It’s over.
Now Rachel Hollivay has to wrap her mind around the idea she will be leaving home for a school that is a more than 1,000 miles away.
But the Heritage Academy senior overcame that stumbling block Monday morning and finally had an epiphany that she wanted to play basketball at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.
“It is a relief,” Hollivay said Monday night, more than 12 hours after selecting Rutgers over the University of Tennessee. “I talked to my mom to see how she felt because I felt like Rutgers was the place for me and I couldn’t find anything negative about Rutgers but the distance. I texted my momma and said, ‘I want to go to Rutgers,’ and she said, ‘OK, I am proud of you.’ ”
The decision ended a recruiting process in which the 6-foot-5 center, who is ranked the nation’s No. 11 player in the Class of 2012 by Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Report, a national scouting service, and No. 8 by ESPN HoopGurlz, made official visits to the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State, the University of Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Rutgers. She said Monday she just came to the conclusion everything fit at Rutgers and that she wanted to play for veteran coach C. Vivian Stringer.
“When I was on my visit I just felt like I had known all the girls for years and I just clicked with all of them and the coaches and my parents felt comfortable,” Hollivay said. “Last night I was thinking about it when I was writing a research paper and I thought about all of the players and coaches (from all of the schools) and if I clicked with them and Rutgers stood out the most.”
Hollivay said it was difficult choosing between Rutgers and Tennessee. She said Tennessee is a great school, which everybody knows, but that it didn’t feel like the best place for her as a person.
She admitted the only stumbling block for her in selecting Rutgers was the distance from Columbus, but she said her parents will try their best to visit her and to watch her play as often as possible. She said it also is a benefit that her father, Ray Sr., loves to drive.
Hollivay said she will make her decision official and sign a National Letter-of-Intent on Friday at Heritage Academy.
“I think it will be great to play for coach Stringer,” Hollivay said. “I’m excited about playing for her, and I can’t wait to play for her. I think she is a great coach and that Rutgers is the place I need to be to be successful and to follow my dreams (to play professional basketball).”
Olson said Rutgers landed a recruit who has exceptional potential and can affect a game on both ends of the floor.
“Rutgers gets the most athletic low-post player in the class with probably the most untapped potential of any low-post player in the class,” Olson said. “Her best basketball will show right out of the gate in college.”
Olson said Hollivay can take over a game because she is so active around the basket and explosive. He said Hollivay will help the Scarlet Knights compete in the Big East Conference against national powers like the University of Connecticut, national runner-up Notre Dame, and West Virginia, among others.
Hollivay said she also heard plenty of good things about Rutgers and Stringer from friend April Sykes, who is a senior at Rutgers and is a former All-State player at East Oktibbeha County High School.
“She was always saying Rutgers is a great school and that I will learn a lot from coach Stringer and that she will help me become a better person and mature as a woman,” Hollivay said.
Last month, Hollivay said Rutgers was the most “family based” of the schools she visited. She said earlier in the process Rutgers wouldn’t have an advantage because of Sykes.
On Monday, Hollivay said she finally realized she shouldn’t be so concerned about how far Rutgers is from home and that she needed to do what she felt was best for her. She let out a sigh of relief when asked if she thought a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“I just sat down and said, ‘It is all over,’ ” Hollivay said. “I am so happy, and I am not changing (her mind).”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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