Horton follows dream, will play for West Virginia
Fairmont Senior (W.Va.) guard Taevon Horton always wanted to play for the West Virginia even from the early times of him picking up a basketball.
So naturally when the Mountaineers offered the Evans Award recipient, given to the state’s top basketball player, the chance to do just that as a walk-on he didn’t take long to decide.
Horton averaged just under 20 points per game with 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals on the season and now intends to walk-on at West Virginia after announcing his intentions over the weekend. Horton helped lead the Polar Bears to the state title game in consecutive years, winning in 2017.
A number of programs had shown interest and even some other high majors such as Kansas State and Penn State, but once the Mountaineers got involved he truly didn’t have eyes for anybody else.
“I always wanted to come here. Ever since I started playing basketball, I’ve always wanted to come to West Virginia. Those guys can do recruit anybody they want but they took the time to see me and I’m just thankful for the opportunity. Now I’ve got to make the most of it,” he said.
The Mountaineers first started expressing interest in Horton at the turn of his senior season and things ramped up even further when head coach Bob Huggins and assistant Ron Everhart stopped in to see him during the winter. After being on campus for open gym last weekend, things progressed to the point where it seemed like the Mountaineers would be a landing spot.
It didn’t take much for Horton to be on board.
“They just said we can make things happen and I jumped right on it as much as I could. That’s where I wanted to play regardless and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve wanted to do this since I was 11-years old why would it be any different now?”
Horton is an athletic specimen on both ends of the floor and while he has shown the apt to put the ball in the basket his best attribute in the eyes of the West Virginia coaches is on the other end of the floor.
“I can guard the ball. They like my defense,” he said.
The in-state native passed up opportunities at other places in order to walk-on at West Virginia but given the Mountaineers success with players like him over the years it wasn’t difficult. The program has been able to develop and reward walk-on candidates such as Logan Routt.
“I’m going to go there and try to earn everything to get on the court,” he said.
The plan is for Horton to arrive during the summer and he is excited for the opportunity to compete at a school that for the longest time he believed would never be a place he could play at.
Now, he’ll do just that.
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