Recruiting Report: CJ Huntley (2020)
While the AAU live period just ended and we’re all still swirling about the debate over the high school vs. AAU live periods, one thing you have to say is that the high school periods switched things up and allowed different players to get seen by different coaches. At the Virginia Live Period Shootout, Davidson Day was one of a number of schools who decided to go out of state, making the trip up from the Charlotte area. They brought a talented and well coached team with numerous division one players, but none of them stood out quite like rising senior CJ Huntley.
Why did he stand out? Easy, he’s a 6’9” big man with good touch and the ability to face up and score the basketball. He showed good range out to the tree-point line, he was able to put it on the deck a few times and he showed his passing ability, all things that were easier for him because he was playing with his high school team.
“It’s a lot different because I know all of the guys and we’re always together,” Huntley said. “In AAU, we’re all separated even during the summer, but with your high school team it’s like playing with your brothers.”
Huntley continues to impress and did so during the last live period with his AAU team as well. With his mix of size, talent and the fact that he’s a good student as well, he holds a number of offers from mid major schools all up and down the east coast including JMU, High Point, Towson, Appalachian State, Boston U, Prebyterian, Western Carolina and UNC Asheville. Since the live period in June, he’s also picked up offers from Mercer, Winthrop, Delaware and Illinois State.
While he’s pretty skilled already, Huntley is still somewhat raw which makes him very intriguing moving forward because he has so much room to improve. Along with getting bigger and stronger, he knows he needs to continue to work on his perimeter skill set to become more of a mismatch.
“I need to work on my ball handling and keeping smaller guys in front of me,” he said.
It isn’t just basketball with Huntley who is a good student at what is considered a very good private school in North Carolina. He won’t lose sight of that when heading to college as well, as he says that’s what he’s looking forward to the most.
“I’m a good student and I want to be a real student-athlete on and off the court.”
With his mismatch ability and so much potential that still is there to unlock, don’t be surprised if more and more mid major schools decide to get in on Huntley if he doesn’t make his decision early.
