With the commitment of four-star forward Julius Avent in the Class of 2026, Michigan State is getting a versatile playmaker with multi-position potential, according to the player’s high school coach Billy Armstrong.

“He’s successful because he’s 6-8 and he’s got point guard skills,” said Armstong, who played for Bob McKillop at Davidson, and has coached New Jersey’s Bergen Catholic to state championships in 2019, 2022, and 2025. “He can really shoot it. The part that Michigan State really likes is his best basketball is definitely in front of him.”

Avent possesses substantial intangibles as well as upside. With Avent the Spartans are getting a tireless worker with zero entitlement, and the intangible qualities to earn the OKG (Our Kinda Guy) tag to use one of Izzo’s favorite acronyms.

“Sometimes the four and five-star kids are a little bit entitled,” said Armstrong of Avent, a four-star prospect ranked No. 80 overall in the Rivals Industry Ranking. “Not Julius. He’s a humble kid, with a great family. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Avent is the second commitment for Michigan State in the Class of 2026, which also features in-state point guard Carlos Medlock Jr., who is ranked No. 76 in the Rivals Industry Ranking. At 6-foot-8, 220, Avent is a skilled forward that possesses the ability to stretch the floor with his perimeter jumper. He is also a multi-level scorer, who is tough to guard driving to the basket while also effective as a set-up man in Bergen Catholic’s 5-Out offense. Additionally, Avent has an effective jump hook, which served him well during the grassroots season playing on the NIKE EYBL Circuit with PSA Cardinals.

“When he contacts the paint, he slows down,” Armstrong said. “He comes to a two-foot stop. By doing that and playing off two feet, you have more of an opportunity to see the game and make decisions and make the right play. He’s gotten better at that where he attracts a lot of attention now. He’s gotten better at finding guys on the weakside corner for open catch-and-shoot threes.”

Avent has more versatility and layers to his game than typical of most players ranked just outside the Top 75 with similar size and athleticism. His ballhandling ability alone makes him somewhat unique among similarly-ranked forwards.

“I really think his ball handling is what really kind of separates him,” Armstrong said. “He has the ability to make threes, but it’s really his ball handling.”

Avent also possesses impressive strength, which enables him to create angles and finish around the rim more effectively than many of his peers in the Class of 2006.

“He’s just a really strong body,” Armstrong said. “And at our level, he’s just putting guys under the rim and just finishing on them. So, I know when he gets to Michigan State, they’re going to put a ton more muscle on him, and get similar results.

Avent also has an impressive pedigree as the son of Seton Hall legend Anthony Avent, who played six seasons in the NBA after being selected No. 15 overall by Atlanta in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft. And while it remains to be seen if the Michigan State commitment will follow in his father’s footsteps as a professional basketball player, Avent’s high school coach would not be surprised to see him make an NBA roster after he is done playing for the Spartans.

“He’s still going to grow into his body and into his frame,” Armstrong said. “Of course, I am biased, but I think he’s a future NBA player. When you combine his talent, his length, his size, work ethic, and then just the high character that he has is what really makes him special.”

Avent charting his own course

Ranked the No. 2 player in New Jersey and No. 80 overall prospect in the Class of 2026 in the Rivals Industry Ranking, Avent selected Michigan State from a group of finalists that included Xavier and Seton Hall. Providence, Penn State, Washington, and Mississippi State were among the programs that offered Avent, but did not make his short list of finalists.

Michigan State offered later in the process than Xavier and Seton Hall, but neither of those two Big East schools put the effort into recruiting Avent that that the Spartans did.

“I really feel like they did the right thing and really went all in on the recruiting,” Armstrong said. “But they also did their homework. They didn’t offer right out the gate, and they really watched him and studied him.”

Armstrong believes that four years in a demanding high school program at Bergen Catholic will prepare Avent for many of the challenges he will face at Michigan State.

“I think there’s a lot of similarities between the way we do things at Bergen Catholic in our school community,” Armstrong said. “Our program is very family-oriented and we have some old-school or right-school values, whatever you want to call it. And I think there’s a lot of similarities there, which Julius and his family really liked about Michigan State.”

Michigan State offered Avent in June after the Bergen Catholic star turned heads with a strong performance at the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp. Even after they offered Avent, the Spartans continued the evaluation process with Tom Izzo and assistant coach Thomas Kelley traveling to Philadelphia to watch Bergen Catholic compete in both sessions of Philly Live, an annual event that brought upwards of 200 top high school teams to the City of Brotherly Love during the final two weekends of June.

“They were absolutely tremendous, and they were all-in more so than the other schools,” said Armstrong. “I’ve got to be honest, just being transparent. We played twice this summer in Philly Live 1 and 2, and I think Coach Izzo caught every single game.”

