Q&A: 'Late bloomer' Evan Mahaffey to bring versatility to Penn State hoops
Penn State Nittany Lions basketball received its second commitment in the Class of 2022 last week as shooting guard Evan Mahaffey gave new head coach Micah Shrewsberry his verbal pledge.
Mahaffey, heralded for his versatility, is listed by Rivals at 6-foot-6, 185 pounds and is rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 33 shooting guard in this cycle.
Blue White Illustrated caught up with his coach at Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, Carl Kremer, to learn more about what Mahaffey will bring to the Nittany Lions when he arrives on campus.
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Blue White Illustrated: Let's start things generally. What's Evan like? What kind of kid is he?
Kremer: I've been coaching for over 30 years, and I've probably had around 60 to 80 Division I players. I've been really lucky to have a lot of good players. Evan is one of the classiest kids we've ever had in our program. He's humble. He's a good leader. He's vocal. He 100 percent puts the team first and represents your program and school the way you would want it represented. He's a really class kid. He comes from a great family.
BWI: On the court, generally, what does he do for Moeller? What kind of role does he fill?
Kremer: One word would be versatile. In all my years, he's one of the best — he can give us almost anything on the floor. Now part of that is is his size. He's just short of 6-7, he may be 6-7. He's really a point guard to me, that's his truest position. He handles the ball, he can pass the ball. His mindset is really to create for others. My biggest complaint with him last year is he did not shoot it enough. He would drive it in and almost over-pass it. He's got that kind of mindset. He gives it up. His dad was a high school coach and I think that plays into it with him.
He can also play the five if he needs to. He led our league last year in blocked shots. He can play point guard, he blocks shots, he can finish at the rin, he can shoot the ball. He's got a mid-range game. He's really just a really, really versatile player. He'd guard the other team's best player every game last year. On last year's team, we had three kids — one at Indiana, one at Richmond and one at Furman, so we had three other Division I kids on that team and he led us in blocked shots, he was maybe second in rebounding, first in assists. He's just a versatile kid.
BWI: Did he always have that or is that something he learned while he was there?
Kremer: I'm going to say he always had it. He transferred to Moeller his sophomore year. He had gone to a public high school in town that had not had a lot of success. Even though his dad [Jamie] was a high school coach and a really good player, I don't think he played on every AAU team he could play on since fourth grade. I think he's a bit of a late bloomer. He played varsity at the other school as a freshman, but I think he's a bit of a late bloomer. He's not near his peak. He's not a kid who's peaked out and is as developed in high school as it's going to get. His game is really developing every single day.
BWI: It's interesting that you bring that up. With that in mind, do you think maybe he was under-recruited a little bit?
Kremer: He had a lot of people interested, and he had some great offers. Here locally, Xavier was interested. If Xavier is recruiting you, you're a high-level player. What I think happened is he got injured this spring [with a torn meniscus]. I think people wanted to wait around and see how he comes off the injury a little bit, so he wasn't able to do a lot in the spring and summer. For him, I think what he decided to do was say, 'I love who's recruiting me, and I'll pick between these schools. and that will be it.'
We had a kid named Miles McBride, he played at West Virginia and he's playing for the Knicks right now in the NBA Summer League. Miles is one of our guys, and everybody asks me how Miles got to West Virginia and it was really similar. He had an injury his junior year and a lot of people laid off of him because of his injury, and West Virginia took him. He was an All-American last year, and he's playing great in the Summer League right now. Evan reminds me a lot of Miles McBride, even his personality a little bit.
BWI: Finally, just to look ahead a little bit, is there an area where you think Evan might have to progress a little bit before he gets to the college level?
Kremer: Well, I've never coached in college, so I want to be realistic. But I do know what he needs to do for us, and what he needs to do for himself. My challenge to Evan, and he knows this, I told him, is that he's got to become a killer. He was so deferential last year to all those seniors we had. This year, I'm looking for him to be the guy, and I'm really curious: Does he have that personality type to be the guy? I believe he does, but that's what I'm challenging him with. He did all the assists and the blocked shots and guards the other team's best player, but really deferred in terms of taking big shots for us to other guys, and I'm really going to challenge him to be that guy next year.