Navy picked up a highly-touted basketball recruit this week when Texas forward J.J. Avila gave head coach Billy Lange a verbal commitment. The 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward out of McAllen High was named to the Class 5A All-State team and is ranked as the 34th-best senior in Texas by one scouting service.

    Avila averaged 21.6 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.6 steals as a senior. A four-year varsity starter for McAllen, Avila departs as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,865 career points. He was also recruited by the University of Texas-San Antonio, Wright State, Davidson, The Citadel, Colgate and Army among others.

    "J.J. is a hard-working player with a real good skill set. He runs the floor real well and can score in a multitude of ways," McAllen head coach Roy Swift said. "I have no reservation in saying he's the best player in this school's 100-year basketball history."

    McAllen, Texas is located just six miles from the Mexico border -- about three hours south of San Antonio. Avila was so determined to improve, face top-notch competition and prove himself to college scouts that he drove eight hours to Austin to play for the Centex Shooters AAU organization.

    "I knew that playing with a strong team and going to the best tournaments would help me get my name out there and let recruiters know that there's talent down here," Avila told TexasHoops.com.

    Assistant coach Eugene Burroughs discovered Avila and Lange personally scouted the youngster, whose playing style was a perfect fit for the Navy system.

     "Navy's coaches were real genuine and J.J. liked the family atmosphere he found when he visited," Swift said. "Coach Burroughs did a great job of selling the school and program while Coach Lange is a very charismatic individual. I was very impressed with Coach Lange and so was J.J."

     Avila becomes the seventh member of Navy's 2010 recruiting class, which already included two highly-regarded prospects in point guard Brennan Wyatt (Dudley High, Greensboro, N.C.) and wing forward James Loupos (Montgomery High, Skillman, N.J.).

     Loupos, a 6-foot-6 swingman, was named Somerset County Player of the Year after averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in leading Montgomery Township to the Central Jersey Group 4 Championship. National recruiting analyst Dave Telep called the 5-foot-8 Wyatt one of the best floor leaders in North Carolina, a "pass-first point and a dangerous penetrator."

Avila led the Rio Grande Valley in scoring as both a junior and senior and was named the District 30-5A Most Valuable Player in 2009.

    "Navy