Recruiting Report: Montez Mathis (2018)

October 20, 2015A lot has happened for one of Maryland’s top prospects (regardless of class) Montez Mathis since we last spoke with him in April. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard transferred from Mount Carmel to renowned private academy Oak Hill in Virginia. He also picked up his first three offers from St. John’s, USC, and most recently West Virginia. Just a sophomore, the blue-chip prospect seems more intent on improving his game, then worrying about recruitment, and says because there is a bevy of top-tier programs continuing to recruit him, it’s hard for him to keep up.   “I really don’t know who will be the next to offer because it’s hard to keep up with what schools are recruiting me because I can contact them, but they can’t contact me because I’m only a sophomore,” said Mathis. He has yet to take any visits, but mentioned he has been in contact with Pac 12 power UCLA, and they've mentioned getting him on campus for a visit. “I’m supposed to be taking a visit to UCLA whenever I go out to California for a camp maybe next summer, that’s it right now though,” he said.   Mathis spent his offseason running with Team Melo, and says leadership and defense were his focuses. “I was our team leader and then I was working on my defense a lot more, just doing whatever to help our team win. I think I really got my jump-shot more consistent also,” said Mathis. “I really want to continue to work on my counter-moves, making double-moves and getting to the basket -- that’s the next step for me.” This summer Mathis made the transfer to renowned private school Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Ty Lawson, and Kevin Durant have attended of late. “I thought I’d have a lot better opportunity in basketball playing against these type players,” said Mathis. “My role with this team will be to come off the bench and be a lock-down defender, and then just hit some open shots.” May 1, 2015As our top-ranked player from 2018, Mount Carmel freshman Montez Mathis has generated a lengthy list of Division I admirers -- a list that should only grow as he spends his 15U season with Team Melo. “Schools that are showing interest are Maryland, UVA (Virginia), West Virginia, Memphis, Wake Forest, Clemson, Washington, Xavier and Stanford -- that’s it,” said Mathis, who mentioned he’d like to get to some of the nearer schools this summer and take a look. “I’ll probably try and do that (visit) this summer -- probably Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia.” After spending last summer with Team Takeover, the sought after prospect decided he’d switch to Team Melo this offseason. “I just had to make a switch because they (Team Melo) were telling me how they wanted to turn the program around, and they wanted all the good players around Baltimore to come back and I just agreed with it and wanted to help them turn the program around,” said Mathis. After averaging 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists during his freshman campaign, Mathis shared with PHM what he hopes to work on this summer on the grassroots circuit. “I want to win a couple tournaments and make it to Peach Jam, those are some goals,” he said. “I also want to work on getting a better handle and also my quickness and speed, and working on my vertical.”