Austin Colbert Announcing At 3 PM

The New Jersey big man will decide on SNY.tv and ZagsBlog.

Josh Hart is recruiting Austin Colbert to join him at Villanova

In an interview with the National Recruiting Spotlight, 2013 Villanova commit Josh Hart again admitted that he was recruiting various players from his rolodex to join him on the Main Line, both in 2013 and beyond. Those players included recent Villanova target Austin Colbert from Gill St. Bernards High School in New Jersey. Hart played alongside Colbert at an elite basketball camp over the summer and the two, along with 2013 commit Kris Jenkins, appear to have hit it off.

According to the NRS interview:

"I'm just telling them what's going on with Villanova and how we'd raise the bar together. With Austin [Colbert], I was also recruited by Miami and Seton Hall and I'm just telling him how those are great coaching staffs, but no one is going to help him develop as a player and more importantly as a person as Villanova. They'll always be in your corner and they'll always be trustworthy. I tell him how coach Wright handles the program and how it's winning but it's also with a lot of character. With basketball, ‘Nova speaks for itself."

Hart believes that the Wildcats have a good chance to land the Team Final big man. Though he is also talking to Tyler Roberson about coming to the Main Line, he believes that Colbert is most likely to join him in this recruiting class.

Who do you think will be the next Villanova commit?

Hopefully it’s Austin. It would be me, him and Kris and all of us played on the same team at the Elite 100 last year. I’ve been talking to him the last couple of weeks and the visit Friday he took was definitely a big step. I think we have a pretty good chance. He has a great list of schools with Seton Hall, Illinois and Miami but Villanova is the best school in the country to go to because of the coaching staff, how high character they are and how they’re always going to be behind you. We have a really good shot at getting him because of our tradition and coaching staff.

The addition of Colbert would fill a more desperate need for height on the Villanova roster that will occur next year. In addition to the visit that he took last weekend for Hoops Mania, he is expected to return to campus sometime tomorrow for an official visit.

Austin Colbert will take an official visit to Villanova this week

On Monday, it was reported that Villanova was back in the picture for 6-8 Gill St. Bernard's forward, Austin Colbert. Things have been moving quickly since then. Associate head coach Billy Lange took a ride up to visit with Colbert and watch him practice on Monday and he was offered a scholarship shortly afterward.

The talented Big is also considering Illinois, Seton Hall, and Miami, but Villanova was able to convince him to add one more to that list.

Last night, he attended the Hoops Mania festivities at Villanova as part of an unofficial visit. Today, it was reported by Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that Colbert will return to the Main Line for an official visit from Thursday through Saturday.

"It was good," he told SNY.tv about Hoops Mania. "It was a lot of fun. Nova did a good job with everything. They even started a new tradition last night. They threw steamers after the first basketball."

He may announce his decision as soon as his Birthday, which falls on November 7th.

Is Villanova trying to woo Colbert again?

Villanova was listed by Austin Colbert prior to his junior year in high school among a long list of suitors, but since then, it had seemed that the Wildcats had fallen off of his map. The talented local forward was previously down to a list of three schools.