Once again, it looks like patience could pay off for Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs on the recruiting trail. After making an offer to 2023 4-star guard Wesley Yates (Beaumont, TX) back in April, Yates still has the Zags in consideration after revealing his top nine list via Twitter on Saturday morning.
Yates listed Gonzaga alongside Stanford, Washington, Auburn, Baylor, Houston, Texas, Arkansas, and LSU. He has already taken official visits to Stanford, UW, and Auburn, and plans to take visits to Texas, LSU and eventually Gonzaga as well while he explores all of his options.
Yates’ stock exploded during his performance at the Nike Peach Jam this summer, another example of the Zags already showing interest in a kid before they pop up on other programs’ radar.
“One of the top five players I personally saw at Peach Jam,” Jason Jordan, the head recruiting analyst at Sports Illustrated, said on the Locked on Zags podcast. “He’s very versatile, he picks his spots. He would never force anything, he would definitely take his time. He was very methodical, ran off screens really well, knocked down shots, got to the basket…he’s super strong, super athletic, knows how to shield his body, get that defender on his hip. Super efficient as a finisher. Very tactical with his approach, a guy I was very very much impressed with.”
Yates still has plenty of visits to take, meaning this is probably far from over, but it’s encouraging to see Few and the Zags in on one of the most dynamic scoring guards available on the recruiting trail.
Andy hosts the Locked on Zags and Locked on College Basketball podcasts, and serves Locked On in a marketing/digital content creator role as well. He lives just outside Portland with his wife Jenna and dog, Tillie.
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