BYU Basketball: 4-Star Forward Gavin Baxter is back from his mission, works out with Yoeli Childs

BYU hoops got some nice news Tuesday, with photos making the rounds on twitter of highly ranked forward Gavin Baxter back on BYU’s campus after returning home from his LDS mission in Washington DC.

Assistant coach Tim Lacomb posted a few photos of Baxter on BYU’s campus, and yeah, Baxter is still tall and long.

Yoeli later tweeted out a photo that didn’t exactly squash any hype associated with Baxter, as he called him “the best athlete BYU has ever seen.”

A couple things to takeaway here.

First, Baxter appears to be every inch of 6’9” he was listed at coming out of high school. Yoeli is around 6’7” or 6’8”, and Baxter appears to have a couple inches on him. Baxter was a phenomenal athlete coming out of Timpview high school, and was rated a 4-star prospect and the 63rd best prospect nationally in the class of 2016 by Rivals. With his length, ability to alter shots defensively, and ability score from both the inside and outside, Baxter has the potential to be a star during his time at BYU.

Second, it’s a good sign that Yoeli is working out with Gavin at the practice facility. With Yoeli not being invited to the NBA Draft Combine and working out in Provo on the first day of Spring term rather than being somewhere else working with a trainer, he may be leaning to comeback to Provo for his junior season.

If Yoeli does return, him and Baxter would form a long, athletic frontcourt that BYU rarely sees.

Despite the loss of star guard Elijah Bryant, a NCAA tournament berth would be very possible with the non-conference schedule BYU has and the additions of Baxter, Nick Emery, and Connor Harding. All that of depends, of course, on what Yoeli decides to do.

In the meantime, you can watch these highlights of Baxter that show off his versatility on both ends of the court.