Recruiting Report: JaVonni Bickham (2018)
Many power forwards have a physical build that would translate nicely to football. But in today’s era of single-sport specialization, many power forwards also never venture outside the hardwood.
Minnehaha Academy’s 6-foot-6 senior JaVonni Bickham tried football this fall for the St. Paul Academy/Minnehaha/Blake co-op team, the SMB Wolfpack. And although he is doing well — well enough that some college programs have checked in on him — he’s still focused on hoops.
“Yeah, this is my first year playing (football),” Bickham said. “I tried out because I always wanted to play, but because of basketball I couldn’t. Now I don’t have a lot of basketball stuff going on, so I decided to give it a shot. It’s been fun.
“I’m open to football, but basketball is my focus right now. As of right now I have four offers: Denver, Towson, FIU and UTEP. Miami of Ohio, Wofford and Northern Illinois are also talking to me.”
JaVonni is visiting Denver this weekend for his first official.
“I want to go to a school that I know is going to be the best for me to develop my game and become the best basketball player I can be,” he said. “Also, I want to go to the best fit, educational-wise.”
Bickham was the top big man for a Minnehaha team that cruised to this spring’s Class AA state title. Averaging 14.3 PPG, he will return with basically everyone else from last year and will also be a significant mismatch for most of AA.