FAYETTEVILLE — Navarro (Texas) College 4-star power forward Akol Mawein may have to wait until Jan. 20 to get his season going, but the nation’s fourth-best junior college prospect will do so as an Arkansas signee.
Mawein (6-10, 205 pounds), who played his junior and senior years of high school at Little Rock’s Southwest Christian Academy, signed his national letter of intent with the Razorbacks on Wednesday.
He joined 4-star Powder Springs (Ga.) McEachern wing Chance Moore (6-5, 175) as Arkansas signees on the first day of the early signing period. Moore is ESPN’s 44th-ranked player in the 2021 class.
“It is just an exciting time and I feel like Arkansas is the right place for me at there right time,” Mawein said. “I think everything has just fallen into place and I am very happy I am going to be a part of what they are doing there.
"I feel very excited to be part of an amazing program."
The South Sudan native who moved to Egypt and Australia as a youth, chose Arkansas over TCU, Arkansas-Little Rock and North Carolina-Greensboro.
"I think they are getting one of, if not the best, junior college players in the country this year," Navarro coach Grant McMillan said Wednesday. "He is a guy that can really score the ball, a really gifted scorer, has tremendous height and length and play a lot of different positions for Arkansas."
Mawein will find three familiar faces in Fayetteville when he arrives.
He was pledged to Arkansas associate head coach David Patrick when he was an assistant at LSU and TCU, and signed with Patrick last November when he was head coach at California-Riverside. Mawein landed at Navarro instead.
Mawein played in the The Woodz AAU program with Razorback freshman guard Davonte Davis, and as a sophomore at Montverde (Fla.) Academy alongside forward Kamani Johnson, who is transferring to Arkansas from UALR in January.
“That’s going to be cool to have some guys already there that I know,” Maewin said. “I excited and can’t wait to get up there. I trust Coach Patrick, who is a great person and a great coach.”
Mawein averaged 13.5 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists last season as a freshman at Navarro.
He shot 47.5% (141-297) from the field, 32.8% (21-of-64) from 3-point range and 62.4% (88-of-141) from the free throw line.
Mawein, who only fouled out once last season, had his strongest play down the stretch while scoring in double figures in 13 of the last 15 games, including season highs of 31 points and 7 assists in a 76-66 win over Panola on Feb. 5.
"He's a guy that came into our place out of shape last, but completely dedicated himself to getting in shape and took it as a 24-hour deal," McMillan said. "It's about how you eat and how you work out. He was not really into that when he first got here...but he grew up.
"I would say the lightbulb moment for him came after we came back from Christmas. You could make the argument that he turned into the best player in the league as a freshman. The great thing about AK is that he can switch defensively all the way across the board. He can switch on 2 guard, a point guard and can also play on the block. There are not a lot of guys that can do that and he is really good at it. He is a great athlete for a guy his size."
Navarro finished 19-13 overall and lost 68-55 to Angelina College in the Region XIV tournament semifinals after tying for second with Bossier Parrish Community College in the regular season race with a 12-7 mark.
Tyler Junior College won the league with 17-2 and 25-3 overall record.
Mawein's sophomore season does not begin until a scheduled Jan. 20 game with Coastal Bend College.
The Region XIV Athletic conference regular season, pushed back by covid-19 concerns, is slated to run through April 3.
Navarro played a couple of scrimmages on Nov. 2 against Ranger and Salt Lake City. Maewin had a game-high 21 points against Ranger.