Nation’s No. 1 shooting guard commits to Georgia basketball

The Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball team picked up a big legacy recruit on Sunday. Four-star shooting guard Jarvis Hayes Jr., son of legendary Georgia guard Jarvis Hayes Sr., committed to the Georgia Bulldogs, according to Joe Tipton of On3.

Hayes Jr. is a shooting guard from Atlanta, Georgia. The 6-foot-5, 175-pound guard plays basketball at Woodward Academy. He is the No. 1 shooting guard and No. 38 overall prospect in the nation.

“What really stood out to me about Georgia was the way the coaches believed in me and made me feel like I was a priority,” Hayes said of Georgia to 247Sports. “I also really liked the relationship I built with the coaching staff and the vision they have for me as a player. I felt comfortable there, I love the environment, and I felt like Georgia was the best place for me to grow both on and off the court.”

Hayes Jr. is the son of Jarvis Hayes Sr. and the nephew of Jonas Hayes. His father, Jarvis, was one of the most successful Georgia Bulldog basketball players of all time. He was named First Team All-SEC in both his sophomore and junior years, the first Georgia player to do so since Dominique Wilkins in 1981-82.

Hayes also has the rare distinction of leading two different conferences in scoring in his college career. He led the Southern Conference in scoring during his freshman season at Western Carolina (17.1), and he led the SEC in his first year at Georgia (18.6). Thanks to his success, the Washington Wizards selected him No. 10 overall, and he played 427 games in seven years (four with the Wizards, one with the Pistons, and two with the Nets) in the NBA, finishing with career averages of 8.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He is now an assistant coach for Georgia basketball.

Hayes Jr.’s uncle, Jonas Hayes, played alongside Jarvis at Georgia. Through three years at Georgia, he had averages of 8.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game. He didn’t get selected in the NBA, so he went to coaching instead, and he went through years as an assistant with Morehouse (2005-06), South Carolina State (2006-07), Belmont Abbey (2007-12), Georgia (2013-18), and Xavier (2018-22) before getting his first big break as a head coach at Georgia State.

It didn’t go well. Jonas Hayes earned a 48-78 record during his time at Georgia State, never earning a winning record, and after a 10-22 record in 2025-26, Hayes and the organization parted ways. He is now with his brother Jarvis as an assistant coach at Georgia, and now they’ll coach Jarvis’s son.

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