump to the PSA Cardinals for this year. On the EYBL circuit, Hoggard has posted impressive per-game averages of 16.2 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.8 rebounds, while maintaining an efficient 52.1 percent clip from the field, having no trouble adjusting to new teammates.
“The experience playing with PSA is great. I love being there,” he said. “I hate not being with my guys during the week, I miss it a lot when I’m gone. It’s just a great experience being with my guys each and every weekend, and every battle.”
Hoggard is now leading a burgeoning recruitment, noting recent offers from Michigan State, Maryland, Marquette, St. John’s, and Louisville. The next step will be to set up some unofficial visits, though he’s still unsure which campuses he’d like to see.
He broke down the various pitches he’s getting from the schools involved, all of whom he said have “been in contact a lot, every day, daily they’ve just been contacting me and letting me know they want me to be there.”
Louisville- “Coach Mack’s message was that he needs a point guard to just come in and be who I am from day one pretty much and run the team…. Coach Mack likes to play a fast paced game, he gets his guards involved a lot. Guard-oriented coach and he likes to get up and down.”
Michigan State– “Coming in and running the team, and just coming in and being me. Everybody’s kind of pitching the same message, so it’ll just come down to my decision.”
St. John’s- “They haven’t really been hitting me a lot, but when Coach Anderson talked to me he said he just wants me to come in and be me.”
Maryland- “Maryland also is a guard-oriented school. I haven’t really been on campus a lot, but I like how they play. They play a lot of guards so that would be a big helping hand in me making my decision”
Previously having considered a reclassification to the 2019 class, Hoggard said that option is now “off the table”, and he does not currently have a timetable for cutting his list or picking a school. According to Hoggard, style of play will be one of the primary factors when it does come time to pick a school.
“Having the ball kind of is my style of play, so that will be a big feature in me picking my school,” he said. “It depends on how much the team uses their guards and how I would fit with the system.”
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