Bellarmine College Prep basketball star Grant (Boo) Vermeer committed to Navy on Sunday, but true to his classy nature, he waited a day to announce it.
“I wanted to have a chance to tell other coaches who were recruiting me to let them know about my decision so that they wouldn’t just see it on a social media site,” Vermeer said by phone Monday, Oct. 22 from his home in Mountain View. “I wanted to thank them in person.”
Vermeer, who scored 14 points per game last season and has a 4.4 GPA, was also being looked at by Cal State Sacramento, Air Force and numerous Division III schools.
Student-athletes who attend service academies technically don’t receive scholarships and do not sign the usual National Letter of Intent. But they do sign what Vermeer called a letter of assurance which guarantees them automatic admission, as long as they agree they are attending.
Navy saw the Bell star at an AAU tournament in Las Vegas during the summer and spoke to him. Then a Navy assistant watched the 6-2 shooting guard work out at Bellarmine, prior to a visit to the Bay Area from Navy’s head coach, Ed DeChellis.
He left Mountain View for his official visit to Annapolis on Thursday, Oct. 18 and stayed through Saturday, then committed Sunday.
“It’s beautiful there,” Vermeer said. “The whole place is in tip-top shape and the dorm is extremely nice and it’s where everybody in the academy lives. It’s not too big and you can get everywhere by foot and it’s right on the Chesapeake Bay, so it’s fantastic.”
Vermeer, a 3-point marksman for the Bells of the rugged West Catholic Athletic League, hopes to compete for playing time as a freshman and, upon graduation from the academy, would like to segue into Naval Intelligence or aviation, he said.
No members of his family have attended the academy, but an uncle, Ray Murphy, was in the Navy.
“One of the reasons I want to go there is the challenge it will present and the chance for me to grow as a person and become a leader,” he said. “They break you down to build you back up and I’m more than willing to go through whatever I have to as a freshman and sophomore (to achieve my goals).”
