Last August, DaJuan Summers sat in McDonough Gymnasium with 1,500 other freshmen listening to President DeGioa’s speech during Convocation. Seven months later, he was on the floor of the Georgia Dome, going head to head with Greg Oden in the Final Four.

These five newcomers have the potential to experience the same meteoric rise.

Mychal Harrison, football – The 5-foot-6, 160-pound scatback with a 4.4 shuttle time has the elusiveness to give Head Coach Kevin Kelly’s offense a much needed game breaker. Harrison totaled 2,255 all-purpose yards and scored 18 touchdowns as a junior at Atlanta’s Westlake High.

Ingrid Wells, women’s soccer – Wells brings a buzz to North Kehoe Field after making SoccerBuzz’s list of the nation’s best 50 freshmen. The midfielder starred at Montclair High in Upper Montclair, N.J., where she was a first team all-state selection as a senior and named the New Jersey Star Ledger’s high school player of the year. She spent the summer touring with the under-18 Parsippany Gazelles club squad, which she led to the Super-20 League national title.

Austin Freeman, men’s basketball – All this 6-foot-3 185-pound shooting guard did in high school was average 19.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He lead DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) to four consecutive Washington Catholic Athletic Conference titles. With all-Big East forward Jeff Green gone to the NBA, Head Coach John Thompson III will need a dead-eye shooter to score points in bunches. Freeman, rated the nation’s fourth-best shooting guard by rivals.com, should be his man.

Kathleen Dwyer, women’s lacrosse – The latest Dwyer to hit the Hilltop after her sisters Bridget and Nora, who graduated in 2002 and 2004, respectively, played lacrosse here could be the best of the bunch. She shattered the record books at Loyola Academy in Willamette, Ill., amassing 181 goals and 203 assists during her career. Dwyer was named to the U.S. Lacrosse all-American team and led the Ramblers to a state title.

Ryan Shuler, men’s lacrosse – Tabbed by many publications as one of the top attack recruits in the nation, this 6-foot-1, 175 pound Georgetown Prep grad led the Little Hoyas to an undefeated season as a junior. He capped off a stellar career as team captain his senior year and notched 33 goals and 35 assists. Now if he can just do the same for the regular-sized Hoyas.