Vanderbilt lands commitment from Canadian Trevon Thomas
Had the COVID-19 pandemic happened 10 or 20 years ago, Crestwood's Trevon Thomas would probably still be in no man's land.
He'd still be one of the hundreds of young basketball players wondering what to do next year with college careers rapidly approaching and their recruiting stalled. He'd probably be thinking about what could have been had his basketball season not been cut short by quarantine, washing away his last opportunity to impress college coaches.
But in 2020, video scouting is king. When Thomas' recruiting began to stall with college coaches unable to see him play, his high school coach Ro Russell and Russell's son Rovonn got to work putting together mixtapes to send out.
In mid-June, Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse began to take notice of the 5-foot-11, Canadian point guard and things moved pretty quickly from there.
"I knew that as soon as they offered it wasn't going to be a hard decision for me," Thomas said.
When Stackhouse called last Wednesday, Thomas said he committed on the spot.
"I'm just extremely excited," Thomas said. "I wanted to be on the campus right there and then just start this whole process with them."
Thomas is coming off a senior season at Toronto's Crestwood Preparatory College in which he averaged 24.2 points on 38% shooting with nearly five assists per game.
"He is a talented point guard with a great handle, quick first step, and good stroke," Canadian basketball scout Wesley Brown said of Thomas.
He's one of those small guards that can play big, Russell said.
"He's like Speedy Claxton, Isaiah Thomas, Allen Iverson, Carsen Edwards, like, the list goes on and on of all those 5-11 guards that surprise and super surprised a lot of people," Russell said.
Had the offer from Vanderbilt not come when it did, Thomas said he's not sure where he'd be right now. There were days when he was really down with his recruitment, wondering if he should just commit to a low-major or Canadian school to get the process over with.
Thomas is expected to be the last recruit in Vanderbilt's 2020 class, joining forward Myles Stute, guard Tyrin Lawrence, and center Akeem Odusipe.
While he likely won't play a big role for the Commodores next season, Thomas could provide a boost to Vanderbilt's recruiting down the road. He is first-cousins with 6-foot-6 rising sophomore Elijah Fisher, who North Pole Hoops ranks as Canada's top prospect in 2023.
He said he views Fisher as a little brother and would love to see him come to Vanderbilt in the future.
"After I decided that I want to go, right from that time I was like, 'eh bro, you know what you've got to do when your time comes,'" Thomas said of the conversation he had with Fisher. "We've been playing pretty much since he was in grade two and I was in grade five, so if we get a chance to make that happen in university as well, I would definitely love that."
Fisher currently holds an offer from Vanderbilt, according to his Instagram.
*Commitment video provided by Universal Hoops*
