By Tom Bragg
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT —
Since being hired as the new men’s basketball coach at Fairmont State last month, Jerrod Calhoun has been hard at work piecing together his first recruiting class for the Falcons.
That group grew by two on Wednesday as a pair of players from Ohio signed on to be a part of Calhoun’s first team at FSU.
Ke’Chaun Lewis is a 6-3 combo guard from Northland High School. He led the Vikings to a 22-2 record as his team won the Columbus City Championship last season. At Northland, Lewis averaged 12 points per game as a senior for a program that has produced collegiate stars Jared Sullinger (Ohio State) and Trey Burke (Michigan).
“Ke’Chaun can play multiple positions and that’s what is going to make him a great player,” Calhoun said Wednesday evening. “He’s one of the most athletic guys you’ll ever see at this level. He had a lot of Division I schools on him for a long time. The kid is used to winning, and I think when you recruit these kids that are used to winning they’re going to come in and want to win. We’ve got to have a winning culture.”
Calhoun said Lewis can play as a point guard, shooting guard or a small forward and could make an immediate impact of next year’s team.
The other player to sign with Fairmont State on Wednesday, Joey Vuyancih, comes to the Falcons from Lake Catholic High where he was a Division II first-team All-Ohio selection. Vuyancih helped his team advance to the state semifinals where it lost to Dunbar High. In the district championship game he hit a buzzer-beater to defeat John Jay High.
Calhoun said Vuyancih first caught his eye at the Ohio state tournament when he was still on Bob Huggins’ staff at West Virginia University. He noticed Vuyancih’s name and wondered if he was the son of Pat Vuyancih, who played at Cleveland State (where Calhoun also played). He confirmed that he was the son of the former Cleveland State player and worked his connections once getting the job at Fairmont State to get the younger Vuyancih to the Friendly City.
“He’s one of those kids that’s a gym rat,” Calhoun said. “His uncle played. His dad played at Cleveland State, and his younger brother Tony is one of the best sophomore’s in Ohio.”
Calhoun said Vuyancih, like Lewis, can play all of the guard positions and will be used in different ways at FSU.
“He’s a kid that can play multiple positions,” Calhoun said. “Physically he’s got a great build strong upper body.”
Lewis and Vuyancih are the third and fourth players to sign with Fairmont State since Calhoun took over the program. They join Stevie Browning and Trevor Evan, both from Logan High, as what Calhoun called his ‘high school guys.’
“I love our four high school guys,” he said. “They all bring different things to the table. Those are as good as four high school guys as we can get.”
In addition to the four “high school guys” Fairmont State is expected to add some depth through recruits from the junior college ranks. Calhoun could not comment directly on those players without their signed letters of intent but did say he expected to have several more signed by the end of the week.
Email Tom Bragg at tbragg@timeswv.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/TomBraggTWV.
