BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: SOUTH FLORIDA
April 29, 2009
Commitment Alert: Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, 6'8 F from King High School in Tampa (FL)
South Florida looks to have closed out their front court recruiting efforts this spring with the additions of Westchester CC center Jarrid Famous and local PF Toarlyn Fitzpatrick in the last week. King's Fitzpatrick Signs With USF (St. Pete Times) and decides to stay home for his college career.
Projected 2009-2010 Roster:
Seniors: Chris Howard (PG), Alejando Rivas-Sanchez (C)
Juniors: Dominique Jones (SG), Jarrid Famous (C)
Sophomores: Eladio Espinosa (F), Juston Leemow (G), Augustus Gilchrist (C), *Anthony Crater (PG)
Freshmen: Shaun Noriega (G), Jordan Dumars (F), Mike Burwell (SG), Toarlyn Fitzpatrick (PF)
* Anthony Crater is a mid-year transfer and will be eligible in December of 2009.
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It has been a busy couple weeks for Stan Heath in his quest to add big men to the Bulls' roster. Candidates such as Jarrid Famous, Daequon Montreal, Glenn Bryant and Sandi Marcius have all visited, or were scheduled to visit, the South Florida campus in April. The biggest target was obviously Famous, who had been honored as a JUCO All-American for his dominating season at Westchester CC this past year. After visiting Arizona over the weekend, Famous returned home to make his decision and have a scheduled in-home visit with coach Heath. Famous must have liked what he heard, as he has opted to choose the Bulls over the other finalists.
While the recruitment of those frontcourt targets seemed to take center stage, it was a quieter process that saw the Bulls wrap-up their frontcourt recruiting. Just after Famous committed, the Bulls signed current King High School power forward Toarlyn Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, who was the St. Pete Times Suncoast Player of the Year this past season, had signed with Georgia Southern in November, but was granted a release after coach Jeff Price resigned last month.
FItzpatrick told the Times that Miami, Alabama, Auburn and Tulane had contacted him this week since he got his release and Florida State had offered him prior to his signing with Georgia Southern last fall.
The original plan was for Famous to make his announcement last Wednesday at a ceremony at WCC where his jersey was going to be retired. However, the Arizona Daily Star reports the announcement was pushed up, according to WCC assistant coach Tyrone Mushatt, when WCC head coach Winston Nicholas passed away after a bout with cancer.
Famous is a long, lead and athletic big man that should team up well with senior Alex Rivas-Sanchez and sophomore Augustus Gilchrist in next year's rotation for the Bulls. Famous is still a player that many scouts refer to as 'potentially' an excellent player, but he will have two years to realize the potential. His improvement has been impressive since his high school and prep school days, so the Bulls are optimistic that improvement will continue and he will be a strong contributor from day one in the Big East.
With the commitments of Famous and Fitzpatrick, along with the transfer of Gaby Belardo this spring, USF still has one scholarships open for next season. With coach Heath Excited About the Frontcourt Signings (St. Pete Times), the Bulls are likely to hold onto the scholarship unless they can convince one of the best uncommitted point guards in the nation, Eric Bledsoe, who has also been considering the Bulls, to come on board. USF is Still in the Hunt for Bledsoe (St. Pete Times), along with UAB (his hometown school), Florida, Tennessee and Cincinnati, but they seem to be a longshot at this point in time.
Famous and Fitzpatrick joined late period addition Mike Burwell who committed to the Bulls in March. Burwell came to South Kent Prep in hopes of increasing his recruiting profile. The year of prep school certainly helped the East Brunswick (NJ) native, who won player of the year honors as a high school senior in 2007-2008 while leading Cardinal McCarrick to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Championship, reach his goal of being a high major conference recruit. Burwell completed the process by giving a verbal commitment to Stan Heath and his South Florida program while on an official visit there last month.
Burwell has the reputation of a shooter and has followed up his 27-point per game average of a year ago with a team-leading 19 points a game for the highly regarded South Kent Prep program. He had narrowed his college choices to South Florida, Evansville, Fordham, TCU and Central Florida, but the trip to USF won him over.
In the early signing period, the Bulls inked 6'6, 230 lb forward Jordan Dumars, again using coach Heath's Michigan ties. Dumars is the son of former NBA star and current Piston executive Joe Dumars. Jordan Dumars attends Detroit Country Day School and had formed a close relationship with Stan Heath that began with the relationship between Heath and his father.
On paper, Dumars fills a position of need on the USF roster (small forward) and leaves Stan Heath and staff with two scholarships remaining for the class of 2009 as the Bulls have even scored for the class of 2009 earlier with North Port shooting guard Shaun Noriega. Of course, with how busy it has been with players coming and going from their program, that could very well change.
The Bulls were needing immediate help in the class of 2008 with transfers of five players since the 2007-2008 season began. Guards Dante Curry, Aaron Holmes and Solomon Bozeman, along with forwards Ade Saaka and Orane Chin have all left the Bulls program to look for opportunities elsewhere. Also, recruits Teeng Akol, Dwan McMillan and Eugene Teague were not admitted to school because of academic difficulties, leaving the Bulls scrambling for the 2008-2009 season.
Stan Heath reached back to his Michigan roots once again and added Ohio State transfer Anthony Crater to the Bulls roster earlier this season. Crater lasted only a few months with the Buckeyes, playing in 10 games in his first semester as a freshman. In 13 minutes of action a game, Crater averaged 1.3 points a game and was unhappy with his playing time, so he has moved on.
After a weekend visit to South Florida, where he saw the Bulls take on Syracuse, Crater felt USF offered the best situation for his future. As a highly rated recruit out of Flint (MI), Crater was a highly targeted recruit by many top programs before he settled on OSU. The addition of JUCO guard Jeremie Simmons did not sit well with the Crater camp and as Simmons got more and more time early on, Crater took a look at his options and will join the USF program, following in the footsteps of other recent mid-year transfers such as Jesus Verdejo, Kentrell Gransberry, Augustus Gilchrist and Mike Mercer (since dismissed from the program) that have joined the Bulls in recent seasons.
Labels: South Florida Recruiting
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