A day after one Cher­ry Creek High School senior com­mit­ted to play for a school out of state, anoth­er decid­ed to stay close to home.

Julian Ham­mond III, an all-state selec­tion for the Bru­ins foot­ball and bas­ket­ball teams, announced his com­mit­ment to the CU Buffs bas­ket­ball pro­gram on Twit­ter ear­ly Sat­ur­day night.

“Blessed to announce that I am com­mit­ted to con­tin­ue my aca­d­e­m­ic and ath­let­ic career at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Col­orado! Thank you @CUBuffsMBB for the oppor­tu­ni­ty and every coach that has recruit­ed me,” the 6‑foot‑2 guard tweet­ed.

Ham­mond has aver­aged 20-plus points per game in each of his past two sea­sons at Cher­ry Creek, includ­ing aver­ages of 21.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists as a first-team Class 5A all-state pick in 2019–20. He was also the start­ing quar­ter­back for last year’s Class 5A state cham­pi­onship team, com­pil­ing 2,354 yards and 28 touch­downs on 187-of-298 pass­ing with only sev­en interceptions.

Hammond’s roots, how­ev­er, are deep­er on the bas­ket­ball court. His grand­fa­ther, who goes by the same name, played for­ward for the Den­ver Rock­ets from 1967–72, aver­ag­ing 10.8 points and 6.2 rebounds dur­ing his time in the ABA.

A day ear­li­er, fel­low Cher­ry Creek senior Al Ash­ford III com­mit­ted to the Wis­con­sin foot­ball pro­gram. The 6‑foot‑1 cor­ner­back chose the Bad­gers over sev­er­al FBS pro­grams, includ­ing Col­orado, Col­orado State, Wash­ing­ton State, Wyoming and North Car­oli­na State.