alex holmes commits

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Alex Holmes Commits To USC;
Wants To Play Hoops Too--(Jan. 27, 2000)

Yesterday's LA Times carried an article by our good friend Gary Klein, who evidently got the scoop on this one before a lot of other people: Alex Holmes (6'-5" Sr. PF) of Harvard-Westlake, who also happens to be one of the top football players in the country, committed on Tuesday to USC. . . . for football.. . . Alex is not playing basketball this season, much to the chagrin of the Harvard-Westlake fans, having exhausted his high school eligibility last year. Scary to think what the Wolverines would be like if they had him this season.

And while Alex' commitment was in football, he appeared on television at the halftime break of the Harvard Westlake vs. Crespi game, which was televised by Fox Sports West 2, and while he was interviewed while wearing a USC shirt and a USC hat, the interviewer never asked him whether he had committed or not. . . just whether he was having a good time with his recruiting, to which Alex replied, "Yeah, the recruiting has been great. all the coaches have been great." But Alex was asked whether he wanted to also play basketball in college, and he replied, " Yes, I want to play basketball in college, and it's something that I see myself doing." A pretty definite statement, and one which was obviously made after he had already spoken with the USC coaches, presumably about playing both sports.

We say "presumably" because we haven't had a chance since Tuesday to speak with Alex about this, but we wouldn't be surprised if the same arrangements that have been reportedly worked out for Gregg Guenther (6'-8" Sr. PF/C) from Taft who also committed to the Trojans last summer, weren't also made with Alex, i.e., if you want to play both sports, fine, if the basketball team needs and/or wants you. In Gregg's case, he told us then that he had spoken to both the basketball and football coaching staffs and they were apparently in agreement that he could play both sports. Of course, that was before SC's football season this year, and we've heard rumblings that the two-sport policy might have changed, but not from anyone directly connected to the athletic department, so for now, we'll consider them both as two sport athletes.

Holmes, by the way, chose USC over Michigan, his father's alma mater. Had Alex selected Michigan instead, his dad told us that the family was going to move back there to be able to see Alex' games. Holmes was The Times' offensive player of the year in the Valley during the 1998 season but didn't play football either last fall because it was his fifth year of high school. Holmes chose USC over UCLA, Michigan, Stanford and Notre Dame. "I've always felt extremely comfortable at USC," Holmes told Gary Klein. Alex is also good friends with Trojan quarterback Carson Palmer, so that probably had a little bit to do with his decision. "I get to be around my family. They can come see me play all the time," Holmes told the Times.