Just a couple of weeks after Ava Jones took an official visit to Iowa City, she has made her final decision. She will be an Iowa Hawkeye. The 2023 6’2 F out of Nickerson, Kansas committed to the Hawkeyes over Kansas and Oregon State. ESPN rates her as the #83 prospect in the class and she slots in at #26 among the F/W position.
“When I went on my visit, it was just a feeling that I got, and I knew that it was the place that I needed to go,” said Jones.
As a junior at Nickerson High, Jones was named 3A First Team All-State, as well as 3A Co-Player of the Year. Ava averaged 20.8 points, 15.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, while helping the Panthers to a 23-3 record and a fourth-place state finish. Over 69 career games, Jones has scored 1,336 points and collected 822 rebounds. She is quite the athlete, as she was also named Second Team All-State for her efforts on the court as a volleyball player this past season and won a 4A state title in high jump this spring.
Jones was finally able to take visits to schools this spring and summer, as Covid hindered her from taking visits before her original commitment to Arizona State. However, she says that it is nice to commit to a school and get the recruiting process over, so she can focus solely on her senior year of sports and academics.
“I loved the recruiting process, but it will definitely be nice to just focus on my senior year and have comfort in knowing that all of this is done.”
“I’m really looking to improve every part of my game, but especially at the 3 (small forward) and getting more comfortable playing outside on the perimeter,” said Jones.
After her visit in June, Ava told us at HawkeyeReport that coaching stability was going to play a big part in her decision. The fact that Coach Lisa Bluder, Jan Jensen and Jenni Fitzgerald have spent 20+ years at the school certainly helped. The fan support the school gets was another factor.
“It is amazing that so many people support the Hawkeyes, not just in women’s basketball, but in every sport. (It’s) something very few schools have.”
Jones initially committed to Arizona State over West Virginia, Iowa State, Clemson, Drake, Nebraska and Wichita State back in February of 2021. She chose to decommit after Sun Devils head coach Charli Turner Thorne elected to retire at the end of this past season.
Since her de-commitment in March, she took visits to Kansas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Missouri State and Oregon State. She also had other offers from Drake, Wichita State, Tulsa, Ohio State, TCU and Minnesota.
“It has been very busy (last couple months), but I am very grateful for every school that has reached out to me throughout the last few months,” said Jones when we last talked to her about her official visit to Iowa. “After visiting all those schools, it made me more confident in my decision.”
Jones joins G Kennise Johnson-Etienne out of Plainfield, Illinois for 2023 Iowa recruiting class, while G Jasmine Brown out of Plainfield, Illinois is still undecided on her college and remains as the final prospect on the Hawkeyes recruiting list for 2023.
