Florida basketball has signed 2021 small forward Kowacie Reeves. The Macon, Georgia, native is the No. 31 prospect for his class, according to Rivals. The 6-foot-5 wing player chose Florida over Stanford, Georgia, Clemson and Auburn among others.
Reeves hails from Westside High School in Macon, where he and the Seminoles went 20-9 and won their regional championship in 2019-20. Currently, Reeves is the only recruit in Florida’s class for 2020-21.
According to Rivals, Reeves said that Florida’s staff has been recruiting him since his freshman season and that he had good relationships with UF. The prospect also said that he liked the Gators style of play, feeling that it suited his skillset well.
Coach Mike White gets a versatile player here, as Reeve can switch between shooting guard and small forward seamlessly. He is massive for a shooting guard at 6-foot-5, and about average height for a small forward.
White has expressed recently his desire to speed up the pace of his team and let his players play a more free brand of basketball, and Reeves fits that type of play.
He is a play-maker scoring the basketball and free-flowing, transition basketball is what he has shown he is best at so far in his high school career.
Rivals has him ranked as a shooting guard. This is because that is what he plays most of the time, despite being 6-foot-6.
His athleticism and shooting ability make him effective in that two-guard role. Further, even at that height, Reeves is only 180 pounds. In college, he will have to get significantly bigger to play the forward spot effectively.
This could be a key pickup for White on the offensive end, the defensive end is where Reeves will need work. Adding weight to his frame in Florida’s strength program can do that along with learning to be more aggressive as he adapts to the college game.
The question when Reeves arrives on campus next season, perhaps above all else, will be what White and his staff decide to make him as a college player. With a young, crowded backcourt in the Gators future for the next few years, he may convert to a forward altogether.
Either way, a natural scorer like this is a piece for White in a year where the Gators currently rank No. 69.
Contact Graham Marsh at gmarsh@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @GrahamMarshUF.
