You won't find him on The Sporting News' "Hot 100", he's not a McDonald's All-American, and he his team hasn't played on ESPN - but Yorel Hawkins is making a name for himself at Apex High School.

Hawkins has scored a total of  331 points this season alone, and averages 23.6 points per game.

Double-digit scoring totals has been the norm for Hawkins this season - he has not had a single game in the single-digits all season. More impressively, Hawkins has scored 20 or more points in 10 of Apex's 14 games. Hawkins has also scored 30 or more points in two games.

In the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational, Hawkins scored his career high, 39, in Apex's game against Middle Creek, and had a total of 93 points over the three day tournament. The 93 points makes Hawkins the ninth highest scorer in the 35 year history of the GSK Invitational. Players who are ahead of him on the list include Donald Williams, Rodney Monroe, Michael Miller, Penny Hardaway, and Phil Ford.

So, why isn't  Hawkins ranked higher?

It starts with his location. North Carolina is not known for their high school basketball, and therefore it's harder for players here to get recognition. Just look at the Top 100 players in high school basketball, most of them come from the Northeast or Ohio Valley. Until there are players like Hawkins coming out of North Carolina on a consistent basis, players in this state won't get much respect from scouting agencies.

Rivals.com ranks Hawkins as a two-star recruit, as does Scout.com. According to Scout.com, Hawkins is the 108th best power forward in the Class of 2007. Hawkins' areas for improvement, according to Scout.com, consists of ballhandling and rebounding. I have to tell you, both of  those categories looked pretty good to me in the GSK Invitational last week.

The late blooming dominance leads some people to ask, "Why Fairfield?" Well, Hawkins signed his letter of intent during the early signing period in November, binding him to Fairfield (located in Connecticut). Following the Apex-Middle Creek game last Friday morning, I asked Hawkins why he chose Fairfield instead of letting major schools look at him further. He told me that Coaches there were interested in him, he went up to see the campus - "loved" it, and he said it was the place for him to be.

I have received several emails asking about Hawkins' decision to go to Fairfield, some from angry college basketball fans in the area who were mad because Hawkins didn't allow time for their schools to look at them. People, people, people. If Yorel Hawkins thinks Fairfield is the best place for him to play basketball, and is excited about going there, why are we second guessing his decision? If the major colleges had acted more interested in him, Hawkins probably would have waited a little while to make his commitment.

It's not fair to say he "got away" either. We've known about Hawkins' talent for quite sometime now. I honestly believe that the people who are making the claims that Hawkins somehow slipped by the North Carolina colleges are jealous of Fairfield. What is the problem with a very talented player going to a small school? That's how Duke's success started. Coach Krzyzewski recruited high school standout Johnny Dawkins, and after that, the pieces started to fall into place. Hey, this could be the turning point for Fairfield!

Hawkins was named to the boy's 8-team all-tournament team last Friday at the GSK Invitational, and will likely be named to the Tri-Eight All-Conference team.

Apex kicked off their 2007 with a win over Cary on Tuesday night, 80-55. That puts them tied on top of the Tri-Eight Conference with Cary.