BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: RUTGERS

March 24, 2008


VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERTs: Greg Echenique, 6'9 C from St. Benedict's Prep and Austin Johnson, 6'7 PF from Blair Academy.



Projected 2008-2009 Roster:


SENIORS: Anthony Farmer (PG), Jaron Griffin (G/F), JR Inman (F), Courtney Nelson (PG)
JUNIORS: Hamady N'Diaye (C)
SOPHOMORES: Corey Chandler (G), Justin Sofman (G), Earl Pettis (G), Mike Cobourn (PG)
FRESHMEN: Mike Rosario (G), Christian Morris (C), Patrick Jackson (SF)
EARLY 2009 COMMITMENT: Dane Miller (F), Greg Echenique (C), Austin Johnson (F)


Austin Johnson and Greg Echenique have given Fred Hill and his Rutgers program an exciting Daily Double today as the news has hit of Echenique, Johnson to Rutgers (zagsblog) with 2009 verbal commitments.

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Piece by piece, Fred Hill is bringing Rutgers into the mix of the Big East and today might have been the biggest step in the right direction when Greg Echenique and Austin Johnson made verbal commits to the rising Rutgers program.

Echenique is the BIG prize as the highly coveted 6'9 true post C passed up offers from schools such as Villanova, Duke, Maryland and others to stay in New Jersey and play at Rutgers. Echenique attends St. Benedict's Prep in Newark (NJ) and this past season for Danny Hurley's squad, Echenique averaged 11.2 ppg, 9.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks a game. Echenique recently made a trip to Rutgers with his parents who were visiting from Venezuela and they felt the most comfortable with Fred Hill's program, who was the first to offer Echenique a scholarship.

After the news of Echenique's commitment to Rutgers began to circulate, Austin Johnson also desided to pull the trigger and join the Scarlet Knights program. Johnson is a power forward that can play inside and out, making him a nice compliment to Echenique. This past season at Blair Academy, Johnson, a native of Cheltenham (PA), averaged 19 pts and 11 rebounds and was also being recruiting by Seton Hall, Boston College, Virginia and much of the Atlantic 10.

Echenique and Johnson join versatile forward, Dane Miller, a very good athlete from Rush-Henrietta (NY) in the class of 2009. Miller, who can play inside and out, is just 6'6, so his success at the college level will be determined by his ability to transition fully on the wing. He is a solid ballhandler and passer for a big man, but the wing skills still need to develop to be a full time small forward in the Big East. Still, only a junior, so he will have plenty of time to work on his skill development. There is a lot to work with here and the potential to be a quality Big East player is very evident.

Rutgers is likely not done in the class of 2008, either. The still have one scholarship open and are in definite need of a power forward. The Knights lost out late in their attempts to land Quintrell Thomas and Dwight Miller, so the power forward position will likely be addressed this spring.

The most imeediate target for 2008 is Indiana de-commitment Devin Ebanks, one of the elite talents in the class of 2008. The 6'8 forward also has Texas and Memphis very much involved, along with Rutgers, as he takes a second go-round in his recruitment after Kelvin Sampson and Indiana parted ways this past season.

I expect Fred Hill and staff to leave no stone unturned this spring while trying to add help at the power forward position. The off-again, on-again recruitment of Marvel Waithe could be re-opened as well as a look into the JUCO ranks. From the perspective of balancing classes, a JUCO could be a wise direction as Hamady N'Diaye would be the only other junior on the roster and the pickings in the high school class of 2008 is very slim.

The rest of the 2008 class is solid, led by St. Anthony's (NJ) guard Michael Rosario who is a 2008 McDonald's All-American. Rosario is joined by Boys & Girls (NYC) HS small forward Patrick Jackson and NYC big man Christian Morris.

Other 2009 early targets include guards St. Anthony's star win Dominic Cheek, Justin Crosgile of DePaul Catholic (NJ), Russell Smith of Archbishop Molloy (NYC) and Durand Scott of Rice HS (NYC). Wings Paris Bennett of St. Patrick (NJ), Sherrod Wright of Mt. Vernon (NY) and Brian Oliver of Oak Hill Academy have been followed closely by RU. Big men, David Bruce of Linden (NJ), James Padgett of Lincoln HS (NYC) and Dan Jennings of Oak Hill are also hearing a lot from the Rutgers staff, but with the addition of Echenique and Johnson, they might be looking at other positions, especially if they can land someone this spring to help out on 2008-2009.

Fred Hill and his staff have a lot of good contacts in the NYC/NJ area and there is a lot of talent there to land. Rutgers is, piece by piece, laying a foundation for their future. Pieces like Mike Coburn, Corey Chandler and Mike Rosario seem to have the ball rolling and now a major piece like Greg Echenique has many people talkig about the Scarlet Knights.

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