Boston College Athletics
Freshman Focus: Meet Evan Ravenel
November 06, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 6, 2008
By Jeff Weinstein
Media Relations Assistant
As a freshman in high school, Evan Ravenel never imagined he'd be playing basketball at Boston College. Though he'd always admired the ACC, he didn't believe he'd get a chance to play in the conference.
"I never thought I'd be playing here at a big time school like this," Ravenel said. "I thought I'd be a low-major, mid-major type player."
A two-sport star at Brandon High School in Tampa, Florida, Ravenel thought of staying close to home near his close-knit family, following the path of his father and AAU basketball coach, Eugene, a college player at Florida A&M.
Ravenel at the time was a bulky, 6-foot-3, his size well-developed enough to play tight end and defensive end on the Brandon High School football team, but undersized as power forward in the world of major college basketball.
But then, after a growth spurt of four inches the summer before his sophomore year, more Division I programs began taking notice.
Ravenel passed up football camps to focus on his passion - basketball - and developed into a major recruit with the help of his father.
"It's hard when you're dad is head coach," Ravenel said. "He expected a lot out of me and some of the players felt there was favoritism, but it all worked out for the best. I got recruited by a lot of good schools."
By the end of his junior year, schools from the ACC were showing interest.
He liked Boston College head coach Al Skinner and the outstanding post players of BC's recent past, Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, but most of all, he loved the opportunity to stay on the East Coast, where most of his family could come to see him play.
"I couldn't go too far from home," Ravenel said. "I wanted all my people to come out, my parents, and my aunts and uncles, and cousins."
And so Ravenel committed to BC, fulfilling a dream that he did not think was possible. The reality of his decision, the fact that he would be playing ACC basketball, hit him while watching future opponents on television last season.
"I'd be watching games at home and saying, `Man, this kid is good, I'm going to be playing against him'," Ravenel said.
When Ravenel arrived on campus and began preparing for the season with Coach Skinner, he realized firsthand what it would take to compete in the conference.
"He's shown me little things in my game to make me better," Ravenel said. "He tells me to talk more on defense and offense, small things about my game that he's picked apart. When I came into the school year I weighed 286 pounds. Now I weigh around 256. He's told me that with the weight I've lost, my game has improved. He's a motivator, and that's what I need."
Ravenel has also found a mentor on the team in senior Tyrese Rice.
"Tyrese has taught me a lot," Ravenel said. "Nobody really gets on me, but Tyrese takes me aside and tells me what to do. Even though he's a point guard, he has a lot of information to help me. Since he's been here for four years he knows a lot."
Though he admits that the city of Boston is "kind of crazy" compared to Tampa, Ravenel feels his transition to life at BC has gone smoothly.
Part of the reason comes from his preference, as fan, for college sports over professional sports.
He's already taken in ice hockey and field hockey games and mentioned his surprise over the number of sports that BC offers.
Soon, Ravenel will become a part of the college athletic scene that he once admired from afar.
"I'm real excited for it," Ravenel said. "Practices have been getting tough, really tough. I see the games as rewards for our hard work in practice and we've got to win them."
