Five-star forward thinks he can have Jabari-like impact

Kwame Evans Jr. holds scholarship offers from almost every Power 5 program — and many other schools as well.

Still, he thought enough of Auburn to make an official visit this week.

The five-star recruit traveled up from Florida on Monday with his father, the former George Washington star, to tour the campus, check out facilities, meet coaches and familiarize himself with the Auburn players. He felt known.

“The people here — they’re always waving,” Evans said. “They just make it seem like a family here. The people are just made a lot better here.”

Assistant coach Ira Bowman has been lead recruiter for Evans — and his persistence paid off by getting the nation’s No. 5 overall player to Lee County. That’s a strong statement about Bowman’s work considering the number of people vying for the 6-foot-10 forward’s attention these days.

Evans visited Arizona recently and has been in frequent contact with UCLA, Kentucky, Oregon, Indiana, Texas and Auburn.

Auburn’s big selling point this week has been Jabari Smith — himself a 6-foot-10 high school phenom who signed with the Tigers last year and is just weeks away from becoming one of the top three picks in the NBA Draft. Smith averaged 16.9 points and 28.8 minutes per game during the 2021-22 campaign. He also shot 42 percent from long range.

Evans didn’t get a chance to meet with Smith this week, but Bruce Pearl’s message nonetheless was received loudly and clearly.

“If I put the work in, I think I can do something like that,” Evans said. “Not exactly like (Smith), but I can have the same impact. Defense, mainly, is what everyone looks at me for. That and shooting. I feel like I can shoot the ball. Dribbling the ball in the open court, too. I want to be a good decision-maker.”

Evans said he’s down to three schools, but declined to identify them. Asked if Auburn was among those schools, he said: “We’ll see.”

He plans to make a final decision at some point during his (upcoming) senior season.