HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Beatty Boulder-bound after orally committing to Buffs
The faint sound of stampeding Buffaloes in local quarters is not a figment of anyone's imagination.
Not long ago, it was Chris Naeole taking a path to Boulder, Colo. In 2004, Waimea standout Jordon Dizon made his debut with the black and gold.
Yesterday, Kahuku defensive end B.J. Beatty followed that route by orally committing to Colorado. He will still follow through on a visit to Boise State this weekend.
"It's a soft commit. I want to go to Boise State and compare what I saw at Colorado to Boise," Beatty said last night, shortly after returning from Boulder.
Colorado outside linebacker Chad Cusworth was Beatty's host.
"The guys who hosted us are easy guys to get along with. The people in the community were real good, too," Beatty said.
At Colorado, he will move to outside linebacker. If he changes his mind and picks Boise State, there's a good chance he would stay at defensive end. Either way, a possible position change is not a factor.
"I'll go wherever they want to play me. I'll play wherever," Beatty said.
Beatty, who is an NCAA Division I qualifier, is suffering no effects of jet lag. "I'm excited. This only comes around once in your life, so I'm trying to enjoy it right now," he said.
Of course, it never hurt that Naeole, now a guard with the Jacksonville Jaguars, is an uncle of Beatty. They spoke briefly by telephone before Beatty flew up to the Rockies.
"He wasn't trying to influence me. He just wanted to get me tickets to the Denver playoff game," said Beatty, who wound up watching the Broncos-Patriots playoff game on TV. A drive into Denver, which is 15 minutes from Boulder, turned into a tour of discovery.
"They got L&L's right there in Denver," Beatty reported.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Beatty was a Star-Bulletin first-team All-State selection, narrowly missing Defensive Player of the Year honors. He had 17 sacks as a senior, a key factor in Kahuku's state-championship run.
Beatty has already visited New Mexico State. Hawaii made him an impromptu offer last summer, but did not officially offer him a scholarship until after Christmas. By then, Beatty's attention was focused on mainland schools.
Colorado assistant coach Brian Cabral had written Beatty consistently since his junior year. After being retained by new head coach Dan Hawkins, Cabral continued his pursuit of Beatty once Hawkins was settled in.
In a year deep with defensive ends, Beatty is the fifth from the islands to make a verbal commitment. In addition, Colorado has heightened its interest in Pac-Five defensive end Russel Fisher (6-2, 251) and Saint Louis defensive tackle Kamalu Umu (6-2, 285).