Justin Hamilton hasn't been able to break into the Lone Peak basketball program's starting line-up, but he's impressive enough to attract Division I scholarship offers.
Monday night he decided to verbally commit to Iowa State University after a weekend trip to the campus where he met with coaches, future teammates and attended a football game. His father, Larry Hamilton, said the commitment culminates a lot of hard work by a teen who didn't play competitively until his sophomore year.
"Justin has just got this incredible work ethic," Hamilton said of his youngest son. "He practices hours and hours."
Justin quit playing basketball in seventh grade and focused on football, the sport his older brother and father played in high school and college. But when he grew to 6-10 his sophomore year, his father asked him just to give basketball a try.
"I said, 'Justin, you've just got to try it for one year'," Larry Hamilton said. "He did, and he played a total of about 18 minutes his sophomore season. Quincy (Lewis, the boys basketball coach) told him at the end of that sophomore season he didn't know if he'd make the team the next year."
That did not deter Justin as he joined an AAU team - Salt Lake Metro - and practiced even more. In his junior season, he led the junior varsity in stats, but made it into very few varsity games as the Knights rolled to a 5A state championship using one of the most talented line-ups in the state.
Justin Hamilton caught the eye of Iowa coaches at spring and summer tournaments and camps. He was also considering UC-Davis, Weber and Pepperdine. Larry Hamilton said Justin made the trip to Ames himself, as all of his other children have done when they've been recruited.
"I've been back there," he said. "But we always make our kids go by themselves. We feel they're adults now and they need to make the decision."
Justin is the first member of his family to play basketball.
"We're still trying to figure this game out," joked Larry Hamilton.
As for earning a college scholarship with very little floor time, Larry credits his son completely. "This is due to pure determination."