Indiana received its first commitment for the class of 2015 on Wednesday evening when Waynesville (Mo.) forward Juwan Morgan announced for the Hoosiers at his high school gym in front of family, friends and classmates.

“As I’ve said before, academics, player development and playing time are the things I wanted to get, so I’ve decided to further my education at Indiana University,” Morgan said.

The 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward is rated the No. 87 prospect nationally in the 247Composite and chose Indiana over Vanderbilt.

Morgan, who was named the most improved player in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) for the 2014 season, averaged 10.9 points and 6.8 rebounds in the league’s regular season for MoKan Elite and 12.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.2 steals in the Peach Jam finals in July.

With his size and wingspan, he’s expected to contribute immediately to Indiana’s frontcourt next season, but Morgan is also a player who likes to play off of ball screens.

“That part of the whole game is probably what I’m best at,” Morgan told Inside the Hall earlier this week. “And also getting out in transition, that’s probably the best part of the team that I like (at Indiana). It fits perfectly.”

The IU staff began to recruit Morgan heavily in early June and associate head coach Steve McClain, who has a strong relationship with MoKan Elite, played a major role in his recruitment as did strength and conditioning coach Je’Ney Jackson.

He visited Bloomington for the first time in June and then was on campus again last weekend for his official visit.

The Hoosiers are also recruiting Morgan’s AAU teammate and close friend Shake Milton, who will visit later this month.

As a junior at Waynesville, Morgan averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game and was named the Ozark conference player of the year.

Player development is a major reason that Morgan went with Indiana, which is a topic that he discussed with Inside the Hall earlier in the week as being a major factor in his decision.

“Getting stronger, getting faster, things like that will be important to me,” he said. “(Coach Tom Crean) said he wants to get me into a lottery pick, because there’s a lot of things he sees on the court that I can do that I don’t do enough.”

(Photo credit: OzarksSportsZone.com)

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