Aaron Holmes

05/18/05: committed to the Florida State Seminoles.

05/04/05: "Holmes, a consensus Top 50 national recruit who was once committed to N.C. State, said he's also considering Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Florida and Florida State." - Memphis Comm Appeal

04/24/05: "The one-time N.C. State commit opened it up in hopes of going higher, but from what he did on Saturday, he should have been ecstatic with going to a Sweet 16 team like the Wolfpack. Shot wasn't falling and he's not the most athletic player around." - ScoutHoops.com

04/06/05: Listed as the 44th best player in his class. - ScoutHoops.com

04/06/05: "The native Floridian claims staying close isn't a concern. "It’s not that important. I've been in Florida all my life. It wouldn’t be a big deal at all for me to leave. Alonzo Gee got away to Alabama and Abdul Herrera went to Cincinnati. Keaton Grant went to Missouri. They all just went all over." - ScoutHoops.com

03/20/05: "Holmes rattled off a laundry list of schools that he’d be interested in chatting with including Wake Forest, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Maryland, LSU, Memphis, Texas Tech and Tennessee. . . " - ScoutHoops.com

03/18/05: ". . . one ACC school lost a commitment from one of the top players in the nation. Aaron Holmes, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard from St. Petersburg (Fla.) Catholic, told Rivals.com that he has decided to pull out of his verbal commitment from N.C. State and look at other options." - RivalsHoops.com (back to active)

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11/20/04: "Holmes, the No. 65 ranked class of 2006 player in the country, verbally committed to N.C. State." - RivalsHoops.com

11/04/04: Listed as the 45th best player in his class. - InsidersHoops.com

11/03/04: InsidersHoops.com is reporting he will visit NC State this weekend.

10/29/04: "Since September, Holmes has seen numerous programs pick up the intensity level in his recruitment. For instance, he cites Maryland, North Carolina State, Florida State, Xavier and Georgia as the schools recruiting him the hardest." - InsidersHoops.com

10/24/04: "St. Petersburg, Fla., junior Aaron Holmes was on (Xaviers) campus for an unofficial visit and attended Saturday's event." - Enquirer.com

09/24/04: "Aaron Holmes has become a must watch player in the junior class. In fact, the 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard from St. Petersburg (Fla.) Catholic has worked out for a half dozen programs this week. . . . A host of others have sent letters and called his coach, he said. Holmes named Maryland, UConn, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Michigan State." - RivalsHoops.com

Holmes played on the same summer AAU team as Abdul Herrera, the Tallahassee Wildcats.

09/24/04: Listed as one of the top 10 players in Florida in class of 2006. - Galaxy-Of-Stars.net (FLA HS basketball)

PHOTO
http://www.pinellas-news.com/issue/0120_03_19_2004/photos/hand_check.jpg
(with the ball)

08/12/04: Listed as the 65th best player in his class. - RivalsHoops.com

04/11/04: "In possibly the five most important minutes of the season, St. Petersburg Catholic could afford to miss a few shots, adapt to the high-pressure surroundings and work out the jitters because they had Aaron Holmes. The Baron guard was everything any senior or junior could hope to be - the kind of guy the team could ride through a rough stretch. Except Holmes is only a sophomore. And a cool one at that.

"He scored eight of our first 10 points in the state semifinal, and of all the things that he did accomplish this year, that was the thing that surprised me the most," said St. Petersburg Catholic coach Mike Moran. "You just don't see a guy his age feel at home like that in a big situation. The other guys, you could tell they knew where they were. Not with Aaron. He had no fear."

Holmes, a 6-foot-4, 176-pound guard, led the county in scoring with 20.8 points a game and ranked among the leaders in every other category. Defensively, he had few peers. Overall, he was Pinellas County's best player, earning Times Player of the Year honors for the 2003-04 season.

Holmes helped lead the Barons to a 28-3 record and a state runnerup finish in Class 3A. They lost to a team from Kentucky, and twice to Cocoa Beach, the state champion. Not that it was good enough for the basketball perfectionist in Holmes. "I look back at the season and think I did all right, but I could have done better," Holmes said. "Especially in the state championship (a 57-47 loss). I got in foul trouble and just didn't think I did enough. My job was to stop Carl McNally, but he was the main reason we lost."

Moran said the blame doesn't lie with Holmes, but the fact that he's taking it anyway shows the kind of player he is.

Holmes established himself as not just one of the county's rising stars, but one of the state's. He is mentioned often on recruiting Web sites and was ranked as one of the best sophomores on most. But as good as he is, he wants to be better. He wants to improve his speed and strength and refine his midrange jumper. He wants to be dominant, a goal he intends to fulfill.

Moran says if Holmes improves as much between this year and the next as he did between his freshman and sophomore seasons, look out. "I just want to be a force on the court, step it up in rebounding and assist categories," Holmes said. "I want to be a dominant player. I want to be the guy you say to yourself, "It's going to be hard to stop him." - St Pete Times

02/27/04: "St. Petersburg Catholic's duo of Aaron Holmes and Travis Karto combined for 50 points to lead the Barons to a Class 3A 68-46 victory over Arcadia DeSoto County. Holmes was impervious to the DeSoto defense, as he led all scorers with 28 points, including three 3-pointers." - St Pete Times

02/12/04: Listed as the 4th best player in Florida, in his class. - HoopScoop