This recruit could be the next Landry Shamet. What his family thought of WSU visit

A 6-foot-5 guard who is considered a sharpshooter, but has the court vision to possibly transition to point guard at the collegiate level.

Sound familiar, Shockers fans?

It’s the route that Landry Shamet took at Wichita State that ultimately made him a first-round NBA Draft pick. And it’s a course that WSU coaches envision for 2019 prospect Devin Butts, who took his official visit to WSU over this past weekend.

Hearing that comparison intrigued Devin Butts, a three-star prospect from Macon, Ga., and his father, Derex, who was also on the visit.

“They’re clearly doing something right out there with guards because they keep churning them out in the NBA,” Derex Butts told the Eagle in a phone interview. “At Wichita State, it’s such a high level of basketball. Devin was really impressed by how hard they went in practice. Down here in the South, we like to say, ‘Iron sharpens iron,’ and that’s the case there.”

For Butts, it was his third official visit this summer. He has already taken official visits to Georgia State and South Florida and also has one scheduled for Mississippi State this coming weekend. He has also received a late offer from Mississippi and strong interest from Florida.

Butts tweeted early Monday he will release his final four schools on his Twitter account at 4:30 p.m. WSU is expected to make the list. According to his father, Butts will make his final decision sometime in early October and sign his letter of intent in November.

Butts had a strong junior season for Statford Academy, averaging 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, and won the Region Player of the Year award. He backed that up with a breakthrough summer playing on the AAU circuit for Georgia Magic, coached by his father. Derex, also 6-5, is a former scoring standout himself, playing for Texas Tech from 1989-91 and averaging 12.7 points in his career.

“What a lot of teams really like about Devin is he can shoot the cover off the ball,” Derex said. “He’s got excellent size at 6-5, but his strongest point is shooting. He can shoot it from a standstill, he can shoot it off the bounce, off stagger screens, it doesn’t matter. I think he has the court vision and the passing to allow him to play the point, too.”

WSU officially offered Butts a scholarship in mid-July and has been following up since with assistant Isaac Brown taking the lead.

The Shockers currently have DeAntoni Gordon and Noah Fernandes verbally committed in their 2019 recruiting class, which coach Gregg Marshall appears to be looking to grow.

From their visit to Doo-Dah Diner to attending WSU’s volleyball game on Friday, Derex Butts said Marshall and WSU certainly left an impression on them.

“It was an awesome trip and I think we were both super impressed,” Derex Butts said. “Wichita State is a hard-working program. They have a vision and they work hard to get there. You don’t achieve what they’ve achieved by going at half-pace.

“And let me tell you, that fan base is special. I played college basketball and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fan base like it.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2018 at 12:15 PM.