NCAA Basketball: Early breakout stars to watch for 2022-23 season
By Shea Irish
Justyn Fernandez
Even though Fernandez has yet to play a game at the college level, that doesn’t stop George Mason’s Kim English from highly praising the soon-to-be freshman. The Head Coach said last week on a Washington Wizards postgame show that Fernandez is “the best athlete he’s ever been around. Ever.” That says a lot considering English was a part of Missouri’s 2009 Elite Eight run during his playing career, then went on to play a short stint in the NBA, and was on coaching staffs at Colorado and Tennessee in recent years.
Ranked as the #74 overall recruit in the ESPN Top 100 of the 2022 class, Justyn enrolled at George Mason a semester early. Although he didn’t suit up last year, the growing pains a typical freshman experiences with learning the ins and out of the system and becoming familiar to the college level will already be behind him when the 2022-23 season begins.
Fernandez is rated as the 2nd highest recruit in Patriots history, according to 247 Sports. The 6’6” small forward from Richmond, VA decided to stay in his home state; turning down offers from Florida, Tennessee, Illinois, Providence, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest among others. He should be towards the top of the Atlantic 10 preseason Freshman of the Year voting.