While West Virginia’s football coaches are putting the finishing touches on their 2010 recruiting class, WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins has apparently gotten an early start on -- believe it or not -- the Class of 2015. Levi Cook, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound seventh-grade phenom from Arnett, W.V., who has already visited with Huggins on several occasions.
Cook, who attends Trap Middle School, is only 12 years old, but he’s on track to become the biggest thing to come out of Arnett (population: 325) both literally and figuratively.
“I’m 6-foot-2, 240 pounds and have been lifting weights all of my life,” said his uncle. David Cook, “and it takes every bit of strength I have to take him down when we wrestle.”
The younger Cook isn’t simply a manchild in terms of size, though. He’s a skilled basketball player who already dunks in games, can shoot the 3-pointer and often handles point guard duties for his middle school team because he’s among its best ball handlers.
Still a year-and-a-half from beginning high school -- he’ll likely attend nearby schools Woodrow Wilson or Liberty, or one of prep powers Mountain State Academy (W.V.) or Oak Hill Academy (Va.) -- he’s already heard from WVU, Ohio State and Marshall. Huggins has gotten to know him, and assistant coach Larry Harrison has spoken to him on several occasions about the importance of keeping his grades up, his uncle said.
“He met coach Huggins when coach Huggins was scouting a Mountain State game. We go up there for games and they always make sure to say ‘hi’ to him,” David Cook said. “We go to a lot of football and basketball games. He’s a Mountaineer fan.”
Levi lives with his grandmother, who is his legal guardian, in Arnett. His uncle travels from Georgia to see him every month and has taken on the role of his male mentor; his grandfather, who’d raised him, passed away less than two years ago.
David Cook measures his nephew, who plays AAU basketball with the Beckley (W.V.) Wizards, every month by marking a new line on the wall.
“He’s 6-7 without shoes on,” he said. “The doctors say he’ll probably end up at 6-10 to seven feet.”
The younger Cook is also a star football player, though he plans to make basketball his focus in the long-term.
“He plays defensive tackle. They line him up on one side and put four guys on the other side of the line,” David Cook said, “and the other team usually runs away from him.”
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-- Photo couretsy of Beckley Register-Herald