During the course evaluation at Philly Live I and II, Michigan State recruiters saw ample justification for making Avent a top priority in the Class of 2026.

“Julius played really well against some high-level teams that we played down in Philly Live 1 and Philly Live 2,” Armstrong said. “And Coach Izzo and Coach Kelley are sitting, like, front and center. So, I think we had one game where Julius had 27. And I can’t remember the kid’s name, but it was a five-star kid, lefty wing kind of scorer. And Auburn was there recruiting him, and Julius totally outplayed the kid.”

Avent grew up around the Seton Hall program. His father is one of the all-time greats at Seton Hall, and his brother Asiah played for the Pirates as a walk-on after beginning his collegiate career at the University of Hartford. Given that background, it should come as no surprise that Seton Hall factored prominently in the recruiting process for Avent from start to finish. That said, Armstrong was not surprised to see Avent chart his own course.

“I think from my conversations with him that he really wanted to run his own race and be on his own journey,” Armstrong said, “not meaning that Seton Hall was not in the picture at all because they were. But I do think he wants to really kind of forge his own path. But Michigan State really helped because they did everything possible in terms of recruiting him.”

Michigan State became aware of Avent as a potential recruiting target in the Class of 2026 long before offering. Kelley began tracking Avent’s development after watching him compete on the NIKE EYBL circuit with PSA Cardinals during the summer before his breakout junior season at Bergen Catholic.

“They saw him play going into his junior year, playing with PSA, and then I think there was some interest there,” Armstrong said. “Coach Kelley saw him and kind of liked him. You know, and then they followed him. And then I really think they really liked him.”

Avent’s recruitment began to pick up momentum following his breakout junior season at Bergen Catholic. The build up in Avent’s recruitment last summer was not dissimilar to what Armstrong observed with former Bergen Catholic star Zach Freemantle during the summer before his senior season in high school.

“We had a similar situation with Zach Freemantle who played at Xavier,” Armstrong said. “There was interest from a lot of programs during his junior year, but things really changed and blew up during the summer going into his senior year. And Julius was the same thing.”

Izzo played a substantial role in gaining Avent’s commitment for Michigan State and pushing the Spartans across the finish line. Kelley, however, set the ground work for success as the primary recruiter for the program.

“Coach Kelley was just in constant contact with me, Asiah Avent, who is Julius’ brother, but also an assistant coach for me. Coach Kelley was constantly talking to Julius, was in multiple times to see him. And then Coach Izzo came in after their visit. Michigan State really went all-in.”

Development at Bergen Catholic

The absence of entitlement with Avent was evident to Armstrong when the former played JV basketball as a true freshman at Bergen Catholic because it was in the best interest of his long-term development to do so. Many basketball players with Avent’s size, athleticism, and skillset would have sulked if presented with a similar situation. Some might have even transferred out of the program in similar circumstances.

“He’s not some soft kid,” Armstrong said. “He can be coached hard. He handles adversity. He wasn’t a star player his freshman year. He played on our JV team and had to earn his way. Sometimes higher-level kids have not been held accountable. They’ve been told how great they are from a very young age. And then as soon as they meet a little adversity or a little tough coaching, they shut down.”

To his credit, Avent kept working as a freshman and made the developmental strides that gave Armstrong and his coaching staff confidence to move him into the starting lineup on varsity as a sophomore.

 “He really just worked,” Armstrong said. “He was a star on our JV team. Then, his sophomore year, he started on our varsity. He had a good year. Then last year as a junior, he really kind of came into his own and blossomed. We won a state championship. He was a pivotal piece to it.”

As a junior, Avent averaged 14.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game for Bergen Catholic, which went 27-5 on its way to winning a New Jersey Non-Public School Class A championship. In the championship game against Camden Catholic, a 52-49 win, Avent sealed victory with a blocked shot as time expired.

Avent’s breakout junior season was the byproduct of hard work. After getting a taste of success as a sophomore, he got serious about skill development. He also received plenty of help and guidance from his brother Jasiah, a teacher and an assistant basketball coach at Bergen Catholic.

“Just coming into school early at 6 o’clock in the morning, getting workouts in,” Armstrong said. “And, you know it helps that his brother really took him under his wing all these years. His brother is his teacher here. They would come in early. Then he would get in work that way after school. Just constantly just getting work in. And then the help of his dad, too, as well. So, it’s really kind of a village here.”

Using his junior season as a springboard for growth, Avent continued making significant developmental strides during the grassroots season playing in the NIKE EYBL with PSA Cardinals, which he led in scoring at the Peach Jam averaging 18.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. During the EYBL regular season, Avent reached double figures in all but two games for PSA Cardinals.

Avent remains on an upward trend now that he is back practicing with his Bergen Catholic teammates as they prepare to defend their Non-Public School Class A championship.

“I expect him to blow away the numbers he put up for us last year,” Armstrong said.