The VIU Mariners added three more hoops prospects to the mix.
Vancouver Island University’s men’s basketball program announced this week that high school grads Hayden Jeffrey, Chase Hobenshield and Gabe Johnson will join the team.
Jeffrey, from Wellington Secondary School, has been a much-decorated player in recent years. He was chosen most valuable player in leading the Wildcats to their first-ever AAA Island championship and he was also MVP of the Junior All-Native Tournament the last two years in a row, leading the Snuneymuxw Native Sons to consecutive provincial championships.
He’s a point guard, but one who likes to drive the lane, and he should be able to continue to do so at the college level.
“I’ve seen some of it already, just playing with our guys, but it will be an adjustment,” said Matt Kuzminski, VIU coach. “The big thing for Hayden, and he’s already working on it, will be the physicality coming to this level. He’ll probably have to improve quite a bit in strength, as most high school kids do, but I think definitely, in transition, he’s got real good anticipation and a feel for getting into different spots.”
Jeffrey will likely be competing for a role off the bench, as transfer player Montell Lindgren is the probable starter at point guard.
Hobenshield, from Courtenay, stands 6-foot-7 and had multiple 20-point, 15-rebound games at the high school level.
“He’ll be a guy that can come in and give us some physicality and another post presence,” Kuzminski said.
Johnson was recommended to Kuzminski by a contact in Terrace, B.C.
“He’s a 6-foot-6 big guy that has the ability to kind of face up and play a little bit from the perimeter as well as down in the post,” Kuzminski said.
All three high school recruits are good students , character guys and good fits for the program, the coach said.
“These three guys will be players that we’ll be talking about for hopefully five years and in years three, four, five, they’ll be guys who are really contributing at a high level. Some of them might be sooner. It does take some time.”
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