Hunter looks back on signing

When four-star Rivals150 forward DeAndre Hunter committed to UVa earlier this fall, he was the fourth member of a highly-touted class. And he credited the other three commits on making him feel at home on his official visit.

This past Wednesday, as he became the first of Virginia's four signees to make things official and sign his national letter of intent, it was a role reversal but one that he didn't worry about at all.

"No way, didn't bother me at all," he said with a laugh. "We'll all be there together soon."

Hunter, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound wing from Wynnewood (PA) Friends Central, is the No. 66 overall player in the class of 2016. When he chose the Wahoos in September, he did after a bit of a whirlwind summer where offers seemed to come out of nowhere.

With a couple of months having passed, he told CavsCorner that it's been great to have the recruiting process behind him and for things to be back to normal.

"It's been way more calm," Hunter said. "Not getting as many calls and stuff, actually being committed to a school, it's been great. Now I have time to actually focus on getting better both in my school work and with my team. It's been great getting ready for the school season."

Since he became Virginia's final commit in the 2016 class, he's had a chance to get to know not just his future teammates but also too his future coaches.

"Building the relationships with the coaching staff has been great," he said. "I've been talking to all of the coaches, mainly Coach (Tony) Bennett. We talk a lot about things outside of basketball, like movies and music and things like that. It's been great. Matter of fact, Coach (Jason) Williford and Coach (Ron) Sanchez came to my house last week. We have a really strong relationship and it's been great getting to know them better. It was great having them over for dinner and they told me how important we all are to Virginia's future and that they can't wait for us to get there. They talked about what I had to do to prepare for when I get there.

"With the other players, we've been in a group messaging thread together just getting to each other better and we're all really excited to get there," Hunter added. "We just can't wait."

On Wednesday, during a ceremony at his school and surrounded by family members decked out in Virginia gear, Hunter was able to take the next step in terms of realizing his dream of playing college basketball.

"I was a little bit nervous," he said with a laugh. "Making the plans, it was a little nerve-wracking. I was really excited for this, because it's such a huge moment, but once the time came I was a little nervous because there were a lot of people there and everything. But it was a great experience and just signing the papers, it took a lot of pressure off my shoulders.

"It felt really surreal," he added. "Me personally, I didn't think I'd ever be in this position, you know? To be able to sign a letter of intent to go to college and play basketball at a school like Virginia, I just never thought years ago that I'd be there. Being able to do that was a crazy and I know I'm so, so blessed to have this opportunity. I'm just taking it as it comes."

Hunter and his team start their season on December 1, meaning he still has a few weeks before things get rolling. He's hoping to come down to Charlottesville this year for a game, though he's not sure which one yet. It'll likely be a Saturday game, he said, when he and his brother are able to come down.

"It's been good preparing for my last year," he said. "I've just been trying to work as hard as I can to get myself ready because we really want to win a championship this year. That's something that we haven't been able to do yet so I'm really looking forward to making a run. That's the way I want to go out. That's my goal.

"In the offseason, there wasn't anything specific that I wanted to work on," Hunter added. "I just wanted to get better overall and work on everything, like ball handling and shooting, getting stronger and quicker. I'm just trying to also make better decisions out there this year."

With his paperwork signed and sent, the only thing left for the future Wahoo to do was to reach out to his future head coach. It's a call that Hunter said he was really looking forward to making.

"Actually, I'm about to call Coach Bennett after this interview," he said with a laugh.

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